Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 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 |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 3 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 3 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 3 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1872 | 4 |
| 1876 | 20 |
| 1877 | 21 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1880 | 6 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 22 |
| 1884 | 9 |
| 1885 | 32 |
| 1886 | 19 |
| 1887 | 17 |
| 1888 | 15 |
| 1889 | 50 |
| 1890 | 5 |
| 1891 | 27 |
| 1892 | 91 |
| 1893 | 88 |
| 1894 | 91 |
| 1895 | 62 |
| 1898 | 7 |
| 1899 | 13 |
| 1900 | 5 |
| 1903 | 46 |
| 1904 | 38 |
| 1905 | 4 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 6 |
| 1909 | 40 |
| 1910 | 3 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1912 | 3 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 3 |
| 1916 | 5 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1923 | 3 |
| 1925 | 1 |
| 1928 | 1 |
| 1929 | 1 |
794 stories matching commit
- 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 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.
- 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 Chief's Daughter in the Shadow of the City Named for Her Father
A San Francisco Chronicle correspondent visits Princess Angeline in her Seattle shack and finds the city proudly carving her father's face on a new business block while his daughter lives on charity.
- The Letter That Never Came: A Seattle Man’s Despair Over a Broken Heart
E.A. Kilder took his own life at the Hotel Metropole after missing a crucial message from his sweetheart, leaving behind only a tragic note to his brother.
- Hanged on a Doubt: Washington Territory's First White Execution
When John Thompson was hanged in Seattle in 1877, many believed he was guilty of manslaughter, not murder. The Dispatch made the case that the law had taken a life it should have spared.
- The Hangman's Verdict: John Thompson Convicted of Murder in Snohomish
A trial that captivated the entire Territory ends with a death sentence for a man accused of killing his friend during a drunken brawl over a card game.
- The Suicide of H. A. Ray: A Seattle Man’s Tragic End Amidst Scandal and Debt
Prominent waterworks official takes his own life in Chicago after financial ruin and a complex romantic entanglement with a woman he claimed was his sister.
- The Tragic Delusions of a Seattle Engineer
After his child died, a railroad worker spiraled into a breakdown that ended in a tragic death at the asylum, leaving his family in dire straits.
- The Battle for the Waterfront: Seattle's 1892 Railroad Struggle
As the Northern Pacific sought to claim prime space on Railroad Avenue, the city council faced a pivotal decision: prioritize corporate rail expansion or protect the public from the dangerous, crooked 'ram's horn' tracks that choked the waterfront.
- The Statehouse Heist
A political mob forcibly seizes company records from a government official in a Spokane hotel room.
- A Mother's Desperation in Spokane
After a family quarrel and a daughter's night away, Mrs. Jacob Schoder swallowed carbolic acid; her 18-year-old daughter Hattie found her and told the story from St. Luke's Hospital.
- The Dream That Found Two Bodies in Lake Washington
A double murder near Mercer Island, a suspect tried four times and never convicted, and a daughter's suicide—the lake tragedy that haunted the Colman-Patten case for years.
- A Seattle Wife Sued Her Husband for Beating Her. The Court Said She Couldn't.
Judge Osborne ruled that a married woman could not maintain a damages action against her husband for assault—even after testimony of a fist to the eye and kicks with heavy boots—sending the case to the state Supreme Court.
- A Bereaved Husband, a Faithful Dog, and a 25-Cent Room
Daniel Bauman took morphine in a downtown lodging house after his wife died at the county farm. His little black dog stayed beside the body and fought off anyone who came near.
- The Strange Tale of Henry B. Mayo
A Seattle death, a suicide note, and a landlord's theory that a man took his own life to save a condemned killer from the gallows.
- The Mercer Slough Fugitive
After escaping Steilacoom asylum by turning blankets into a rope, William Miller—a man once acquitted of a high-profile Lake Washington murder—is on the loose, sparking terror in the homes near Mercer Slough.
- A Close Call for a Young Girl
A man is held for trial after attempting to assault a girl at his cabin near the foot of Pike Street.
- The Tragedy of a Lonely Laborer
A Norwegian laborer, recently arrived in Port Townsend with a large sum of money, commits a desperate act of self-strangulation while in city jail.
- The Local Press and the Mob
A critique of Washington newspapers that refused to take a hard moral stand against lynch law.
- A Switch Thrown in the Dark: The Plot to Wreck the Portland Train
Someone opened a Northern Pacific switch on a waterfront trestle just before the night express from Seattle came through — and a quick-thinking crew stopped a hundred passengers short of the deep water.
- A Tin Box of Gold Hidden in the Rafters
South Seattle police say the hammer that killed a mother and her baby belonged to Henry Cramer — and the money taken from the dead woman's house was stashed in his shed. Now the neighbours are talking about a rope.
- The Bloody Hammer and the Brewer's Wife
Seattle prosecutors rest their murder case against Craemer after a courtroom day of fire, hidden gold, and a suspect whose hands shook at the sight of the weapon.
- City Hall Showdown: Council and Reformers Clash Over Charter Revision
A heated joint meeting of the city council and civic organizations debates whether to call a special election for a new city charter, with accusations of bullying and claims of wasted taxpayer money.
- Vigilante Violence in Roslyn
A saloon keeper is dragged from jail and lynched by a mob after a deadly dispute over a two-dollar debt.