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157 stories matching whistl
- The Whistle That Broke a Marriage: A Trainer’s Flight from His Own Scheme
When Alfred Nickella’s wife bought a police whistle to protect herself from his threats, the device backfired spectacularly, sending the horse trainer fleeing Seattle in haste.
- The Train That Didn't Whistle
A Seattle teamster loses a leg at a blind railroad crossing, and the Washington Supreme Court weighs whether his failure to stop and listen bars his claim against the Northern Pacific.
- The 75-Year-Old Whistling-Buoy Inventor Comes to Fit the Navy's 600-Ton Gate
James Bigler, who has built the giant steel caissons in every government dry dock in the country, arrives on Puget Sound to assemble the mammoth gate for the Port Orchard dock — a 600-ton steel vessel shipped in pieces around Cape Horn.
- 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.
- The Steamboat That Dared the Rapids
Captain James W. Troup pilots the steamer *Hasalo* through the treacherous Cascades of the Columbia River in a feat of navigation that thrilled onlookers and defied death.
- Sound Steamer Nearly Cut in Two
A mechanical failure leads to a collision near Point-No-Point, forcing the crew to beach the sinking steamer Colfax.
- Mill Whistle Stampedes Team
A local teamster suffers serious injuries after a mill whistle spooks his horses, leading to a runaway accident.
- A Clawhammer, a Tin Whistle, and a Judge Fight: Tacoma’s Wild 1894 Convention
Pierce County Republicans met in Tacoma to endorse Judge Pritchard for the Supreme Court. By 2 a.m. they had doused the lights, blown a tin whistle, and adjourned without deciding.
- The Fighting Bulldog of the Navy Departs
Amid steam whistles and cheering crowds, the battleship USS Iowa successfully navigated the Port Orchard dry dock, proving the facility’s superiority over its East Coast rivals.
- Seattle Turns Out for the Whaleback
A strange steel steamer built in Everett glides into Seattle, drawing crowds, whistles, and one skeptical old skipper.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died Because They Stayed to Fight the Fire
A blaze in the Franklin coal mine sent smoke through the gangways on Aug. 24, 1894, killing 37 men and boys who thought they had time to escape.
- The Cowcatcher Lifted Her Into the Air, and Then They Took Her Home
An elderly Native woman walking the Northern Pacific tracks below town is swept up by the overland express — and walks away from it, carried off by her mother and son.
- The Tragedy on Trestle No. 4
A father's desperate attempt to walk his children to safety during a heavy snowstorm ends in a devastating train accident on the outskirts of Tacoma.
- South Bend’s Mill Burns While the Hose Company Stays Home
The Willapa Cedar Lumber Company’s mill and dry house burn to the ground; a kerosene-soaked fireball and a short hose supply leave the town reeling.
- Bloody Brawl at a Terrace Street Lodging House
A landlord and his tenant end up in a violent altercation involving knives and a police whistle after an eviction dispute.
- The Whistle Heard 'Round the River
As the Dalles-Celilo canal prepares to open, cities along the Columbia plan a cacophonous celebration involving steamships, patriotic noise-making, and even train engines parked at the riverbank to add to the din.
- The Senator’s Homecoming: A City Roars for Watson Squire
Thousands line the Seattle waterfront as the Bailey Gatzert steamer arrives, carrying newly re-elected U.S. Senator Watson C. Squire home from Olympia in a spontaneous ovation of cheers, champagne christenings, and civic pride.
- Garrison Target Practice Terrorizes Road
Target practice at Fort Walla Walla turns dangerous as stray rifle fire sends bullets whistling past civilians on a public road.
- The Mountain That Watched: Fire on Mount Rainier’s Peak
As Seattle and Portland celebrated the Fourth of July with parades and speeches, a mysterious signal fire blazed atop Mount Rainier, drawing thousands of eyes to the sky.
- Steamboats and Gold Dreams on the Skagit
A traveler recounts the frantic race of riverboats up the Skagit and the sudden discovery of gold nuggets high above the river, fueling hopes for a new frontier.
- Street Brawl Erupts as Police Attempt Arrest
A routine police arrest for prostitution in a boarding house spiraled into a violent scuffle between officers and the proprietor.
- A Seattle Expedition Sets Out to Map Mount Rainier's Glaciers—and Find a Hidden Volcano
Major Ingraham's party leaves Seattle for three weeks on the mountain, hoping to name glaciers, test mineral springs, and locate a smoking volcano seen from the foothills.
- Nine Residents, Then None: Wolf’s Landing Goes Bust
A Newport correspondent reports that Wolf’s Landing has lost every resident, its steamboats no longer whistle, and even the real-estate men have fled to Newport. A lone police chief will watch the deserted village this winter.
- The Tragedy at Pontiac Station
A deaf man walking along the tracks is struck and killed by a passenger train near Seattle, highlighting the lethal risks of early transit infrastructure.
- The Final Voyage of the Eritrea
A Chilean ship navigating the Strait of Juan de Fuca mistakenly identified a fog signal, leading to a total wreck on Dungeness Spit.
Also about this, in other words
- A Night of Whist and Crokignole in 1889 Seattle
A surprise party for Miss Fannie McKay at her family home on Fourth and Yesler offers a glimpse into the parlor social life of early Seattle.
- John Wiley's Whiskers Steal a 25–15 Ballgame
A comedian's two-base hit, a 1,000-person crowd, and a disastrous first inning turned a grudge match between the Jacobites and Philistines into Seattle's strangest sporting spectacle of 1894.
- The Daughters Who Hauled Telephone Poles to Pay for School
W. J. Whiting sued Lindsley Bros. over $350 worth of telephone poles cut on his Pend Oreille ranch; his daughters testified they drove horses and dragged the poles to the river after their father promised them the sale money for school.
- The Runaway Horse and the Vanishing Whiskers
A local man's vanity is literally snatched away by a runaway horse during a dramatic street rescue in downtown Seattle.
- The Iron-Jawed Worm That Ate Seattle's Wharves
At the foot of Harrison Street, the Colman family has a new weapon against the teredo worm: steam, a vacuum, and a dose of dead oil of tar.
- A Scantling Scuffle at the Boom
A simmering dispute over local timber booms erupts in violence at Chenoise Creek.
- The Hay Thief, the Bathtub, and the Shotgun Out of Repair
A Westside barn alarm turns into a comic opera of nightshirts, a borrowed shotgun and one stolen bale of hay.
- A Nun, a Frightened Team, and a Forty-Foot Plunge on Whidbey
Sister Gertrude was driving alone on church work when her buggy backed over an Admiralty Head bluff. She survived the fall—and was nursed at the lighthouse.