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.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 5 |
| 1876 | 19 |
| 1877 | 18 |
| 1878 | 6 |
| 1880 | 5 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 17 |
| 1884 | 9 |
| 1885 | 18 |
| 1886 | 5 |
| 1887 | 11 |
| 1888 | 11 |
| 1889 | 23 |
| 1890 | 5 |
| 1891 | 20 |
| 1892 | 71 |
| 1893 | 63 |
| 1894 | 54 |
| 1895 | 54 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 8 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 18 |
| 1904 | 34 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 8 |
| 1909 | 34 |
| 1910 | 12 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 3 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 4 |
| 1917 | 5 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 2 |
104 stories matching drink
- Violence at Easton Over a Drink
A railroad worker is shot at a station near Yakima following a refusal to share a drink.
- A Tragic End on the Prairie
The lonely death of a local farmer reveals the harrowing struggle against the ravages of alcoholism.
- The Milk-Drinking Controversy
A late 19th-century public health debate in Seattle challenges traditional wisdom on how, and how often, to feed the city's infants.
- The Deaf Dodge
A local drunkard tries to outsmart a judge by faking deafness, only to be tripped up by the prospect of a free drink.
- The High-License Fight of 1885
As Seattle grapples with the rise of saloons, local temperance advocates and city officials debate the 'high license' strategy to curb the city’s drinking problem.
- The Old Publican’s Monopoly: A 1885 Labor Dispute Over Where You Drink
An 1885 editorial muses on the history of spirits and accidentally reveals how local employers used the 'company store' model to control where workers spent their wages.
- The Well in the Wenas
A local carpenter, suffering from the effects of alcohol, met a gruesome and solitary end after falling into a spring in the Wenas Valley.
- The Final Round of 'Jack' Kennedy
A rough-and-tumble gold miner turned Seattle saloonkeeper leaves behind a legacy of generosity and the city’s complex, hard-drinking history.
- The Judge Who Was Only 'Sober as a Judge'
A legendary anecdote from the Seattle police court where a witness’s inadvertent insult revealed the bench's own notorious reputation for intoxication.
- The Sunday Saloon Scramble
A Seattle judge faces a conundrum from a frustrated Grand Jury: if a hotel or drug store is allowed to stay open on Sunday, exactly who gets to drink?
- Tragic Drowning on the Waterfront
A local plumber loses his life in the bay after a night of drinking.
- The Dangerous Whiskey of Washington Street
A domestic dispute turns criminal in 1887 Seattle, as a man is accused of spiking his partner’s drink with a lethal dose of sulphate.
- The Strange Death of a Traveling Salesman
A tragic overdose or a calculated theft? The suspicious death of a Seattle canvasser sparks an inquest and accusations of poisoning.
- The Wife Who Built a Saloon to Save Her Marriage
When her husband blamed his drinking on a 'dull' home life, a Seattle woman staged a radical intervention that turned their parlor into a cabaret.
- The Temperance Raid on Yesler Avenue
While the city struggled to recover from the Great Fire, police cracked down on a saloon operating in defiance of the mayor’s emergency prohibition order.
- The Tragedy at the New Mill
A violent, drunken confrontation between two laborers at a Seattle-area sawmill ends in a shocking murder-suicide.
- The Price of a 'Square Meal' for a Piano Tuner
After recovering from a drinking binge in Oroville, a hungry traveler found himself penniless—and learned the hard way that business owners in 1882 took a dim view of unpaid bills.
- The Crusade Against Seattle Saloons
A visiting revivalist prepares to lead a campaign of song and prayer against the city’s drinking establishments.
- The Tragedy on the Jackson Street Trestle
An elderly man, fleeing police custody, fell through a gap in the wooden street bridge and plunged thirty feet to his death.
- The Rogue Marshal of Tacoma
Citizens formally impeach the City Marshal for cozying up to brothel owners and ignoring the law.
- The YMCA Convention Soda Fiasco
A local boy recounts how a house full of visiting YMCA delegates led to a domestic misunderstanding involving a broken pitcher, potted plants, and a very confused father.
- The Struggle for an Honest Hour: A Farmer’s Grumble in 1888
An account from a local farm near Puyallup reveals the era's persistent struggle to balance agricultural labor with a zero-tolerance policy for drinking, echoing the intense pressure of the frontier economy.
- The Cedar River Standoff
A booze-fueled construction argument at the Black Diamond coal mines turned into an armed pursuit through the woods.
- Temperance Crusaders Demand the Ballot
A historic convention of the W.C.T.U. in Seattle adopts a radical platform demanding suffrage for women as a weapon against the 'liquor traffic.'
- The Tragedy of Owen Hughes
After losing his savings in a series of failed business ventures and railroad deals, an aging hospital steward chooses to end his life at a Seattle hotel.
Also about this, in other words
- The Anatomy of a 'Drunk' in 1883
A local observer breaks down the social mechanics of the saloon-crawl, from the first casual invitation to the inevitable collapse on the floor.