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47 stories matching wick
- The Vigilantes' Ghost: Seattle's Dark Secret in Two Maple Trees
A poem published in the *Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer* reveals the city’s foundational myth: that its current 'peaceable' order was bought with the blood of six men hanged by a secret committee when the law failed to act.
- The Lamp-Explosion Racket at Snoqualmie
Confidence men peddling a miracle powder to stop lamp explosions are run out of town after a local skeptic replicates their 'scientific' trick without the product.
- Tacoma Takes the Railroad Strike Into Federal Court
A grand jury indicts a former Northern Pacific wiper for beating strike-breakers, while a judge weighs whether union leader Charles A. Barnes's words were contempt or free speech.
- The Stranger Who Threatened to Level the Town
A vengeful drifter vows to erase a chaotic mining camp, only to return a year later and find it replaced by a civilized city.
- The Great Fish Heist of Squier's Vault
A local merchant's appetite for mountain trout leads to a humiliating prank by his associates.
- The Governor’s Unacknowledged Son
A condemned prisoner in the city jail delivers a final, shattering letter to the Governor, revealing a secret connection that exposes the cruel indifference of the ruling class.
- The Mugwump’s Ledger: How Seattle’s Territorial Secretary Gamed the Law Printing Contract
A fierce editorial exposes Secretary Owings for delaying the publication of territorial laws to favor a cronies’ printing bid, while padding the bill with 40 pages of his own party platform.
- The Midnight Kidnapping of the 'Wasco' Deckhands
A bitter labor dispute on the Seattle waterfront spills into open water as union men board a steamer to abduct non-union workers.
- The Horse Whisperer of Armory Hall
Professor O. R. Gleason packs the Armory with his controversial, high-stakes horse-taming exhibitions.
- The Treasurer Who Vanished, Then Wrote Home From Puget Sound
An Iowa county official disappeared in the 1870s. After his death, his family gathered at the Olympia Hotel to settle an estate—and letters revealed a hidden life, a bank failure, and a real-estate boom he hoped would make restitution possible.
- The Editor Who Guarded the Jail
During the chaos of the 1889 fire, Post-Intelligencer editor F. J. Grant led a militia detachment to secure the county jail's prisoners.
- The Brutal Execution of Chief Kanaskat
A vivid and harrowing account of the 1856 Puyallup conflict and the killing of the Klickitat leader.
- The 'Other' America: How Seattle's Elite Feared the 'Unassimilable' Masses
A January 1889 federal report on immigration warns that new arrivals are too different to become citizens, fueling calls for exclusion just as Seattle prepares for its own explosive growth.
- The Palouse Massacre: A Family Destroyed by Religious Mania
A farmer takes his own life after killing his wife and children in a brutal religious mania, leaving a chilling note behind.
- The State Tried to Plat Their Islands
Brawley and Kinnear went to court to stop a state tide-land plat from turning 140 acres of Elliott Bay into lots and streets.
- The Sewing Machine Tragedy
A neighborly loan of money for a sewing machine leads to a fatal confrontation on a Steilacoom road.
- When General Sherman Told Spokane Falls It Would Be a Great City
The Civil War hero arrived with Generals Miles and Tidball, drew a packed house at Canaan's Hall, and told the young town its water power could make it another Minneapolis.
- The Sausage Maker’s Long Walk for Justice
After his Skagit County homestead was ransacked, a local sausage vendor spent two weeks trudging through mud to find an officer who would actually serve a warrant, only to be met with a revolver in the woods.
- 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 Editor’s Defense of a Federal Appointee
After losing his status as Public Printer, the newspaper editor takes up the cause of the embattled Port Townsend Collector of Customs, Victor Smith.
- A Candidate for Governor Sues Two Seattle Papers for $100,000 Each
Henry J. Snively says the Post-Intelligencer and Press-Times libeled his West Virginia record in the final days of the 1892 campaign.
- The Union Veteran Who Sued the Railroad for a Million-Dollar Tacoma
Anthony P. Carr says Northern Pacific agents helped a claim-jumper steal his homestead. More than a thousand Tacoma lots—and the people living on them—depend on what the Supreme Court decides.
- The Manufacturer's Trap
A labor paper exposes the duplicitous correspondence of a prominent industrialist plotting to break union agreements.
- Stevens County's First Prohibition Convention Vows to 'Kill the Saloon' for Good
Reformers from Newport and across Stevens County met in Colville, organized a permanent Prohibition party, and asked commissioners to stop licensing saloons outside town limits.
- Anatomy of a Jailbreak
Sheriff Woolery foils a plot to escape the King County jail, uncovering acid and a sharpened knife.
Also about this, in other words
- Stopping the Smut Explosions
Innovation in threshing technology saved Washington farmers from fire and financial ruin.
- A Fatal Misstep on the Skookumchuck
A tragic river crossing in rural Washington leaves a young man dead after a single, impulsive movement.
- A Close Call at the Cleaning Shop
Static electricity turns a routine cleaning job into a dangerous fire, destroying a local shop's equipment and wardrobe.
- Fire in the Schoolhouse
A classroom incident in Whitcomb shows the dangers of oil-lamp lighting and heating.
- The Abduction and Drugging of Lody Wirt
A young girl is kidnapped at a local depot and transported to Seattle, sparking a criminal investigation.
- The Weather Bureau's Secret Weapon
An Aberdeen inventor was caught with a bizarre, Gattling-gun-style contraption designed to blast the clouds away and control the rain.
- 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.
- The Laundry Alibi
A Seattle laborer stands accused of a brutal hatchet attack, but his defense claims he was nowhere near the scene, pointing to his wife’s workplace as his only destination.