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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 6 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 5 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
33 stories matching splinter
- A Runaway Horse, Two Fence Splinters, and a Hotelkeeper’s Fearless Daughter
Mary Eirby is gravely hurt near Fort Steilacoom—the same woman who once held a robber at gunpoint in her father’s hotel.
- A Skating Rink Disaster
A romantic rivalry at the local roller rink ends in a humiliating and public wardrobe malfunction.
- A Perilous Plunge Aboard the City of Panama
An elderly passenger’s fall through an unsecured hatchway exposes the dangerous negligence of a bustling Seattle steamship.
- Worker Critically Injured in Blasting Accident
A laborer working on the Maple Valley extension of the Columbia & Puget Sound railway was struck by a jagged wooden splinter after a stump blast, leaving him in a life-threatening condition.
- A Bolt Out of a Clear Sky Passes Inches From a Sleeping Man
Lightning hits the flagpole of the Walla Walla Athletic Club on West Alder at seven in the morning, tears a hole in the roof, rips an American flag down through the building — and leaves manager S. S. Bettman untouched in his bed.
- The Bricklayer’s Scaffold Fall
A workplace injury suit highlights the dangerous construction conditions in early Seattle as a laborer fights the estate of a deceased developer.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.
- The Rockets Turned Around: Tacoma's Fourth of July Went Up in a Sheet of Flame
A spark touched off the entire $500 pyrotechnic stock at Wright Park, driving rockets and bombs into a crowd of thousands and leaving women and children burned, trampled and briefly lost in the smoke.
- A Shoemaker's Carefully Planned Farewell at the Grand Hotel
Carl Eggert, despondent over his wife's death and his son's suicide, shot himself in a Tacoma hotel after leaving detailed notes, money for the cleanup, and instructions to wait until morning.
- The Stone That Crushed: A Fatal Day at Seattle’s City Hall
Two men are killed and another left for dead when a scaffold collapses during the construction of the new municipal building, exposing the deadly risks of civic ambition in 1877.
- The Collision in the Fog
When the passenger steamer Premier and the collier Willamette crashed off Whidbey Island, passengers were left trapped in a splintered, half-sunken wreck.
- The Hatch Left Open: How a Passenger's Injury Put a Steamship Under Arrest
Mary Phelps was permanently maimed when a crew removed a hatch aboard the City of Panama. When the vessel reached Port Townsend, U.S. Marshal Hopkins seized it—prompting citizens to raise a $100,000 bond.
- A Lost Child’s Desperate Run Across the West
After his family splintered, a 14-year-old boy arrived in Tacoma alone, setting off a chain of bicycle thefts as he tried to find a way home.
- A Cow on the Track, a Freight Train in the Air, and Two Dead Railroad Men
A wandering cow derailed a freight train near Latona in 1894, killing two railroad workers and scattering thirteen cars while crewmen ran ahead to flag the passenger trains.
- Dynamite in the Dark: A Great Northern Car Is Blown Apart
A locked dynamite car was opened and detonated near Newport, and detectives suspected disgruntled construction workers. No one had a clue.
- The Shack on A Street: A Mother’s Defiance Against the County Physician
Mrs. McGinnis of Tacoma refuses to let her afflicted child be taken to a hospital, insisting she can care for him better than doctors while living in poverty with four other sick children.
- Tugboat Crashes into Merchants' Wharf
A mechanical failure sends a tug steaming into the trestle, scalding a cook and shaking the vessel to its bones.
- Tragedy on the Tracks at Porter
A railroad worker suffers a horrific injury while performing his duties, leading to an emergency amputation in Centralia.
- A Heartrending Tragedy in Hereford Swamp
A father's desperate attempt to rescue his children from a falling tree results in a devastating loss of three lives.
- The Great Oyster Supper Schism
A Seattle congregation splintered and fired their pastor after he refused to read notices for a church oyster social, calling the fundraising practice an affront to his ministry.
- A Desperate Act at Chimacum
A local laborer, facing destitution, ends his life in a violent explosion that rocks a small settlement.
- A Deadly Splinter in Kalama
A routine workplace injury leads to a tragic and sudden death for a ship carpenter.
- The Riotous Destruction of a Home
When a house caught fire, neighbors and bystanders didn't just help extinguish the flames—they tore the home apart.
- The Tragedy of a Duck Hunt on Cedar Creek
A young man loses his arm after a shotgun accident during a hunting trip, prompting an urgent rescue effort.
- A Splinter, a Week of Pain, and a Fatal Case of Lockjaw
Five-year-old Willie Williamson died at a Commercial Street lodging house after a tiny wound in his foot turned to tetanus.
Also about this, in other words
- A Sudden End in the Woods
A young immigrant worker killed by a falling limb near Seattle highlights the perils of early logging.
- A Circular Saw, a Jammed Board, and a Mill Hand's Narrow Escape
L. C. Grimmel lost a finger and nearly his whole hand at Johnson & Co.'s mill when a stuck board freed the saw without warning.
- Razor Attack at Lynn's Sawmill
A studious sawmill worker turned on his coworkers, slashing a man in a dispute over a poker game.
- A Saw’s Deadly Snap: A Local Man’s Leg Shattered by a Flying Blade
In a grim reminder of the dangers inherent to Aberdeen’s booming timber industry, A.J. Fields suffered a compound fracture of the femur when machinery at Karr’s new mill exploded in violence last Friday.
- A Scantling Scuffle at the Boom
A simmering dispute over local timber booms erupts in violence at Chenoise Creek.
- Violent Outburst at Kepplar's Beer Hall
A quiet game of cards on Front Street turned bloody when a ship carpenter stabbed a local plasterer, leading to a quick intervention by the Chief of Police.
- The Razor Hidden in the Underwear
A domestic dispute turns desperate when a man arrested for threatening his wife attempts to conceal a weapon during a search at the jail.
- The Midnight Schoolhouse Heist
A persistent, one-legged burglar left a trail of cane marks and cork-foot prints across the Kennewick High School, making off with hundreds of pencils and pens.