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 | 62 |
| 1858 | 29 |
| 1859 | 52 |
| 1860 | 27 |
| 1861 | 101 |
| 1862 | 87 |
| 1863 | 69 |
| 1864 | 32 |
| 1865 | 11 |
| 1871 | 11 |
| 1872 | 140 |
| 1876 | 812 |
| 1877 | 678 |
| 1878 | 526 |
| 1879 | 64 |
| 1880 | 180 |
| 1882 | 130 |
| 1883 | 911 |
| 1884 | 499 |
| 1885 | 838 |
| 1886 | 492 |
| 1887 | 484 |
| 1888 | 440 |
| 1889 | 1,324 |
| 1890 | 287 |
| 1891 | 1,115 |
| 1892 | 2,855 |
| 1893 | 2,829 |
| 1894 | 2,116 |
| 1895 | 1,830 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 62 |
| 1898 | 196 |
| 1899 | 446 |
| 1900 | 114 |
| 1902 | 34 |
| 1903 | 1,332 |
| 1904 | 1,126 |
| 1905 | 124 |
| 1907 | 53 |
| 1908 | 351 |
| 1909 | 1,545 |
| 1910 | 413 |
| 1911 | 160 |
| 1912 | 73 |
| 1914 | 261 |
| 1915 | 300 |
| 1916 | 545 |
| 1917 | 332 |
| 1918 | 45 |
| 1919 | 5 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 18 |
| 1923 | 185 |
| 1924 | 151 |
| 1925 | 64 |
| 1928 | 14 |
| 1929 | 19 |
2,116 stories
- The Padlocking of Whitechapel
Chief of Police Rogers orders the eviction of forty-five women living in Seattle's historic red-light district.
- The Great Railway Tie-Up
As the Pullman strike brings regional rail service to a halt, Seattle residents look to Tacoma, where the labor struggle has turned violent and service is at a standstill.
- Ballard’s Water Main Failures Lead to Block-Wide Inferno
A fire in an avenue saloon rapidly spiraled out of control when the local water system failed to provide enough pressure to fight the flames.
- Spokane Guardsmen Refuse to Break Strike
A Washington state militia company refuses to man a non-union train, sparking a tense standoff over labor loyalty and the role of the National Guard.
- The National Guard Mutiny at Sprague
Washington militiamen refuse to break the Pullman rail strike, leading to their arrest and transport under guard.
- A Revolver at Her Ear: Mary Steel's Third Fight for a Divorce
Mary Steel's third divorce suit against David H. Steel laid bare a bitter fight over $49,000 in Seattle and Montana property—and allegations of violence, control and intimidation.
- A Dead Man’s Name on the Payroll
A Walla Walla ex-employee files twenty charges against L. T. Erwin, accusing the Yakima Indian agent of fraud, perjury, and turning the agency into a private larder.
- The Effigy in the Pine Tree
Charles Gloystein crossed Spokane County's Populists and woke to find himself hanged in straw. Then he vanished.
- A Banker, a Stolen Watch, and a Servant Girl’s Accusation
Herman L. Chase—already accused of assaulting his servant girl—is arrested in Tacoma after a silk robe and gold watch vanish from a hotel. His friends cry blackmail.
- The Accused Killer Who Wrote to Seattle Police
Oluf Ellingson was found on the Lake Washington shore with his throat cut and a razor in his hand. Four years later, suspect Tony Miller’s letter still insisted he was coming back to clear his name.
- No Work, Then Gunshots: A Tacoma Family's Despair
Albert McAchren shot his wife and himself in a Tacoma lodging house after a year without steady work; his young daughter survived to tell the story.
- A Judge Called Unpaid Hotel Work 'Mild Larceny'—and Freed the Bellboy Who Stole $1.15
Nathan Sanguinetti, a West Indian bellboy at Seattle's Rainier Hotel, was convicted of stealing a planted purse. When Judge Humes learned the hotel had made him work 18 months without pay, he called that the real crime—and a pardon followed.
- A Six-Dollar Rent Debt and a Diamond Ring Nearly Drowned Her in Lake Washington
Ethel Perkins, a lodger at a Third-and-Union boarding house, tried to end her life when her rent fell behind and a barber demanded his ring back. A stranger on the Madison street car caught her at the wharf's edge.
- The Fight for the Right to Trade
Chinese merchants detained upon returning to Seattle face a legal battle over what defines a 'merchant' versus a 'laborer' under federal law.
- The Cudahy Packing Plant Fire
A catastrophic fire destroys a waterfront warehouse, turning tons of meat into a 'seething mass of flames.'
- Coxey’s Army Prisoners Sent to Prison
Striking laborers and supporters of the 'Commonweal of Labor' are marched under guard to the Seattle docks to begin their sentences.
- Passenger Train Ambushed Near Puyallup
A passenger train traveling through the Puyallup Indian reservation is targeted by gunfire, narrowly missing a non-union engineer.
- Under Fire on the Way to Spokane: Seattle's Militia Rode Into a Rail War
Col. Joseph Green's detachment returns from Spokane after escorting a mutinied company through burned bridges, ambushes and striker country—and the city turns out to cheer.
- The Widow, the Missing Will, and the Yesler Homestead
Mary Booth lived nineteen years at Sixth and Jefferson before Henry Yesler's promised bequest vanished and the house passed into his estate.
- Pay for a Job That Wasn't There: Seattle's Employment-Agency Scam
A city council committee heard workers describe paying fees to G.W. Crane's employment office and arriving to find no jobs, with agents accused of splitting fees with contractors.
- Condemned at Home, Detained in Port Townsend: Three Men Offer to Buy Their Way Out of the Axe
Three Chinese men held by the collector of customs for being in the United States illegally were to be shipped home, where desertion from the imperial army is punished by beheading. Local Chinese merchants said a substitute could be hired to die in a man's place.
- The High Stakes Battle for Seattle’s Waterfront
A landmark legal fight reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, threatening to upend state ownership of tide lands.
- Indigenous Opposition to the Squire Bill
Jonas Stannup warns against the theft of tribal land by government commissioners, citing the suspicious nature of the 'Squire bill'.
- The Great Northern Paralyzed: A Railway Strike Grips the Northwest
American Railway Union members walk off the job, leaving trains idle and the city's rail infrastructure in limbo as local brotherhoods face a takeover by a newer, militant labor force.
- U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Private Tide Land Claims
A landmark decision solidifies the state's control over waterfront property, ending years of speculation via 'Valentine scrip'.