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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1862 | 2 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 5 |
| 1876 | 24 |
| 1877 | 26 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 7 |
| 1882 | 4 |
| 1883 | 27 |
| 1884 | 13 |
| 1885 | 21 |
| 1886 | 18 |
| 1887 | 22 |
| 1888 | 21 |
| 1889 | 73 |
| 1890 | 9 |
| 1891 | 36 |
| 1892 | 103 |
| 1893 | 82 |
| 1894 | 96 |
| 1895 | 75 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 6 |
| 1899 | 26 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 38 |
| 1904 | 48 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 6 |
| 1909 | 53 |
| 1910 | 2 |
| 1911 | 2 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 12 |
| 1915 | 8 |
| 1916 | 8 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1918 | 2 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 3 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1929 | 2 |
913 stories matching watch
- Robbed Under the Nose of Police Headquarters: A Daring Snatch on Yesler Avenue
A visitor from the Snoqualmie hop ranch is relieved of his watch just steps from the jail, leading to a dramatic chase through a vacant lot.
- The Roadmaster's Gold Watch and the Mail Robber Who Came Back for More
Samuel Henry of the N.P.R.R. woke to find his watch gone and assumed it was a joke. A Tacoma marshal followed a hunch to a young man fresh out of the penitentiary — who confessed, sold the watch on Pacific Avenue, and then disappeared.
- The Weight of a Pawned Watch
Haunted by the shame of an unpaid debt and lost gambling funds, a Seattle man takes his own life in the lodgings above Wa Chong's store.
- A Messenger Boy, a Pawned Watch, and Badge No. 21
Detective Philbrick traced a stolen gold watch through Seattle pawnshops to a 17-year-old messenger who confessed to taking it while a woman slept.
- The Pickpocket's Busy Night
A North Bend merchant finds himself 'relieved' of his watch and his freedom after a rough night in the city's variety district.
- Watch Thief Nabbed at Lake Washington
A young man loses his gold watch and chain at the Madison Street terminus; an arrest follows, though the watch remains missing.
- The Wife Asked Three Times: 'Henry, Where Were You Monday Night?'
Already charged with a double murder in South Seattle, Henry Craemer now stands suspected of a second killing after a cheap silver watch and a pillow-rigged fire surface as evidence.
- A Banker, a Stolen Watch, and a Servant Girl’s Accusation
Herman L. Chase—already accused of assaulting his servant girl—is arrested in Tacoma after a silk robe and gold watch vanish from a hotel. His friends cry blackmail.
- Two Men Asked to Test a Seattle Schooner. Then They Tried to Kill Its Captain.
A would-be buyer and his genteel companion lured Capt. Jud La Moure into Puget Sound, attacked him with a lead sounding weight, and demanded his gold watch—until he produced a hidden revolver.
- The Pawnbroker's Brawl
A search for a stolen watch ends in a chaotic scuffle at a South Second Street pawn shop, leaving the proprietor handcuffed and the shop window shattered.
- Midnight in the New York Block: A Creditor Catches a Stock Shuffle
William Harris watched from an alley as goods were moved between Rumpf's and Mayer's stores, then helped attach the stock before dawn.
- Seattle’s 1891 Election-Eve Alarm: ‘Watch Until the Vote Is Counted’
On the eve of municipal elections, the Post-Intelligencer accuses the Democratic administration of protected gambling, a looted treasury and stacked election boards—and warns Republicans that the only danger left is the count.
- The Dream That Cracked the Theft Case
A jailed boarder's dream led police to a stolen gold watch and chain hidden under foundation blocks.
- The Great Aberdeen Watch Swindle
A traveling con artist successfully bilks residents out of hundreds of dollars, leaving them with worthless brass trinkets.
- The Watch Thief of South Third Street
A visiting businessman from Ellensburg gets an expensive education in the perils of Seattle's nightlife.
- The Making of a Young Gambler
An old-timer reflects on the inevitable slide into the high-stakes gambling dens of the territory.
- Police Pawn Shop Registry Catches Thief
An early technological shift in policing—the 'watch-book' system—allows detectives to track down stolen goods in record time.
- The Hotel Clerk’s Cold Comfort
A traveler spends a night of debauchery and wakes up convinced he’s been robbed—only to find the city's hospitality was more secure than his own memory.
- The Housekeeper and the Watch
A man who unsuccessfully campaigned for a police badge finds himself chasing a thief after a disastrous job interview.
- The Big Watch and Spectacle Fire Sale
After a brush with insolvency, a Seattle merchant pivots to an aggressive clearing-out sale of watches and musical instruments.
- A Jury Called the Franklin Mine Fire Arson. Thirty-Seven Miners Were Already Dead.
A coroner's jury found that someone deliberately set the fire that suffocated 37 workers in the Franklin mine. The only survivor described how one opened door and one stopped fan turned the gangway into a death trap.
- 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.
- A Midnight Knock, a Hidden Fortune, and a Brutal Beating on Vashon Island
Two men demand an old rancher's money, bind and club him, then ransack his cabin for a cache of cash. Seattle police arrest a suspect—and then the victim's wife.
- A Forty-Foot Leap From a Burning Lodging House
A predawn blaze in a Terrace Street rooming house forces immigrant laborers to jump from windows; one is likely fatally injured.
- The Wooden Revolver That Freed Ten Prisoners
Thomas Blanck held a jailer hostage with a carved fake gun, emptied the King County jail, and vanished into Seattle's streets.
Also about this, in other words
- The Watch Thief of Front Street
A desperate thief snatched a gold watch from a construction site, triggering a neighborhood chase that ended in a vacant lot.
- The Thief Who Stole a Watch and Then Returned It
A clumsy pickpocket at a Congregational picnic discovers that stealing from his neighbors isn't as rewarding as he expected.
- The Diamond Watch in the Woods
A hunter discovers the remains of a missing San Francisco liquor merchant in the brush near Port Townsend, ending a long mystery.
- The Night Watchman’s Leap: A Seattle Police Officer’s Brutal Fall
William Wyatt, the city's night watchman at the Union Station mail depot, suffered broken ribs and internal injuries after falling from a moving train while chasing a thief.
- The Watch Works in the Tin Box
A Tacoma police court tries to untangle a stolen gold watch, a suspicious express package, and a blackmailing letter.
- After the Great Fire, a jeweler rebuilds
While Seattle recovers from the devastation of the Great Fire, a local watchmaker pivots to new inventory to serve the city’s rebuilding efforts.
- The Watchful Companion
An elderly saloon worker dies in a local barn, found only because his dog refused to abandon the site.
- Serial Burglar Hits South G Street
A thief continues a spree of residential robberies, leaving watches behind while taking others.