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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1883 | 5 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 4 |
| 1886 | 5 |
| 1887 | 3 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1890 | 5 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 21 |
| 1893 | 14 |
| 1894 | 10 |
| 1895 | 9 |
| 1899 | 4 |
| 1903 | 6 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 3 |
| 1923 | 1 |
117 stories matching tore
- Renton Vigilantes Tear Up Railroad Tracks
After failing to secure an injunction against the Oregon Improvement Company, fed-up citizens of Renton took matters into their own hands and destroyed a controversial spur track overnight.
- The Ship That Tore Its Own Bow Off: A Seattle Coal Vessel Lost to the Gale
In January 1877, the 1,200-ton ship *Commodore* was driven ashore at Cape Flattery in a ferocious storm. The crew survived, but the vessel—owned by local Port Ludlow resident Arthur Phinney and valued at $20,000—was destroyed.
- He Tore Up the Railroad Track, Then Flagged Down the Train
In 1877, a King County farmer named John Ross ripped up Seattle Coal & Transportation Co. rails to force a right-of-way dispute into court — then warned the locomotive before it reached the break.
- A High-Wire Act Above Fourth Street
A building mover narrowly escapes death after being swept off a roof and left dangling from telegraph wires.
- The Mob That Tore Through Chinatown
Testimony from an acting police chief details the systematic expulsion of Chinese residents from Seattle during the violent anti-Chinese riots of February 1886.
- The Mob That Tore Seattle Apart
Court testimonies from the 1886 anti-Chinese riots reveal a city in the grip of a violent, organized crusade to forcibly expel its Chinese residents.
- Guns at the Polls: Seattle’s First Ward Primary Erupts in a Street Brawl
Sheriff Woolery and saloon man John Considine tried to seize a Republican primary by arresting the election judges; Chief Rogers and his police fought back with warrants, clubs and drawn revolvers.
- The Day the Kingston Died: A Steamship Collision and the Pilot’s Tale
Pilot Gatter recounts the terrifying moments when the steamer Glenogle collided with the passenger liner Kingston in Puget Sound, sending hundreds of feet of steel into the water.
- Death on the Division Street Bridge
A morning commute turned into a catastrophe when a steel span over the Spokane River collapsed, sending two trolley cars into the freezing water.
- The Fiendish 'Joke' at the Seattle Waterfront
A saloon keeper is arrested for a brutal assault on an intoxicated man, having stuffed a burning newspaper into the man's throat as a spectacle for his patrons.
- The $500 Vote: How a Spokane Judge’s Bribery Plot Exposed Seattle’s Political Rot
In the winter of 1903, Washington’s legislature was paralyzed by a scandal involving bribed senators and a desperate governor. When Representative Metcalfe revealed he was paid to vote for Judge Calkins, the resulting investigation tore through Olympia’s elite, revealing a web of corruption that threatened to define the state’s young democracy.
- Vigilante Violence on the Tacoma Waterfront
A man is tarred and feathered by a mob of 'beachcombers' in a brutal display of frontier lawlessness.
- Inferno Consumes Roslyn Mining Town
A devastating fire tore through the canyon-bound town of Roslyn, destroying over 100 buildings and leaving the mining community in ruins.
- A Child's Plea for Help
A three-year-old girl leads an officer to a locked room to rescue her mother from an abusive husband.
- Horrific Elevator Accident at Bank Building
A young student is permanently disfigured after a teenage elevator operator plays a dangerous prank.
- The First Train Robbery in Washington Territory
Masked gunmen held up a Northern Pacific Pullman car near Hot Springs, terrorizing passengers and sparking a region-wide manhunt.
- The Unlawful Demolition of a Family Home
A Seattle property owner sues for damages after his house was forcibly torn down and hauled away by a mining company.
- The Kidnaping of Sam
A witness speaks out against the detention and deportation of a Chinese laborer by a local official.
- Mill Workers Resist Bank Seizure
When bankers attempted to seize a safe from a shuttered Aberdeen mill, furious workers threatened to 'lick any man' who tried to stop the operation.
- The Tragedy of the Chico Gulch
A minor dispute over a killed pet dog escalates into a brutal, fatal shooting in the quiet community of Chico, revealing the violent tensions lurking behind rural neighborly relations.
- The Vigilantes’ Bones: Seattle Dug Up Its Most Notorious Lynching
Thirteen years after a mob hanged three men on James Street, a county doctor exhumed their skeletons for anatomy students— ropes, necktie and all.
- A Spilled Bowl of Soup, a Fatal Shot at Camp Murray
A mess-tent quarrel between two young soldiers ended with Private Thomas Vandiver shot through the body and Private Frederick Stubbs in the county jail, claiming self-defense.
- Major Walla Walla Lumber Yard Destroyed by Suspicious Fire
A massive blaze tore through the Whitehouse-Crimmins planing mill and lumber yards early Sunday morning, leaving $75,000 in damages and sparking a local controversy over fire department performance.
- The Tragedy of 'Cowboy Mary' and the Lost Lover of Whitechapel
After her partner died by suicide, a local woman known as 'Cowboy Mary' was arrested for disorderly conduct while mourning him at a Seattle morgue.
- 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.
Also about this, in other words
- A Waterfront Brawl Over a Knife
When a sailor from the USS Iowa gets slashed in a street quarrel, he refuses to press charges against his shipmate.
- The Featherweight 'Blood' Match at South Prairie
A much-hyped prizefight between two heavyweights in a dance hall turned out to be less about violence and more about a bizarre, non-contact stalemate.
- The Logger Who Waited in Silence
A brutal ax wound and a stoic patience define the daily risks of Puyallup Valley labor in 1876.
- Explosion at the Stump
A teamster's narrow escape after a misfired blast in his land-clearing efforts.
- 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 Norwegian Teamster's Last Will: Despair, Disease, and a Sweetheart Left Behind
Fred Syvrud, a 36-year-old teamster, took his own life in a Seattle boarding house, leaving his property to a woman in Norway and blaming an incurable disease.
- Seven Tons of Banking Disaster
A construction accident at the Dr. Horton & Co. bank building left a heavy stone facade in ruins on the sidewalk after a derrick bolt sheared off.
- Steam Shovel Plunges Down Embankment
An engineer is hospitalized after a massive steam shovel collapses off a temporary track near the Northern Pacific depot.