Research the archive
Narrow 25,724 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 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1911 | 1 |
21 stories matching beggar
- The Professional Beggars of Seattle
A mother is deemed unfit by the courts after training her children to beg on the city streets.
- The Tragedy of the 'Professional Beggar'
A man sentenced to three months in the county jail for vagrancy writes a desperate letter from his cell, claiming he is dying and pleading for the bail money he cannot afford.
- Seattle's Vagrancy Sweep: Work, Leave Town, or Jail
A late-night police roundup netted more than thirty tramps, beggars, and tinhorn gamblers, who were given a lecture and a three-way choice: work, leave town, or jail.
- The Candidate, the Widow, and the Missing Money
A gubernatorial candidate faces explosive charges of embezzlement from a widow in West Virginia, sparking a heated electoral scandal.
- The Streetcar Strike at a Boiling Point
A labor leader speaks out against the mayor's accusations of violence and calls for a fair living wage.
- The City Mission Responds to Claims of Idleness
After an article suggested the city's 'charity recipients' were avoiding work, a mission leader defends the dignity of the unemployed.
- Seattle's Hunger Crisis of 1894
The City Mission details the exhausting labor of local charity work during the harsh winter, struggling to feed the 'destitute' while fending off public criticism.
- The Vagabond Philosopher of Yakima
A traveling drifter offers a bizarre, theological defense of his nomadic lifestyle to a local reporter.
- The Mass Departure of Chinese Laborers
After the completion of the Cedar River extension, the Oregon Improvement Company arranged for the mass transport of 1,700 Chinese workers out of Seattle.
- The Governor’s Unacknowledged Son
A condemned prisoner in the city jail delivers a final, shattering letter to the Governor, revealing a secret connection that exposes the cruel indifference of the ruling class.
- The Price of Progress: Who Pays for Everett's Pavement?
Everett’s labor organ argues that the city’s rapid transformation into a 'metropolitan' center is crushing its working-class residents under the weight of improvement taxes.
- The Science of Charity: Seattle’s 1892 War on Beggary
Before modern social safety nets, Seattle churches pushed a 'scientific' model of charity to distinguish between the 'deserving' poor and what they termed fraudulent street mendicants.
- The Tragedy at Cle Elum
A head-on collision between a work train and a locomotive leaves construction workers dead and local physicians scrambling in the wake of the worst accident on the Northern Pacific line.
- The Wealthy Beggar of Chestnut Street
A local charity worker uncovers a surprising case of a woman posing as destitute while living in relative comfort.
- The Transformation of Seattle's 'Pencils'
A beloved local street vendor and Civil War veteran receives a surprise wardrobe upgrade from a local merchant, sparking a reflection on Seattle's unique local legends.
- The Mourning Imposter
A restaurant owner in the Atkins Block learns a hard lesson about generosity after being duped by a street beggar's elaborate tale of grief.
- The Mountains Closed: Stockmen Fight the Cascade Forest Reserve
Eastern Washington's cattle and sheep men warn that locking up the Cascades as a federal forest reserve would beggar every valley town — and train their anger on the Yakama Reservation boundary, which they want opened to their herds.
- The Beggar’s Plea: How an Old Man’s Tears Won a Judge’s Mercy
In a touching scene at the Snohomish County Courthouse, John Burner, a destitute laborer of 73 years, pleaded guilty to grand larceny not for greed, but because his starving family had no other way to eat.
- 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 City Wharf as a Stone Yard: Seattle's Plan to Put Its Idle Men to Work
A petition signed by dozens of prominent Seattle businessmen asks the city council to turn the waterfront into a public stone yard, trading honest labor for meals and lodging — and to run the beggars out of town.
- The Dairy Commissioner’s War on Adulterated Food
A Washington dairy official warns that fake honey, poisoned candy, oleomargarine and brewers’ grain are cheating farmers — and demands stronger pure-food laws.
Also about this, in other words
- The Alleyway 'Doctor'
A persistent young street peddler attempts to sell a sickly, down-and-out man an apple and some 'remedies' for his poor health, leading to a strange and chaotic confrontation.