Research the archive
Narrow 27,002 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine2 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 330 |
| 1889 | 821 |
| 1891 | 345 |
| 1892 | 1,428 |
| 1893 | 1,737 |
| 1894 | 1,323 |
| 1895 | 1,115 |
7,099 stories
- A Marriage Built on Lies and Swindling
A husband files for divorce claiming his wife wasn't the 'virtuous girl' he was promised, leading his wife to reveal he was actually a confidence man trying to recruit her into his schemes.
- The Great Bail Bond Fiasco
Two swindlers arrested on a Puget Sound steamer have vanished after a two-year legal delay, leaving the state helpless to punish them.
- The Demand for Life-Saving Guard Rails
A witness to a horrific accident involving a child and a cable car calls for mandatory safety equipment on Seattle transit.
- A Nighttime Stabbing in Downtown Seattle
A witness reports a violent, unexplained knife attack at a downtown intersection, yet the victim vanished before help could arrive.
- The 'Twin Brother' Defense
A Seattle man facing perjury charges for allegedly smuggling a woman into the country claimed his previous testimony about her identity was just a mistake regarding his twin.
- The Price of Pioneer Street
A suspected incendiary blaze tears through a grocery and saloon, narrowly missing the Kink Opera House.
- The Saloonkeeper's Legal Loophole
A Seattle business owner successfully challenged city regulators by arguing that a valid, unexpired license remains binding even after moving to a new storefront.
- A Sailor's Last Ride on the Duwamish Bridge
Alexander McRae came from New York to take charge of a lumber barkentine. Near South Park he tried to board a moving streetcar, fell twenty feet through a bridge, and died before reaching Seattle.
- A Missing Paper, a Man Detained at the Wharf
Federal Chinese Exclusion enforcement turned on a residency certificate Yee Wing said he had lost.
- The Beating of Henry Brown: A Runaway Elevator Boy and a Family's Violent Secret
A 14-year-old black elevator operator flees his home after a savage whipping by his father, revealing a tangled story of poverty, pride, and punishment in 1894 Seattle.
- The Minister Who Called the A.P.A. a Political Machine—and Named Names
Rev. William Carnes says he quit Seattle’s A.P.A. lodge after it was used to carry secret school-board charges and promote candidates for sheriff, commissioner and coroner.
- A Landlord, a Seized Trunk, and a Lady Left in Her Shift
After months on the run, a Populist orator is arrested at a poultry show for holding a tenant's only clothes hostage over unpaid rent.
- Pike Street Runs Into a Lake: The Man Hired to Untangle Seattle's Eight-Named Streets
In 1895 the city handed City Engineer Thomson the worst street-naming mess on the Pacific Coast — five Cedar streets, three Adams, four Elliotts — and one road with eight different names. Then the ladies of Queen Anne Hill went to war over who got to be Highland Avenue.
- A Judge Reverses Himself and Lets the Gamblers Walk
A raid on Moy Lung's Washington Street gambling house netted twenty-two Chinese men. Then Municipal Judge Glasgow dismissed the cases, reversed a guilty verdict, and remitted the one fine he had already imposed.
- Nativist Rally at Ranke Hall: 'Close the Gates'
In 1895 Seattle, an anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant A. P. A. meeting warned of 'unrestricted immigration' and claimed Catholic nurses secretly baptized Protestant infants.
- The Night a Belltown Real Estate Agent Fought Five Officers and Yelled 'Murder'
J.J. Middleton was taken from his home near Front and Virginia streets in a fit of violent insanity, convinced that a cabal at the post office was plotting to seize his property.
- A Divorce Suit Reveals a Secret Life
A Seattle woman sues for divorce, alleging her husband is living a double life under an assumed name while employed by the city.
- Six Italians Escaped a Shanghai Trap on the Port Townsend Waterfront
Lured from a Seattle boarding house with promises of dock work, six Italian laborers found themselves booked for a South American ship—and walked back to Seattle to demand charges.
- Longshoremen Halt the Coal Dock
A standoff over wages at the Seattle coal docks ended with a demonstration that forced non-union laborers to walk off the job.
- The Great Courthouse Location Battle
Prominent citizens join a protest against building the new county courthouse on a high hill that is inaccessible and inconvenient.
- The Razor Hidden in the Underwear
A domestic dispute turns desperate when a man arrested for threatening his wife attempts to conceal a weapon during a search at the jail.
- Tragedy at the wharf: The lonely death of Harvey Burrell
A former county clerk meets a grim end in the Seattle harbor after wandering down to the docks at night.
- Fatal Landslide Near Richmond Beach
A foreman is buried alive after returning to a construction site to retrieve his coat as the earth gives way.
- The Waterfront Rail War
Tensions mount between the Great Northern and Lake Shore railroads over property rights on the Seattle water front.
- Late Night Assault at a Front Street Restaurant
A restaurant cook survives an assault after being struck with a revolver by a man who infiltrated the back of the establishment.