Research the archive
Narrow 22,457 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.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 5 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 18 |
| 1893 | 5 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 4 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
| 1923 | 1 |
64 stories matching chest
- The Carpenter's Secret Compartment
A crafty smuggler’s hollowed-out tool chest, designed to look like the property of a humble working man, fails to outsmart Seattle Customs inspectors.
- The Tool Chest Heist
Three young men are caught after stealing tool chests from a construction site and selling them to fund a getaway to Victoria.
- The Tragic Death of a Fremont Postmaster
A workplace accident at the Fremont depot claims the life of Thomas C. Ralston, a man recently instrumental in exposing a local criminal conspiracy.
- A Midnight Knock, a Hidden Fortune, and a Brutal Beating on Vashon Island
Two men demand an old rancher's money, bind and club him, then ransack his cabin for a cache of cash. Seattle police arrest a suspect—and then the victim's wife.
- The One-Ton Ring That Bore Three Tons—and Left a Worker Paralyzed
Thomas O’Leary was repairing the City of Kingston when a bad iron ring gave way. He sued for $2,500, bedridden from the chest down, as doctors called him a cripple for life.
- A Silver Chest for the Political Boss
Prominent Republicans gather at the Rainier Club to honor John H. McGraw with a lavish testimonial of solid silver for his role in the senatorial contest.
- Fatal Slip at Orillia
A railroad brakeman was crushed to death while performing routine switching operations at the Orillia rail yard.
- The Midnight Butcher of Seattle
A traveler stops for the night at a remote fisherman's hut, only to find himself terrorized by the sound of steel scraping against stone.
- An Odd English Collier Sails In, and the Wharves Fill to See Her
The first ship of the new Great Eastern line ties up at Baker's wharf after eighteen days from Yokohama, carrying tea, matting and curios — and no passenger cabins at all.
- An Elder Left to Suffer
A Native American elder, brutally assaulted at a local ranch, is left on an island without medical care by city and county officials.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.
- The Tragic Cost of Seattle's Early Cable Cars
A mother sacrifices her life to save her children after a runaway cable car loses its grip at Second and Pine, exposing the perils of the city’s rapid, unregulated infrastructure boom.
- The Cabin on South Nineteenth Street
A brutal murder in Tacoma’s Italian community shocks the city, leading to a swift conviction of a man who carried holy relics to his own trial.
- The Contractor Died in the Church He Was Building
Charles R. Brown, a prosperous Seattle builder, collapsed in the gallery of the unfinished First Presbyterian Church—three minutes from work to death.
- Mystery Shooting at the Washington National Bank
A bank accountant is found with a gunshot wound to the chest, but the circumstances behind the incident remain disturbingly unclear.
- The Tragedy at No. 21 Nixons Street
A Puget Sound trader’s sudden descent into madness leaves a wife dead and himself in his blood on the floor of their attic home.
- The Slave Ship That Vanished: An Old Man’s Confession in Seattle
A weathered sailor walks into a Seattle saloon and recounts the night his crew mutinied against a slaver, only to watch the ship sink with 200 souls aboard.
- The Tragic End of a Nooksack Valley Feud
A bitter dispute over character defamation concludes in a double shooting and a frantic manhunt in the woods near Ferndale.
- Suspicion of Murder in the O’Brien Hop Fields
An Indigenous man is found dead in his cabin, sparking a desperate plea for justice from his grieving family.
- Mystery at the Admiralty Lighthouse
A teenage lighthouse keeper vanishes under suspicious circumstances after a mysterious robbery on the shores of Island County.
- The Day Seattle Shut Down: Sailors, Longshoremen and the First Labor Day
Banks, courts and public offices closed for the first time in the city's history, 2,500 people packed Pioneer Place for a 36-minute tug-of-war, and a labor orator told the crowd that good wages are the engine of everyone's prosperity.
- Fatal Family Dispute Over Squatter's Rights
A Lake Chelan property feud ends in a fatal shooting after a father and son attempt to intimidate a relative.
- Disaster on the Seattle Waterfront
A wharf collapses under the weight of cargo, sparking a bitter dispute over liability and salvage rights.
- The Mystery of the Double-Wound Suicide
A grain dealer is found dead in his office with a bullet in his head and another in his chest, raising questions of how a single gun could be responsible.
- The Beating of Henry Brown: A Runaway Elevator Boy and a Family's Violent Secret
A 14-year-old black elevator operator flees his home after a savage whipping by his father, revealing a tangled story of poverty, pride, and punishment in 1894 Seattle.