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 Soldiers Who Refused to Ride With Scabs
During the Pullman strike, a Washington National Guard company mutinied rather than travel on a train crewed by non-union men—and the colonel who disarmed them said the whole unit should be disbanded.
- The National Guard Hunts Its Own After the Railroad Strike
Washington's adjutant general orders investigations into guardsmen accused of union sympathies, disobedience, and damage to railroad property during the 1894 strike.
- The General, the Strikers, and the Company That Wouldn't Ride With a Scab Crew
Brig. Gen. A. V. Curry explains why he handed the rifles back to Spokane's Company G after its men refused to travel with a substitute crew — and why he thought the colonel who disarmed them had acted too hastily.
- Tacoma Sues Water Company for $1 Million Over a Dry Promise
City officials say Patterson Springs delivered a fraction of the promised flow, making the costly gravity system practically worthless.
- They Climbed Rainier First—and Slept in a Sulphur-Scented Ice Cave
In 1870, Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump reached Mount Rainier's summit after a brutal 10½-hour climb, then spent a freezing night beside volcanic steam vents.
- The Tide Lands Plat: A Waterfront Laid Out for Sale
State appraisers file the plat for the Tacoma tide lands, opening 600 acres of shore and mud flats to sale—unless upland owners claim them first.
- Gunfire Before Midnight: The Bratton Tragedy in Tacoma
Isaac Henry Bratton, 41, shot his wife and then himself at their Tacoma home. The couple had come from Missouri two years earlier and left three children.
- Railroad Men Pack a Tacoma Hall to Kill the Grain-Rate Bill
Seventy railroad employees — or, the P-I suspects, the roads themselves wearing workingmen's clothes — ask the Legislature to reject a bill cutting wheat freight rates. Their argument: lower rates mean lost jobs.
- The Perilous Life at the Soldiers' Home
A legislative report reveals that veterans at the Orting home are forced to carry oil lamps through the halls, risking catastrophic fire.
- The Mysterious Death of Abe Gross
A 28-year-old Tacoma dry-goods partner was found shot through the mouth in his bed. His brother's grief, a coroner's open verdict, and a city's disbelief turned a private tragedy into a public mystery.
- A Magnate's Despair: The Suicide of Paul Schulze
A Tacoma streetcar president and irrigation promoter, ruined by debt and the loss of Northern Pacific confidence, takes his own life with a chilling note about ambition.
- The Puyallup Lands Went on Sale and Almost Nobody Bid
A congressional commission put 1,100 acres of Puyallup reservation land on the block outside Tacoma, appraised at $30,000. Two days in, roughly $3,000 had been taken — and the Indians on the land were already organising their own counter-sale.
- The Treasurer's Bond and the Asylum Signature
A Tacoma bondsman says her name was forged on ex-City Treasurer George W. Boggs's bond while she was confined at Steilacoom—and that she never authorized the defense filed in her name.
- A Judge Refuses to Seat Jurors Because Tacoma Has No Money to Pay Them
Judge John Stallcup's one-man budget protest shut down his Tacoma courtroom—and exposed a broken system of delinquent taxes and unpaid jurors.
- Tragedy at the Puyallup Indian School
A young student is killed in a firearm accident during a gathering on the reservation.
- The Ghost Husband of Tacoma
A woman remarries after believing her husband died in a British train wreck, only to discover he is alive and working as a railway guard.
- The Nativists Break Ranks: A.P.A. Refuses to March With the Hibernians
Tacoma's Fourth of July celebration splits in two as the American Protective Association, objecting to Irish Catholic marchers, stages its own morning parade — and the city council votes to march in both.
- Tacoma’s Police Chief Under Fire
Accusations of public intoxication and failure to enforce gambling laws turn the city council into a battlefield.
- A Fatal Accident on Jefferson Avenue
A tragic furniture transport accident claims the life of a young girl.
- Quarantine at McNeil Island Penitentiary
An attending physician clarifies the status of a smallpox outbreak at the McNeil Island federal prison.
- Puyallup Leader Peter Stanup Found Dead in River
A prominent Puyallup leader disappears, sparking fears of foul play and 'shanghaiing' amidst intense tensions over railroad grading on the reservation.
- Judge Hanford and the Legal Battle for Exclusion
A federal judge asserts authority over state court interference in the deportation of Chinese individuals arriving in Tacoma.
- Bank Failure Sparks Assassination Attempt
- Court Ruling Limits Liability for Railway Accidents
The Supreme Court clears a railroad company of liability in a 'staking' injury, signaling a tough path for injured laborers seeking damages.
- An Act of Desperation in Tacoma
A hungry and unemployed longshoreman smashes a store window to get arrested for a warm bed and food.