Ever hear of the town of Stanley, Washington? No? Well, don’t feel bad. It had a lifespan of only six years but in that brief time was the springboard for ambitious plans. The following article was found at random in The Chehalis Nugget, June 4, 1897: STANLEY TOWNSITE SOLD City of Boom Days to be Converted Into a Chicken Ranch “Captain John Riddell has sold to C.C. Rosenburg the townsite of Stanley, Pacific county, in which a number of Chehalis…
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library The following news article describes what was most probably the shortest jail sentence in Washington State history. This is from the Seattle Daily Times, January 20, 1906: MINUTE IN JAIL SHORTEST SENTENCE EVER PASSED GIVEN TO JOE INCARCERATION. JUDGE FRATER THINKS HE SHOULD GO TO JAIL BUT NOT STAY THERE. RESULT OF SIX MONTHS’ LITIGATION IS ONE MINUTE’S INCARCERATION. “Joe Munch yesterday received from Judge…
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library What was a life and death struggle in 1913 became a weird form of recreation in Puget Sound in the 1950s-1960s and then an environmentally taboo practice by the 1970s. I am talking, of course, about octopus wrestling. Although the story is set near Anacortes, the article was found at random in the Camas Post, August 15, 1913. A note before we start, the term…
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library Fans of Les Misérables might enjoy the following story, found at random from The Raymond Review, Sept. 3, 1913: VICTOR HUGO’S HERO REAL MAN J.B. SMITH EXEMPLIFIES JEAN VALJEAN Is Well Known in Pacific County. Returns Saturday as Harvey Giffin. “Victor Hugo’s hero of ‘Les Miserables,’ Jean Valjean, has been exemplified in real life and by a resident of Pacific County, who has during the…
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library The newspaper on microfilm reel grabbed at random this week holds a tale of “Colonel” Patrick Henry Winston and the Statue of Limitations. Yes, I meant to use the word “Statue” rather than “Statute.” You’ll see why. “Colonel” Patrick Henry Winston, Jr. was born Aug. 22, 1847 in Windsor, North Carolina, the product of a family line that had also raised Patrick Henry, one of…
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library William H. Packer was probably among the last living Civil War veterans in Washington State. In his eventful life he was able to strut and fret his hour upon the stage alongside Edwin and John Wilkes Booth, serve in the Union Army, and help found a Socialist Utopian community in Washington State. Changing his surname from Packard to Packer in order to avoid detection from…
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library Monty Python introduced us to the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, Jimmy Carter repelled an attack of a killer bunny while fishing in Georgia in 1979, and in the B-movie Night of the Lepus (1972) giant rabbits terrorize a small town in Arizona. But wait, there’s more! As Ed Wood might’ve asked, “My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about the KILLER RABBITS OF…
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library My Father was an accountant, and when he wanted us kids to get sleepy and not stay up too late, all he had to do was talk about his job. But before you dismiss the profession of accounting as a boring and tedious vocation, consider this front page story from the Sept. 14, 1911 issue of the Olympia Daily Recorder: STATE OFFICIAL IN SHERIFF’S IRONS…
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library It was a criminal story bound to generate headlines. Federal agents storm a mansion in Seattle, the home of a former Governor’s son. In the course of their search they discover a large amount of a white powdery substance hidden behind a sofa and an arrest is made. It was flour. Around 600 pounds of it. Here’s the report from the Seattle Daily Times, August…
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library By day he was a respectable insurance salesman, a churchgoing man. But by night he was one of the most dangerous criminals Seattle police had seen, performing “dark deeds of the wildest type.” Eugene F. Boucke, born around 1865, appears to have surfaced in Seattle around 1900-1901 as a carpenter, but quickly took up the occupation of insurance salesman. His secret activity of “sallying forth…