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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 16 |
| 1877 | 11 |
| 1878 | 7 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 15 |
| 1884 | 9 |
| 1885 | 6 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 7 |
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 15 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 13 |
| 1892 | 46 |
| 1893 | 28 |
| 1894 | 27 |
| 1895 | 56 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 8 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 16 |
| 1904 | 8 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 11 |
| 1909 | 22 |
| 1910 | 4 |
| 1914 | 3 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 4 |
| 1917 | 4 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1928 | 1 |
364 stories matching undertak
- A Funeral with Flowers, a Minister—and No Mourners
Vina Kelly's funeral became a public spectacle when her family failed to appear. Then the coroner's post-mortem answered a rumored pregnancy and found pneumonia.
- The 'Corpse' Who Sat Up and Ran for the Bay
A wharf loafer mistaken for a corpse startled undertakers when he sat up in the receiving box, bolted for the water and fled uptown.
- The Vigil Outside the Funeral Home
A morbid curiosity draws crowds to an undertaker's shop, where skeptical observers refuse to believe a woman has passed away, even after medical confirmation.
- The Ghost Hand of a Seattle Brakeman
After a gruesome industrial accident, a local railroad worker claimed his severed hand was 'following' him, leading to a strange and macabre search by local undertakers.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died 150 Feet From Safety
An 1894 coroner's jury in Franklin, Washington, heard how a small fire in the Oregon Improvement Company's coal mine became a wall of smoke — and why the men who could have escaped stayed to fight it.
- The Cold-Blooded Murder at the Copper Chief
A Seattle bartender is gunned down over a dispute about drink tabs, leading to a grim scene at the local undertaker's.
- The Woman They Refused to Bury
When Catherine Costillo was pronounced dead of pneumonia, her husband grew convinced she was merely in a deep, spirit-touched trance, sparking a bizarre standoff at a Seattle undertaking parlor.
- Undertaker and Brewer Clash Over Maiden's Affection
A romantic rivalry in a Seattle-area suburb descends into a bloody duel with swords.
- A Second Marriage, a Lawsuit, and a Newport Undertaker's Collapse
Henry A. Miller's furniture and undertaking business is handed to creditors after family troubles and litigation drain a once-profitable trade.
- Undertaker Moves to Town
With no doctor in town, the local undertaker decides it is time to set up shop in Oroville.
- The Kicked Coffin and the Girl With Two Names
A reporter's accidental kick led Seattle authorities to a body first identified as Myrtle Cook, then as Emily Hall - an Englishwoman whose death at a private lying-in hospital ended with arrests and a Birmingham minister's letters.
- 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 $3 Million Scheme to Turn Seattle's Tide Flats into Dry Land
A private company plans to dredge the Duwamish and fill Elliott Bay's mudflats — paid not in cash but in land and liens — while St. Louis money waits to see the ground before it bets.
- The City That Couldn't Pay Its Bills: Seattle’s Fiscal Crisis and the Fight for Expansion
Mayor Moran and Councilman Dane plead with citizens to understand why street paving is stalled and sewer plans are shelved—not from laziness, but because state law caps the city's debt just as the population doubles.
- 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.
- One Man Races the Chiefs to Washington to Open the Reservation
James Reuben of Lapwai passes through Spokane bound for the capital, determined to break his own powerful chiefs and see the Nez Perce reservation opened — and the first purchase money paid out to the poor families who need it.
- Seattle Raises a Half-Million to Cut a Canal to the Sea
In a dreary year, the Queen City's newsboys, millionaires and merchants finished a voluntary $500,000 subsidy for the Lake Washington ship canal—proof, admirers said, that Seattle could fight its own battles and win.
- The Tattooed Stranger in Fifteen Inches of Water
A man is found drowned in a shallow slough near the Little Spokane River. No wallet, no name—only tattoos, a pocket comb, and an old razor blade.
- The Sunday Saloon Scramble
A Seattle judge faces a conundrum from a frustrated Grand Jury: if a hotel or drug store is allowed to stay open on Sunday, exactly who gets to drink?
- The Elevator Man Who Fell Through the Transom
Joseph Albright had run the elevator in the Seattle National Bank building for barely a month when a half-second's slip crushed him between cage and door — and sent his body through the glass over the ground-floor entrance.
- Spokane Judge Rejects a Cut-Rate Pauper Burial Contract
A county deal that paid a premium on each pauper's grave is struck down as against public policy—even after another bidder offered to bury the dead for a penny apiece.
- Metaline's Mines Are Ready to Roar—If the Railroad Arrives
With the Idaho Washington Northern extending toward Sullivan Creek, Metaline district companies are staffing up, building mills, and betting on a shipping boom.
- The Swamp That Was: How a Drainage Project Threatened to Reclaim King County’s Wetlands
In 1876, local farmers petitioned the county to drain the marshes between White and Black rivers, arguing that reclamation would boost public health and add millions to the region's wealth.
- A Community's Mercy: How Seattle Rallied for a Widow in Crisis
When an immigrant family faced the indignity of a pauper's grave, neighbors and strangers stepped in to ensure dignity for the dead and survival for the living.
- Fake Heirs Besiege a Seattle Undertaker for an Avalanche Victim's Body
Jacob Brackmann died in the Wellington slide, leaving $40,000 to $50,000 and an identification problem. Strangers claiming to be family called day and night.