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 |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 5 |
| 1879 | 4 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 37 |
| 1884 | 22 |
| 1885 | 30 |
| 1886 | 16 |
| 1887 | 59 |
| 1888 | 27 |
| 1889 | 60 |
| 1890 | 4 |
| 1891 | 46 |
| 1892 | 223 |
| 1893 | 227 |
| 1894 | 203 |
| 1895 | 161 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 4 |
| 1899 | 26 |
| 1903 | 56 |
| 1904 | 789 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 7 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 726 |
| 1910 | 3 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1916 | 7 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1924 | 3 |
46 stories
- Railroad Giant Eyes Tribal Land
A local capitalist claims the Northern Pacific railroad holds legal rights to odd-numbered land sections within the Puyallup Indian Reservation.
- Judge Hanford Rules on Native Rights to Personal Autonomy
A landmark federal court decision affirms that Indigenous citizens holding land in severalty are not subject to the same liquor restrictions as those on reservations.
- The Railroad’s Big Heist: Northern Pacific Claims Indian Land It Doesn’t Own
As the Puyallup Reservation faces a legal siege from the Northern Pacific Railway, federal officials warn that a treaty-protected land grab could strip thousands of acres from Native families for pennies on the dollar.
- The Six Who Vanished: Tacoma’s Senatorial Scandal and the Art of Political Silence
In the wake of a bitter Washington State Senate race, the six key allies of defeated candidate Judge Calkins have disappeared from public view, leaving behind a trail of bribery allegations and a furious debate over whether the election was stolen or won by superior strategy.
- Eviction Threatens Historical Black Settlement in Tacoma
A US Marshal is ordered to collect rent from 450 squatters living on a 163-acre tract established by early Black settlers.
- Caught in the Dynamo: A Tacoma Worker Squeezed to Death at His Post
Edward H. Curran was at his station in the Tacoma Light and Water Company's electric plant when the machinery pulled him through a gap far too small for a man, breaking nearly every bone in his body.
- A Tinker's Alibi: How Tumwater Witnesses Overturned a Tacoma Murder Conviction
George Stowe was serving twenty years for shooting Enoch Crosby on a Tacoma street. Then residents of Tumwater swore they had watched him mend tinware miles away on the day of the murder.
- Seven Inches in Ten Days: The Flood That Broke Puget Sound
A warm Chinook melted mountain snow into relentless rain, washing out the Northern Pacific, wrecking the Naphtha launch works, and isolating towns from Tacoma to Seattle.
- A Desperate Tailor's Public Plea at the Postmaster's Door
After his wife fled to Tacoma to work in the post office, a destitute man attempted to take his own life on the doorstep of her employer.
- The Great Squatter Takeover of 1891
A landmark court ruling in Tacoma triggered a chaotic, overnight land grab as hundreds of squatters claimed property near the city's residential core.
- The Human Cost of the Des Moines Boom
A tragic suicide in Tacoma exposes the devastating toll of speculative real estate schemes.
- Who Owns the Reservation Land?
An elder of the Puyallup tribe speaks on the controversy regarding non-tribal descendants claiming reservation land allotments.
- Tacoma’s Police Chief Under Fire
Accusations of public intoxication and failure to enforce gambling laws turn the city council into a battlefield.
- The Presidential Ambitions of Governor Laughton
Critics allege that a $50,000 geological survey appropriation is being used to fund a political vanity project.
- A $40 ‘Loan’ to a Judge Landed a Tacoma Editor in Jail
The Tacoma Evening Call’s W. A. Berry was arrested for criminal libel after allegedly saying Judge Fremont Campbell took $40 while Berry’s case was pending.
- The Wild Streets of 1891 Tacoma
Footpads, sandbaggers, and burglars turned a single winter night into a crime spree across the city’s downtown.
- The Divorce Case Slugfest
A bitter custody and alimony dispute turns physical in a Tacoma law office.
- A Sick Child, an Empty Cupboard, and $22 in the Collection Plate
A Unitarian minister in Tacoma argues that charity is only a bandage, and that a man who works hard and still cannot feed his family is the church's real problem to solve.
- The Ship That Smuggled Opium: How a Legal Loophole Freed a Vessel and $13,000 in Penalties
Judge Hanford rules that the steamer *Walla Walla* is not liable for contraband found in its cargo because the master lacked knowledge of the smuggling, setting a precedent for common carriers.
- Assault in Old Town
An Italian peddler attempts to assault two young girls, sparking a neighborhood manhunt.
- The Fifteen-Year Flood That Cut Puget Sound Apart
A massive storm inundates Puget Sound lowlands, blocks the Northern Pacific, washes out county bridges, and sends Tacoma developers scrambling to control the Puyallup River.
- The Political Toboggan: Tacoma's Revolt Against a Carpetbagger Candidate
As the state legislature prepared to convene in 1891, prominent Tacoma Republicans publicly abandoned their own local candidate, labeling him an opportunist from Indiana.
- The 'Three-Dollar' Libel Suit
A Tacoma police captain sues the local newspaper for $10,000, alleging they falsely accused him of gambling, bribery, and corruption.
- A Leap Into the Dark on the Tracks of Tacoma
A desperate local businessman chose a violent end on a moving train in South Tacoma, leaving a grieving family and a community to reckon with his tragic decision.
- The 'Toe Social' of Tacoma
A mischievous fundraising dance where bachelors bid on mystery partners based solely on a glimpse of their feet.