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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 6 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 7 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
39 stories matching wager
- The Globe-Trotter, the Elks, and the $5,000 Wager
A Boston telegram called Paul Jones a fake. Seattle's own reporting found a Harvard man circling the world on a wager — and turning a paper suit into a sellout lecture.
- The Price of Populist Fervor
A political debate over the gubernatorial race ends with a local Populist organizer losing his own money in a ill-advised bet.
- The Hysterical Society's High-Stakes Wager
An Everett group formalizes their political disagreements with a signed, notarized bet on the future of Theodore Roosevelt.
- Zoe Gayton Bets the World She Can Walk It — Then Cheats at the First Tunnel
A week out of Seattle on her round-the-world wager, the pedestrian record-breaker was told she could not walk the two miles of the Northern Pacific's Stampede Tunnel. A locomotive pulled up. Everybody swore secrecy. A newspaper man heard anyway.
- The Last-Week Jam in Olympia: Liquor, Primaries and a Budget Nobody Counted
With the 60-day session expiring, Washington's lawmakers settle local option, rewrite the primary ballot, kill the initiative and abandon the joint budget committee — leaving taxpayers to foot a three-mill levy.
- The High-Stakes Wager on Walla Walla's Marshal Race
Election fever reaches a fever pitch as local bettors drop thousands on a tight race for police chief.
- The Woman Who Bet $20,000 She Could Walk Around the World
Champion pedestrian Zoe Gayton stops in Seattle before a globe-circling wager—armed with walking shoes, two revolvers, and a cocker spaniel.
- The Wheelbarrow Penance
A local landlord settles a lost election wager by wheeling his attorney through the streets of Yakima to the tune of a brass band.
- The Night Kennewick Didn't Show
A Finley Grange fair meant to buy a piano turns into a bitter lesson in small-town loyalty, with only two Kennewick families in the hall.
- The $5,000 Wager That Sent a Man Around the World With Nothing
Paul Jones reaches Seattle with $300 left to earn, a paper suit on his back, and a Boston bet that has already carried him through Japan and the Suez Canal.
- The Great Redmond Trout Betrayal
A friendly fishing wager among gentlemen turns into a formal, litigious scandal in Justice Miller's court.
- The Tragedy at the Bryant Place: A Life Cut Short in Whitman County
In November 1888, William McCloud’s death by suicide near Pullman shocked neighbors and sparked a somber inquest, revealing the quiet despair behind the frontier's bustling growth.
- The $260 Bet That Put Wenatchee on the Map
Local boys stake their reputation and cash on a baseball showdown against Seattle, signaling the town's growing confidence in the early 1900s.
- The High-Stakes Bet on the Great Northern Railway
Two Ellensburg men wagered a horse and a city lot on the specific location of the future Great Northern railroad crossing.
- A Missing Man, a Dead Wife, and a Sewing Machine Full of Money
Joseph Von Lingenau vanished after his wife died in childbirth. His friends fear murder; his neighbors remember a man coming apart.
- Eugene Debs Brings the Railroad War to Seattle—and Dares His Enemy to Debate
At a packed Armory, the American Railway Union leader accuses a railroad manager of bribery and corruption, challenging him to a public forum and a $1,000 charitable wager.
- The Padlock Swindle on the Sidewalks of Seattle
A new arrival in Seattle was relieved of his life savings by a pair of confidence men using a trick lock and a fake partnership.
- The Betting Frenzy at Pacific and Tenth
A high-stakes municipal election turns Tacoma’s city center into a chaotic, money-soaked spectacle where candidates bet on themselves and crowds swarm the streets in political delirium.
- The Tragic Cost of a Local Election Bet
A Tacoma restaurant owner took his own life after reportedly wagering his last ninety dollars on a mayoral candidate.
- The Dream of a Boat-Accessible Seattle
Contractor J.J. Cummings prepares to connect the lakes, promising a future where residents can row entirely around the city.
- Post-Election Wheelbarrow Rides and Wharf-Side Pranks
Seattle workers settle political debts with public spectacles and humiliating bets after the 1892 election.
- The Great Port Gamble Murder Trial: A Game of Wagers and Blood
In a dramatic courtroom showdown in Seattle, the trial of Ira Hummel for the murder of Michael Michelson revealed a sordid tale of gambling debts, blackmail, and a fatal argument over a silver watch.
- Seattle Wagers Half a Million on a Canal — and a Fortune on Mud
Hoping to unlock $2 million in St. Louis money, the city scrambles for a $500,000 subsidy for the Lake Washington waterway — with the dredged earth destined to turn Elliott Bay's tide flats into gold.
- The $10,000 Bet That Built Seattle’s Front Street
Superintendent Thompson risks a fortune to beat the calendar, while a separate land dispute erupts over tide flats near Grant Street.
- The High-Stakes Duel on Jackson Street
Two prominent Seattle businessmen settled a long-standing rivalry with an elaborate, heavily trained, and well-wagered foot race across a city bridge.
Also about this, in other words
- A Foolish Wager on Main Street
An overconfident local man loses money after betting his horse could outrun a human in a downtown race.
- The Editor, The Gambler, and The Incorruptible Judge
A fiery editorial from 1876 exposes a local feud between the press and the judiciary, revealing a landscape of 'dance houses,' gambling hells, and political bitterness.
- The Unlikely Enforcer of a Party Game
A jealous husband at a frontier social insists his young wife receives equal attention—or else he will settle the matter with his fists.
- The Betting Scandal at the Post-Intelligencer
When a glove contest turned sour, a local newspaper found itself at the center of a legal battle over gambling stakes and the role of the press as an impartial stakeholder.
- The Gambler Who Won by Losing His Mind
A Seattle street scene from 1876 reveals a bizarre twist on luck: a man wins $50 not by knowing the score, but by believing he did.
- A Secret Prize Fight in the Southern Woods
A small group of spectators gathered in a secluded nook to watch a 'scientific contest' between two local pugilists.
- Gambling Debt and Ceiling Signals
A high-stakes poker cheat gets caught when his victim shoots through the floor.
- The Gambler of University Street
A Seattle woman turns the tables on a local gambler who used threats of violence to bankroll his craps habit.