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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 5 |
| 1879 | 1 |
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| 1884 | 1 |
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105 stories matching sorrow
- The Last Goodbye: A Seattle Widow’s Final Sermon
Rev. I.W. Read delivers a poignant eulogy for Addie Z. Pross at Market Street Baptist, reflecting on her hopefulness and refusal to gossip in the face of sudden death.
- The Shoemaker Who Refused Charity
Charles Lett, a struggling shoemaker, worked at his bench until the very end, leaving behind a legacy of pride that challenged the city’s notions of poverty and 'divine providence.'
- The Aftermath of the Roslyn Mine Explosion
A town mourns forty-five dead while the community rallies to support eighty-four orphaned children.
- From the Ashes of the Great Seattle Fire
A desperate plea for resilience and community support in the days following the catastrophic 1889 fire that leveled the city’s business district.
- A City Turned Out to Bury George Heilbron
In 1895, Seattle’s governor, mayor, judges, businessmen and laborers filled the First Unitarian Church for the funeral of a civic leader who had helped build the young city.
- 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.
- A Seattle Pastor on Trial: 'Attentions' to Another Woman, Harsh Words at Home, and a Public Rebuke
In 1877, the Presbytery of Puget Sound spent six days in Seattle deciding whether Rev. E. P. Dunning had crossed the line with another woman and mistreated his wife — then publicly reproved him and urged him to guard his conduct.
- A Drunk Man Mistakes a Stranger for a Burglar—and Lands in a Slander Suit
After his house was broken into, Capt. Peter Jensen drowned his sorrows, spotted Henry Wolfe on Front Street and accused him of the burglary. Wolfe knocked him down; now a jury weighs the wreckage.
- The Presbytery’s Verdict: A Minister’s Scandal and the Price of Repentance
In a trial that captivated Snohomish County, Reverend H.P. Dunning faced charges of domestic abuse and neglect. The court’s nuanced ruling offers a rare glimpse into the moral policing of 19th-century clergy.
- A Mother's Sorrow at the City Jail
A woman travels from Spokane to Seattle to reunite with her son, only to find him imprisoned for vagrancy.
- Search Ends for Drowned Boy
A tragic river accident in Richland leaves a community in mourning as the search for thirteen-year-old Eddie Hellinger comes to a sorrowful close.
- The Widow, the Ranch, and the Groom Who Lost His Nerve
A Woodinville bachelor agrees to marry a persistent widow, takes her $1.50 for the license—then cannot bring himself to ask for one, setting off a new $10,000 breach-of-promise fight.
- A Mountain of Coffins: Franklin Buries Its Miners
After a mine fire killed 37 men, the coal town of Franklin held a day of funerals—five graves at Black Diamond, three Italian miners on a hillside, and widows whose grief doctors feared would kill them.
- The Phoenix of the Pacific: Seattle Three Years After the Great Fire
Reflecting on the 1889 conflagration, the city celebrates its rapid transformation from a pile of smoldering ruins into a booming commercial metropolis.
- The Rifle War: Knights of Labor vs. Mine Owners in Newcastle
A bitter feud between rival labor unions in King County erupts into armed conflict, with rifles smuggled from Seattle to support striking miners.
- A Funeral Crowd Calls for a Killer's Neck
Thousands filed past the bodies of Philipina Miller and her child as Seattle police rushed the accused murderer to the county jail to stop a lynching.
- The Widow, the Prisoner, and a Near-Miss on Yesler Hill
Mrs. Harry L. Fraser demanded to face Paul Page, the man accused of killing her husband in a Northern Hotel barroom—while Page was being arraigned a few blocks away.
- Franklin Miners Blast Calls for a New Disaster Investigation
After 37 men died in the Franklin mine explosion, 152 miners signed resolutions defending the coroner's verdict and accusing outside agitators of exploiting their grief.
- The Last Chapter at 1344 C Street
After her abusive husband hanged himself in the Tacoma city jail, a Swedish-born woman shot herself—and the policeman who had tried to save her stayed at her bedside until the end.
- The Charity Case Who Came Back a Brutal Husband
Port Blakely mill hands passed the hat for a crippled co-worker and sent him home to Kentucky. He came back married — and the town's justice of the peace had to take his wife away from him by night.
- He Kept a $5,000 Reward Posted for His Missing Wife. Then He Drank Himself to Death.
Christine Nelson stepped into a New York hotel room in October and was never seen again. Her husband spent a fortune and two trips East searching — and died this morning at St. Joseph's.
- The Forgotten Paupers of King County
A backlog of 800 unburied individuals, kept in temporary graves due to a lack of city funds, sparks a call for municipal accountability.
- The Morning After the Fire: Spokane Wakes Up in Tents and Vows to Rebuild
A day after the great conflagration swept the city, Spokane's banks reopen, merchants trade under canvas, and outside capital pours in — even as thousands who were prosperous on Sunday night are left homeless.
- The Roslyn Mine Disaster: A City Rallies for the Bereaved
When an explosion ripped through the Roslyn coal mines in May 1892, Seattle’s civic leaders mobilized an immediate relief effort for the families left behind.
- The River Overflows: Lives Lost and Homes Deserted
A catastrophic flood on the Yakima River leaves homes submerged, stock lost, and two local men drowned in a tragic crossing attempt.
Also about this, in other words
- A Heartbreak by the Snohomish River
A lonely local man is caught in a 'melancholy case' of unrequited love, spending his days watering a hitching post in a lovestruck daze.
- The Tragic End of 'Old Despair'
A local musician, known to the town as 'Old Despair,' dies in a dance hall, leaving behind his only treasure—a violin—to a man he barely knew.
- The Orphan’s Plea: A Poem That Moved Seattle to Tears on Decoration Day
As the city honored Civil War dead with solemn processions and speeches, a young girl’s grief over her father’s unmarked grave brought the Grand Marshal to tears.
- A Heartbreaking Winter in Cle Elum
A Northern Pacific railroad worker's family struggles with extreme poverty and illness in Cle Elum.
- A Tragic Hour for a Renton Widow
In a harrowing sixty-minute span, a widow faces the loss of her son-in-law, a house fire, and a broken leg.
- The Tragic Burial of a Mining Camp
A massive snow slide crashes through the Vallejo mining camp, claiming multiple lives and leaving a community to dig through the frozen rubble.
- A Farmer's Prayer Amidst Economic Ruin
A poem penned in Seattle during the difficult economic climate of 1891, reflecting on the loss of a farm and the indignity of a wealthy neighbor's hollow piety.
- A Tragic Death in the Shadow of the Jail
A young bride, ostracized by society, dies of grief while her husband awaits extradition from the county jail.