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 | 34 |
| 1889 | 65 |
| 1891 | 31 |
| 1892 | 246 |
| 1893 | 259 |
| 1894 | 239 |
| 1895 | 182 |
1,056 stories
- The Tragedy of a Destitute Woman
After facing poverty and failing to find a way to support herself, a woman takes her own life in a Tacoma hotel room.
- Railroad Tragedy on the Puyallup Reservation
A laborer seeking his final paycheck meets a violent end in the dense fog near Tacoma.
- The Nose on Opera Alley
A romantic dispute in Tacoma ends in a grisly, bizarre act of violence and a futile scavenger hunt through the snow.
- The Wells-Fargo Frame-Up
A detective agency is caught attempting to bribe a driver to falsely implicate two men in a $2,000 express heist.
- A Night at the Chinese Theater in Tacoma
Despite warnings of anti-Chinese agitation, a traveling troupe’s performance at the Tacoma Theater draws a packed and appreciative crowd.
- The Mysterious Government Inspector
A Tacoma man claimed a high-level federal appointment in the Department of the Interior, shaking down friends for cash before federal officials exposed the scheme as a total fabrication.
- A Tragic End at K and 11th
A Tacoma carpenter, struggling with alcoholism and personal despair, takes his own life.
- The Disappearing Lay Reader of Tacoma
A Minnesota man and church treasurer leaves his bride and his creditors behind in a cloud of financial scandal.
- The Barber Who Stole His Own Shop
Facing a rent hike, a Tacoma barber dismantled his entire business and vanished into the night.
- The Minstrel Show of High Society
Tacoma’s social elite perform in blackface for charity, reflecting the normalized racial appropriation of the 1890s.
- Suspicion After a Politician's Sudden Death
A state representative dies in an asylum, and his father suspects poisoning by atropine.
- The Newspaper War of Tacoma
A confrontation between the Ledger and the News turns physical as a publisher faces off against a union printer over the use of machinery.
- The Letter That Turned a Railroad Strike Into a Frontier War
A Tacoma cavalryman's lurid account of fighting Indigenous people in the Olympics and riding through a strike reads like pulp fiction — and the paper knew it.
- Bags of Gold and a Streetcar Auction in Tacoma
A sheriff's auction outside the Pierce County courthouse transfers the Point Defiance end of the street railway to General Electric for $82,000—with $100,000 in gold sitting in a hack.
- Six Men Climbed a Smoking Rainier in Midwinter
When Mount Rainier seemed to erupt in 1894, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer sent Maj. E. S. Ingraham and five companions up the Carbon River in deep winter to find out what was really happening.
- The Divorce Case Slugfest
A bitter custody and alimony dispute turns physical in a Tacoma law office.
- A Detective's Bizarre Extortion Claim
A Tacoma private investigator is accused of kidnapping a woman who claims he harassed her after a dispute over a $1,000 demand.
- The Saloonkeeper’s Misrepresented Nationality
A group of Norwegian citizens in Tacoma take a public stand against a local businessman claiming their heritage for political gain.
- A Mysterious Death at the Asylum
A state official dies suddenly at the Fort Steilacoom asylum, sparking local rumors and questions about the workplace environment.
- The Great Moonlight Water Pipe Heist
The Tacoma Light and Water Company sues the city after the Mayor and Board of Public Works seized their pipes under the cover of darkness.
- A Rope of Rags, a Jar of Coal Oil, and a Tacoma Arson Plot
Fire Chief Bruemmer found a carefully laid fuse running through a mortgaged tenement—just before the owner left town for Neah Bay.
- A Wife Followed Her Husband to Tacoma. Then She Swallowed Laudanum.
William Woodard's wife tracked him from Portland to the Auburn House, where she found him living with Mollie Agnew. A suicide attempt, an adultery charge and a stack of newspaper clippings followed.
- Three Banks, One Creamery, and a Race Against the Clock
Seattle and Tacoma banks claw over the last assets of an insolvent creamery, ending with a sheriff's sprint to the wharf before an injunction could land.
- The Great Buckley Fire Wipes Out East Main Street
A lumber town’s business district is reduced to ash after a mill fire jumps the tracks and consumes an entire city block.
- The General Who Laid Out Tacoma
Maj. Gen. John W. Sprague—Northern Pacific superintendent, Tacoma's first mayor and a founder of its bank and chamber—died at 74, leaving a city he helped place on the map.