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138 stories matching stamped
- Merchants Declare War on Trading Stamps
Local business owners organize to reject the popular, yet controversial, loyalty program system.
- The War on Trading Stamps
Tacoma merchants rally at the Chamber of Commerce to curb the influence of retail discount stamps.
- The Box of Cherries That Made the Railroad Pay Up
Walla Walla shippers turned a single unstamped crate into a daily $50-fine threat—until Northern Pacific headquarters blinked.
- The Great Cigar Conspiracy: Seattle Swept Up in Federal Raid
Federal agents seize 12,000 counterfeit cigars in the city's tenderloin, exposing a massive fraud ring stretching from Pennsylvania to the Pacific Northwest.
- The Tiny Post Office Outperforming Cities
While the nation mobilizes for the Great War, the remote community of Paterson sets a local sales record for War Savings stamps that eclipses larger towns.
- Seattle’s Post Office Was a Public Nuisance
Letters sat for a day, stamps ran short, and clerks were worked to exhaustion while the postmaster earned about $85 a month. In 1883, Seattle’s mail service was barely functioning.
- The Tear-Off Ballot Stub and the $25 Fine for Not Voting
Two 1893 bills proposed a perforated anti-fraud ballot and compulsory voting with transient polling places, hoping to end vote buying in Washington.
- Huntsville Merchants Declare War on Trading Stamps
Local business owners unite to end a lucrative, one-sided loyalty program that had been draining local profits.
- The Revenue Agent’s Cigar Seizure
Federal agents seize counterfeit cigars in downtown Seattle, forcing shop owners to pay a 'compromise' tax to keep their stock.
- The New Columbian Stamps Debut in Seattle
A commemorative series featuring historical scenes marks a new era in American postal design, arriving at the Seattle Post Office on New Year's Day, 1893.
- Gold Bars Arrive in Kennewick
A local mining company displays the first haul from its new stamp mill, fueling regional investment excitement.
- The Boycott of 'Carsten' Meat
The Everett Trades Council issues a formal blacklist of local grocers, directing union members toward preferred meat sources.
- Two Offices Hang on a Pile of Double-Marked Ballots
Lawyers spend a full day before Judge Langley fighting over the sheriff's and coroner's seats, as Moyer and Van de Vanter trade technicalities over initials, stamps and hundreds of spoiled ballots.
- A Gold Rush Camp Called Ives Booms at the Mouth of the Methow
A mining promoter describes a brand-new Okanogan County town of 400 souls, a five-stamp mill running night and day, and a valley filling with prospectors.
- The Riverboat Captain Who Was Everyone’s Personal Errands Boy
Before the age of reliable logistics, the Snohomish riverboat captain was the community’s unofficial delivery service, tasked with everything from baby shoes to engine parts.
- The Smallpox Siege: Seattle’s Health Officer Declares War on a Deadly Visitor
As a British immigrant arrives with the plague and a neighbor falls ill, Dr. Eames orders quarantine guards to seal off infected homes in an attempt to stamp out the outbreak.
- The Battle for the Stamp Window
Tacoma citizens stage a successful revolt against their postmaster to save the jobs of female clerks.
- The Auditor and the Postage Stamp Heist
A political scandal unfolds as a former auditor tries to justify cashing a $120 county warrant he was previously ordered to destroy.
- A Mill Worker Vanishes, Leaving a Stamped Letter and a Shanghaiing Theory
J. R. Flack left his Tacoma room without his clothes or wages. His boss at Wheeler, Osgood & Co. suspects the former sailor was “shanghaied” aboard a vessel.
- The Dairy Commissioner’s War on Adulterated Food
A Washington dairy official warns that fake honey, poisoned candy, oleomargarine and brewers’ grain are cheating farmers — and demands stronger pure-food laws.
- Gold Rush Consolidation in the Peshastin
A newly reorganized mining firm prepares to open a twenty-stamp mill, signaling a massive ramp-up in North Cascades gold extraction.
- The Clumsy Forgery of a Political Appointment
Dr. Alfred N. Marion was amused to receive a fake appointment letter as deputy collector of customs, a prank aimed at Seattle's political circles.
- The Doctor Who Wanted Everything
A Prince Edward Island physician wrote to a Seattle paper requesting a mountain of free market research, leading the editors to publicly shame him for his stinginess.
- Government to Build School for Pend Oreille Indians as Settlers Push for Removal
A new school is planned for Indigenous families opposite Cusick, but the report reveals settler pressure to move them off prime hay lands and allot the land instead.
- The Mob Violence Trial That Shook 1885 Seattle
A jury acquits a man accused of murdering Chinese laborers in Squak Valley, sparking chaotic courtroom protests.
Also about this, in other words
- The Paper That Stood Between Jung Wing and Deportation
Arrested at a Point Roberts cannery for lacking a registration certificate, Jung Wing wins a month to prove he is the man named on a lost Portland certificate—or face deportation.
- The Mayor’s Sealed Envelope: A City Holds Its Breath
Mayor Humes returns the saloon redistricting ordinance to the City Council in a sealed envelope, sparking wild speculation about whether he has vetoed the measure or simply signed it into law.
- A Forged Check and a Clean Getaway
A discharged Tobin camp laborer signed his former boss’s name, cashed the check in Newport, and vanished before the bank caught on.
- The Forgotten Safety Practice of 1885
A century and a half before GPS trackers, a Snohomish County editor offered a simple, low-tech solution for the perennial heartbreak of a lost child: use indelible ink.
- The 15-Cent Street Signs That Became a Graft Scandal
A councilman nicknamed 'Boss' hands out a street-sign contract on his own authority, and the town asks why it is buying throwaway tin markers instead of signs that last — at the people's expense.
- Cracksmen Drilled the Safe and Vanished Toward the Water
Professional burglars breached Bremerton's post office near the navy yard, hauled a 125-pound strongbox over a wire screen, and likely escaped by boat.
- The Tacoma City Hall 'Hold Up'
The Tacoma City Council railroaded a controversial printing contract through despite fierce protest from minority members who claimed it was illegal.
- The Mail-Order Crank of Seattle
A local mining broker faces prison for years of threatening and scurrilous letters sent to the Post-Intelligencer and national leaders.