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1. The Perils of Being a 'Truth-Teller'

   A satirical look at why honesty in business and politics is an expensive hobby.

   Nov 21, 1876The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King County

2. Tacoma's Labor Boycott: Business Men Forced to Meet in a Basement as Tensions Escalate

   A planned meeting of business men to address the Trades Council's boycott of the Ledger newspaper is postponed after the Commercial Club refuses its rooms. Undeterred, a group meets in a basement, but the Trades Council dismisses it as meaningless. The city remains on edge as labor and business collide.

   May 23, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyWork & Pay

3. The Man Who Said He Spoke for the Czar

   A smooth-talking stranger blew into Tacoma claiming to be the Russian government's agent in a Siberian railway steamship scheme — then turned out to be tangled up in the intrigue surrounding the state capitol commission.

   Mar 10, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyScandal · Local Legends

4. The Lumber Industry's Long Wait for the Iron Horse

   As Seattle's timber economy struggled under local isolation in 1893, local mill owners pinned their hopes for survival on the impending arrival of the Great Northern Railway.

   Apr 8, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

5. A Freethinker Takes On the Pulpit in Olympia

   At Liberal Hall, P. D. Moore answers a minister’s sermon on law with a call for a religion of nature, reason, and good conduct rather than wrath and dogma.

   Nov 17, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston County

6. The Farmer Who Thanked the Jury for Sending Him to Prison

   After shooting a man on the Spokane courthouse steps, an eccentric Whitman County farmer rejected an insanity defense and told the jury he would rather be in hell than an asylum.

   Apr 3, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSpokane, Spokane CountyLocal Legends

7. The Strange Leniency of a Supreme Court Murder Verdict

   After two trials and two death sentences, the Washington State Supreme Court abruptly commuted Albert Friedrich’s murder conviction to second-degree, sparking legal confusion and outrage from the defendant himself.

   May 1, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyTrue Crime

8. They Promised Clean Bunks and Good Food. The Sailors Knew Better.

   At a longshoremen's meeting in Tacoma, a delegate described how ship's officers lured landsmen aboard with false promises — and told of a sailor who drowned swimming for shore rather than sail on the Henry Failing.

   Jul 29, 1904The Tacoma TimesTacoma harbor, TacomaWork & Pay

9. The Filipino Answer to a Labor Organizer’s Exclusion Demand

   In 1929, Seattle’s Filipino Forum took on the Central Labor Council’s campaign to bar Filipino workers—and dismantled the racist case line by line.

   Jan 15, 1929Filipino ForumSeattle, King CountyWork & Pay · Exclusion & Resistance

10. The Price of Coal and Silence

    Miners in Gilman push back against a 10% wage cut, exposing the company's restrictive 'company store' policies and economic desperation.

    Mar 18, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerGilman, Issaquah, King CountyWork & Pay

11. A 1.5-Million-Acre Taking: The Colville Reservation Was About to Be Thrown Open

    Federal officials and land agents anticipated a rush of white homesteaders into the southern half of the Colville Indian Reservation, framing Indigenous land as 'closed' and state growth as its natural destiny.

    Mar 15, 1904The RanchNespelem, Okanogan CountyFollow the Money · Exclusion & Resistance

12. Tacoma’s 'Pig in a Poke' Water Deal

    Taxpayers revolt against a dubious multi-million dollar municipal purchase of water and electric assets.

    Feb 27, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyFollow the Money

13. The Blaine Fisherman Who Pulled Seven People Out of the Water and Never Told Anyone

    Hans Nielson is 24 years old, slight of build, and has saved seven lives in ten years — two in Denmark, five around Blaine — and calls each rescue a thing 'only incidental to the life of a water toiler.'

    May 22, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBlaine, Whatcom CountyStrange But True

14. The Corruption of the College Location

    North Yakima residents fume over the 'corrupt' decision to place the state agricultural college in Pullman rather than the Yakima Valley.

    Apr 30, 1891The Yakima HeraldYakima, Yakima CountyCity Hall

15. Tensions Rise in the Puget Sound Salmon Wars

    Striking fishermen are arrested after allegedly intimidating non-union workers at a local cannery, highlighting the struggle over labor control on the docks.

    Sep 14, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyWork & Pay

16. Robert Ingersoll’s Warning to the Washington Clerk

    The famous orator and freethinker warns young men against the soul-crushing nature of government bureaucracy in Washington D.C.

    Jun 1, 1877Puget Sound Weekly ArgusPort Townsend, Jefferson CountyWork & Pay

17. The Primary Teacher’s Plea: Why Seattle’s Schools Are Failing Our Children

    Miss C.I.T. Parsons delivers a scathing indictment of the King County Teachers' Institute, arguing that cheap buildings and unqualified instructors are robbing Seattle’s youth of their potential.

    Oct 10, 1872Puget Sound DispatchSeattle, King County

18. A Bluff Democrat Tells the State Committee to Hold Its Convention in Hell

    Samuel Bass, a Whatcom Democrat, answers a request for advice with a scalding letter about party hacks, shyster judges and tin-horn gamblers.

    Aug 1, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBellingham, Whatcom CountyCity Hall

19. The Keeley Cure Comes to Olympia

    Olympia's Keeley Institute promises release from drink, and the Tribune opens a discreet charity fund for patients who cannot pay.

    Dec 21, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyNightlife · Snake Oil

20. The Great Northern Cut Wages—and the Unemployed Took the Jobs

    Car cleaners and repairers at Interbay quit rather than accept cuts to $1.50 and $1.25 a day. The company had a full replacement crew before the day was over.

    Mar 10, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerInterbay station, SeattleWork & Pay

21. An Ex-Priest Turns a Packed Seattle Hall Against the Jesuits

    At Ranke's Hall, former Catholic priest J. B. Daly tells the A.P.A. that the Society of Jesus is a secret political machine—then drapes himself in the flag and leads three cheers.

    May 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

22. The Great Cascade: A Pilgrimage to the Roar of Snoqualmie Falls

    In July 1877, three travelers walked the rugged trail from Snohomish to Fall City, documenting the lush farms, the hospitality of settlers, and the awe-inspiring power of the falls—a testament to the beauty and isolation of early Washington Territory.

    Jul 21, 1877The Northern StarSnohomish, Snohomish CountyStrange But True

23. Miles Poindexter Takes On the Party Bosses

    The Third District congressman launches a U.S. Senate campaign in Spokane, promising to break the grip of Cannon and Aldrich and return the Republican Party to its voters.

    Nov 25, 1909The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-CurrentSpokane, Spokane CountyFollow the Money · City Hall

24. The Great Ensilage Experiment of 1887

    When an experimental farm in King County opened its massive silo, it sparked a neighborhood sensation that smelled like 'the mischief' but promised a revolution in Washington agriculture.

    Dec 18, 1887Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerHoughton, Seattle, King CountyStrange But True

25. The Skating Rink Panic of 1892

    When a local major tried to shut down a Tacoma skating rink after a scandal involving his stepson, the local press defended the rink as a space for social independence rather than a den of iniquity.

    Mar 10, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyCity Hall · Nightlife

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