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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
22 stories matching ruthless
- Teachers Weep Over the Ruthless Slaughter of Birds
A visiting conservationist urges Tacoma educators to abandon feathered hats in protest of plume hunting.
- The Sawmill Scandal: Henry Yesler’s Long Legal War
Before the city grew, Seattle’s founding titan was locked in a decade-long, bitter courtroom battle over his sawmill, revealing the ruthless undercurrents of the frontier economy.
- The Town the Railroad Killed
A legislative protest against the Northern Pacific Railroad's ruthless manipulation of Yakima Valley geography and business.
- The Battle Over the Old Soldiers’ Home
Grand Army veterans accuse the home’s board of planting a hired engineer and laundress to force out Commandant S. E. Street—and they want a judge to rule on the ouster.
- They Robbed the Dead as the Surf Came In
A Pacific County newspaper condemned beach scavengers who stripped bodies and trunks after a shipwreck—and recalled the shame of the Grace Roberts disaster.
- Smallpox and Politics: The City Hall Power Struggle
A simmering dispute between the Seattle Board of Health and the City Council leaves a smallpox patient isolated and a doctor without a salary.
- The War for the Riverfront
A ruthless railroad tug-of-war in Snohomish County pits the Northern Pacific against the Seattle road for control of the Snohomish River valley.
- Senate Rejects Eight-Hour Workday for Women
Legislators kill labor reform, prioritizing industrial profits over the well-being of working women.
- The Populists and the 'Single Tax' Movement in Disarray
An account of the Populist party's executive session, featuring internal finger-pointing and failing funds.
- A Polish Colony in the Washington Woods
Organizers are recruiting hundreds of dissatisfied Polish and Swiss families from the Midwest to a planned settlement called Rapperswyl, on the south fork of the Nooksack — a Swiss name planted on the edge of Whatcom County.
- The Bird Eviction at the National Bank
When swallows built their nests in the eaves of the Yakima National Bank, the city’s firemen were called in to wash the feathered families away.
- The Corporate War for the Rails
How an early battle between express giants revealed the ruthless tactics used to control Washington's transportation networks.
- A Sinking Buggy, a Borrowed Team, and a Reservation About to Open
In 1892 a newspaperman packed his wife and infant into a rickety buggy to cross the soon-to-open Colville Reservation, fording the Kettle River and leaning on Native families along the way.
- Whatcom's Democrats Eat Their Own: 'Thieves, Fakirs and Impostors'
A county Democratic club meets to denounce its own officeholders — accusing a candidate of selling his nomination to the highest bidder and the party machine of swapping votes for cash — until a motion to adjourn ends the night in pandemonium.
- Pheasant Hunters Ravage Local Farms
Ranchers and farmers in the valley are threatening to close their land to public hunting after a wave of vandalism during the opening of pheasant season.
- The Senator and the Boomer
Senator Frye recounts a colorful anecdote about Spokane Falls, gambling, and the ruthless competition between Washington cities.
- The Brutal Economics of the 'Marginal' Farmer
Extension agent H. J. Lechner argues that efficiency is the only path to survival for Washington farmers as market forces ruthlessly weed out the less skilled.
- A City Under Siege by Caterpillars
Citizens are struggling to find a way to exterminate millions of caterpillars that are stripping local trees bare.
- The Struggle for a Fair Count
A biting 1892 editorial captures the intense partisan fury over gerrymandering and the systematic suppression of voters, drawing parallels between the American South and New York’s political machines.
- The Riot at the Agricultural College
A call for police intervention after students mobbed the incoming college president and a regent.
- An Elk-Sized Celebration in Tacoma
Tacoma’s Lodge No. 174 hosted a lavish Washington’s Birthday banquet, featuring grand toasts to the 'United States' and urgent pleas for the protection of local wildlife.
- The Tragedy of the Timber Clearings
A local observer laments the destruction of high-value hardwoods, burned by settlers to make way for farming.
Also about this, in other words
- Vigilantism in Wiser
A deputy sheriff takes three men into custody for the targeting of Chinese laborers.
- A Violent Razor Attack at the Mint Saloon
An ex-convict slashes a stranger in a brutal morning dispute that echoes the volatile atmosphere of Seattle's early Pioneer Square.
- The Commissioner, the Gambler, and the Shakedown
A bold blackmail attempt at the Russell House ends in a police hunt for a notorious 'steerer' and his accomplice.
- A Cowboy's Fatal Rage
A domestic dispute in the upper country leads to a brutal killing, as the perpetrator attempts to flee via the Seattle steamers.
- A Widow’s Gritty Resolve in the Chehalis Wilderness
After her husband was crushed by a falling tree in the remote woods, a woman used a saw to free his body and kept vigil alone through the night.
- A Wealthy Suitor, a Slashed Awning, and Twenty-One Counts of Jealousy
A prominent Seattle property owner is charged with shredding his ex-fiancée's store awning hole by hole, driven — she says — by jealousy of the man helping her run the shop.
- A Brutal Case of Animal Cruelty
A Richland rancher faces local justice after beating his horse until exhaustion.
- A Deadly Encounter in a Roslyn Coal Camp
A miner returns home to find an intruder in his bed, resulting in a violent stabbing that leaves his wife at death's door.