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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
17 stories matching severest
- The Thief in Blue: Police Chief Exposes Captain’s Theft of Prisoners’ Belongings
A dramatic hearing reveals Officer Fayban’s accusation that Captain Henry Sheahan stole handkerchiefs, neckties, and cash from arrested men, sparking a bitter war of words between Seattle’s top law enforcement officials.
- The City That Forgot How to Ride: Seattle’s Battle for Short-Term Streetcar Franchises
In May 1899, the Seattle Star warned that granting long-term monopolies to street railway companies would leave the city trapped with obsolete technology and inflated prices. The paper argued fiercely for short-term grants to keep corporations accountable—a debate that echoes in today’s transit infrastructure battles.
- The Sting That Toppled a Representative
When Washington state lawmaker John L. Metcalfe accepted a bribe to expose corruption, the legislature responded by trying to expel him instead of the briber.
- The Tragic Wreck of the Bark Leonora
A severe storm off the Washington coast leaves a vessel destroyed and leads to a harrowing scene of survival and loss.
- The General, the Strikers, and the Company That Wouldn't Ride With a Scab Crew
Brig. Gen. A. V. Curry explains why he handed the rifles back to Spokane's Company G after its men refused to travel with a substitute crew — and why he thought the colonel who disarmed them had acted too hastily.
- The Board of Health Weighed Closing Every School in Seattle
Scarlet fever was moving through the city's classrooms in May 1895, and the men who ran public health argued over whether to send thousands of children home for six weeks — and whether parents could be trusted to report the sickness at all.
- The Worst Storm on the Sound: A Train Wreck, a Drifting Ship, and Dead Wires
A landslide derails a Northern Pacific freight near Castle Rock, a British ship is blown across Tacoma bay, and the telegraph goes dead from Seattle south.
- The Misfortune of Mr. Krats
A local land office official takes a tumble on Yakima Avenue and takes his frustration out on an innocent dog.
- The Kentucky Saloon's Bitter Lesson
A local saloon keeper faces legal consequences after a 12-year-old boy is found in a state of delirium from consuming whiskey and beer.
- The Legacy of Isaac Stevens
A profile of Washington Territory's first governor and Civil War hero, tracing his path from West Point to the battlefields of Virginia.
- The Jailbird Who Refused to Leave
After serving sixty days for grand larceny, a Seattle man found freedom so underwhelming that he immediately tried to steal his way back into a cell.
- The Railroad Map That Erased Seattle
A Northern Pacific map circulating in 1883 omitted Seattle entirely—while granting bold capital letters to towns of fewer than 100 people—and the city's paper took the insult personally.
- Drowning and Smuggling in Port Townsend
Court business is quiet, but a sailor goes missing, a steward is drowned, and a smuggler is fined in the latest local update.
- The Skagit Gold Rush of 1880
A winter of record-breaking snow gives way to a spring of fevered anticipation as prospectors return to the Skagit River's golden banks.
- The Revivalist Who Left Discord Behind
A traveling evangelist spent a summer working Puget Sound's Baptist pulpits — and the association's verdict was blunt: imposter.
- The Court-Martial That Dismissed Itself
Colonel Haines walks free after a military court decides it had no authority to try him—leaving Governor Ferry to answer for the expense.
- The Call for Frugality in 1889 Seattle
Following the Great Seattle Fire, the local press urged residents to abandon luxury and 'live within easy limits' to rebuild the city's fortune.
Also about this, in other words
- Despair in the Tenth Ward
A Tacoma resident survives a desperate act of self-harm, only to face further neglect from city services.
- Cable Car Conductor Sues for Permanent Injuries
Charles Brevort, a conductor for the Madison Street Cable Railway, claims a carelessly handled car with faulty brakes left him permanently disabled and unable to support his family.
- The Last of the Crib-Dwellers
A railroad company successfully clears the last remaining shack underneath the King Street trestle.