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 |
|---|---|
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 25 |
| 1910 | 2 |
28 stories
- Head-On in the Tunnel: A Fatal Collision Beneath Olympia
Two Northern Pacific trains met inside the Olympia tunnel, killing Engineer Warren of Tacoma and wrecking freight cars and tunnel roof.
- The Vouchers That Frightened a Capital
A widening probe into Washington State's books has forced one resignation, is about to force another, and may yet reach the governor's mansion itself.
- The Adjutant General and the Missing $40,000
Ortis Hamilton was charged with embezzling state and national military funds—and an audit found 90 percent of the Washington towns checked so far were also short.
- The House Turns on Its Insurance Commissioner
The Washington House votes unanimously to impeach Insurance Commissioner James H. Schively, opening a Senate trial that could remove him—and prolong the special session.
- The $11,000,000 Hole in Washington's School Fund
A legislative investigating committee charges that land cruisers and timber buyers colluded for decades to strip the state's school trust — and that the loss to Washington's schoolchildren may already be beyond recovery.
- The $35 Fee That Became $335: Insurance Commissioner Schively's Sliding Scale
Olympia investigators say J. H. Schively charged newly organized insurance companies whatever they would bear—then kept the difference. With 75 companies heard from and $8,000 in excess fees alleged, the evidence is headed to the governor.
- Acquitted by His Own Senate, and the Governor Says the People Will Judge Him
Washington's insurance commissioner beat all twelve impeachment charges on a 14-to-26 vote. Governor Hay called it a violation of the senators' oaths — and handed the case to the voters.
- The Furs That Arrived as Nineteen Old Magazines
A Seattle shipper's $1,920 box of furs was rifled in transit and stuffed with back issues of Everybody's — and the state supreme court says the fine print on the freight receipt is all he gets.
- The Governor Died Two Days After Taking to His Room — and Never Said Goodbye
Samuel G. Cosgrove, elected to lead Washington in November, died of Bright's disease at a California sanitarium. Olympia draped the capitol in crape, called out the National Guard, and swore in his lieutenant governor before the funeral was over.
- A Pension for the Men Who Fought the 1855–56 'Indian War'
A Vancouver man leads a campaign to pension surviving white volunteers of the Inland Northwest's 1855–56 war, a conflict the article ties to the Stevens County gold rush and Indigenous dispossession.
- 651 Bills, 13 Laws: Inside Olympia's Frantic Last Two Weeks
A deadlocked local-option fight, a women's eight-hour bill that ended in fisticuffs, and a marriage law barring 'drunkards' and the 'feeble-minded' — the 1909 legislature's chaotic home stretch.
- The Last-Week Jam in Olympia: Liquor, Primaries and a Budget Nobody Counted
With the 60-day session expiring, Washington's lawmakers settle local option, rewrite the primary ballot, kill the initiative and abandon the joint budget committee — leaving taxpayers to foot a three-mill levy.
- The Statehouse Recesses—and an Impeachment Trial Waits
Lawmakers adjourn until August 11 to try Insurance Commissioner J.H. Schively on 26 counts, capping a special session that cost $117,984 and spawned investigations of the Supreme Court and a 'Nurses' Trust Bill.'
- Washington’s Insurance Commissioner Fights Impeachment With 60 Pages and a Statute of Limitations
J. H. Schively answers all 26 articles with denials, jurisdictional objections, and a request to bar 17 senators — then points the blame at his predecessor.
- The Tax Law Said Exempt. The Attorney General Said Assess It Anyway.
Washington's attorney general advised county assessors to tax money and credits in 1908, betting the legislature's 1907 exemption would be struck down.
- Olympia Moves to Outlaw the Insanity Defense — and Gag the Press on Murders
With the 1909 session half gone, Washington's legislature advances local option and an anti-racetrack gambling bill, while a sweeping new criminal code would strip juries of the insanity plea and bar newspapers from covering homicides before trial.
- A Legislature in the Homestretch: Saloons, Gambling and a Fight Over Pledges
With days left in Olympia, Washington lawmakers weigh local option, an anti-racetrack law, a sweeping criminal code and a bill aimed at unions and suffragists.
- Eight Days, $7 Million in Requests, and a Labor Agenda Left to Die
Washington's 1909 legislature entered its final week with appropriations far outrunning revenue, more than 30 liquor bills pending, and nearly every labor measure quietly sidetracked.
- The Map That Wasn’t Evidence May Reopen a State Boundary Fight
Washington’s special attorney says the Supreme Court relied on a colored map never introduced in the Oregon-Washington boundary case.
- The 1909 Legislature Went Home With a $10 Million Tab and an Unfinished Scandal
Washington's eleventh session adjourned with record spending, a sweeping new criminal code, a local-option liquor law, an equal-suffrage referendum — and an insurance investigation the House only agreed to after the acting governor threatened to drag them back.
- Washington's First Impeachment Trial Is Losing Its Charges to a Comma
Insurance Commissioner J. H. Schively's Senate trial drops twenty-six counts down toward half of them on a technicality, while the sixty-day legislative clock runs out Saturday at midnight.
- The Governor Wants Every State Office in His Own Hands
Governor Hay will ask the legislature to make every statewide office but his and the lieutenant governor's appointive — a cabinet government for Washington — while a commission tries to untangle a legal code nobody can read.
- The Governor Calls the Legislature Back to Get Rid of an Insurance Commissioner
Olympia convenes in extraordinary session to hear the investigating committee's report on Commissioner Schively — and cannot agree on whether to impeach him or simply abolish his office out from under him.
- A $200,000 Inferno Devours Olympia's Wood Pipe Plant
A Saturday evening blaze destroys the National Wood Pipe Company plant, storage yards, four residences, and a grocery store, with losses estimated at $200,000.
- A Special Session Becomes an Impeachment Court
Washington lawmakers returned to Olympia to try Insurance Commissioner Schively, with the accused demanding that more than a dozen senators be disqualified as biased judges.