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78 stories matching stray
- The Dog Tax That Barked Back: Seattle’s First Crackdown on Strays
In 1876, the City Council passed a law requiring every dog to wear a numbered collar and pay a tax—or face execution. The result? A chaotic hunt for unlicensed mutts and a grim new reality for the city's half-starved strays.
- The Annual Invasion of the Horse Heaven Marauders
Valley farmers reach a breaking point as wandering horses from the Horse Heaven Hills ravage local gardens and orchards with impunity.
- The Neighborhood Shotgun Stand-off
A property dispute in Colfax turns violent when a woman pulls a shotgun on her neighbor over a straying child.
- Cow vs. Streetcar: A Transit Disaster
A collision between a Spanaway streetcar and a stray cow sends two passengers to the hospital with broken bones.
- The Great Cat Deception
A lonely Seattle resident is duped by his friends into believing a stray kitten arrived by express from Massachusetts.
- The Stray That Found a Home Amid the Earthquake
When the great tremor rattled Seattle, a terrified stray pup fled for its life, only to find an unexpected new beginning in the city’s chaos.
- Blood Spilled at Pike Place During Dock Strike
A violent clash between union sympathizers and nonunion longshoremen leaves three men wounded at Seattle's public market.
- Violent Clash Erupts at Pike Place Market
A confrontation between nonunion longshoremen and strikers leaves three injured in the heart of Seattle's public market.
- The Octopus and the Seal: A Local Captain’s War Against a Washington Monopoly
In 1901, Port Townsend resident James G. Swan published affidavits from experienced hunters to debunk Professor Elliott’s claim that seal pups sink like stones, exposing the Alaska Commercial Company’s stranglehold on federal policy.
- Union and Non-Union Seamen Clash at Port Townsend
A saloon becomes a battleground as a labor dispute over shipping jobs descends into a violent, armed confrontation.
- A Child’s Desperate Escape
A twelve-year-old girl pleads with a judge to send her to reform school to escape her abusive stepfather.
- Officer Shoots Bystander During Foot Chase
A logger is wounded in the arm by a stray bullet when a policeman fires at a fleeing shoplifter in the South Third Street district.
- The 'Martial Law' Grab
An early attempt by land speculators to seize control of local governance in King County for profit.
- The Deadly Trifle: A Pharmacy Scandal in 1887 Seattle
A high-stakes criminal investigation unfolds after a mysterious book agent is implicated in the poisoning death of Richard Lyons.
- Tragedy on Pioneer Square: A Young Woman’s Brush with Death
While visitors from Victoria watched the fireworks display on Pioneer Square, a stray firecracker ignited a young woman's clothing, leading to a harrowing struggle for survival.
- The Chief of Police, The Saloon, and The Impeachment
In 1885, Seattle’s City Council moved to impeach Chief of Police James H. Woolery for allegedly turning a blind eye to unlicensed saloons and failing to enforce the law.
- The Jury That Saw No News
Confined for ten days during the anti-Chinese riots of 1885, a sequestered jury was kept in the dark about the city’s upheaval—until they caught a stray remark about New York politics.
- The Secret Railway Building Under Seattle’s Streets
While the city slept, a mysterious construction crew pushed a new railway line through the downtown core, dodging private lots and baffling local observers.
- The Letter That Turned a Railroad Strike Into a Frontier War
A Tacoma cavalryman's lurid account of fighting Indigenous people in the Olympics and riding through a strike reads like pulp fiction — and the paper knew it.
- The Bitter Taste of Fruit Returns
White Bluffs growers are reeling after receiving final payouts from the Spokane Fruit Growers Company that fell far short of promised profits.
- The City Council's Chaotic Brawl
Yakima’s local government descends into insults, filibustering, and open hostility during a session regarding city spending and official conduct.
- Bullets Through the Parlor: A Waterfront Shooting Spree Terrifies a Seattle Family
A late-night rifle-and-revolver crowd near Stone & Burnett's wharf has turned Mrs. P. Andrews's house into a target, and police still cannot find the shooters.
- The Dog-Catchers of Old Seattle
A reporter spends a harrowing night in a wagon with the city's dog-catchers, witnessing the capture of pampered pets and the cold reality of the local pound.
- Brutal Assault in Centralia
An elderly resident has his thumb bitten off during a violent neighborhood altercation in Centralia.
- A Football-Induced Carriage Accident
A leisurely morning drive in Walla Walla turns into a nightmare when a stray football startles a horse, resulting in serious injuries to a local woman.