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 |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 10 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1909 | 3 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
| 1917 | 1 |
60 stories matching blunder
- The Great Assessment Scam: How King County Taxpayers Were Fooled by 'Blunders'
A local reporter exposes the absurdity of county tax assessments, where landowners receive notices for huge back-taxes on property they already paid off, forcing them to chase down exhausted commissioners in a cycle of bureaucratic error.
- Treasurer Hill's Tax Blunder
A local civic scandal as the City Treasurer faces accusations of incompetence and overreach regarding delinquent tax sales.
- The Perils of the Telegraph
A look at the chaotic and often hilarious errors produced by local telegraph operators.
- The Sewer Blunder Heard 'Round Seattle
A multi-thousand dollar engineering failure exposes political cronyism and a laughable construction mistake on Front Street.
- Olympia's Whole City Government Quit Rather Than Face the Voters Again
After a botched bond election sank the city in debt, the mayor and councilmen resigned en masse — and the Tribune says the incoming administration must come clean about the finances before asking for another dollar.
- City Ordinances Nullified by Printing Error
A procedural blunder leaves Aberdeen's recent city ordinances legally unenforceable.
- The Day Seattle Died (And Didn’t): A Telegraphic Blunder
A faulty cable connection and a panicked operator convinced the world that local industrialist John Sherman had passed away. The resulting obituary was so lavish it nearly became his own biography.
- The Waterworks Cashier Scandal
A new administration’s nepotism costs the city hundreds in water bill blunders.
- The Socialist Block and the City Council Tax Fight
Everett’s labor paper evaluates the performance of socialist councilmen during a critical corporate tax debate.
- A Temperance Victory Built on Small-Town Spite
After a chaotic night session, the Anti-Saloon League's local-option bill cleared the Washington House — not on moral conviction, but on rural resentment of Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane.
- Railroad Blunder Leaves Fifty Stranded at Pullman
A college lecture and track meet left dozens of visitors without a ride home after a train company skipped the scheduled late-night pickup.
- The Bear That Wasn't: Seattle’s War Department Scandal
A federal court of inquiry clears the city of corruption but exposes a bizarre military blunder involving refrigerated beef and embalmed meat during the Spanish-American War.
- The Shadowy Business of Patent Medicines
A cynical drug clerk reveals the grisly truth behind 'medical' concoctions and the dangerous incompetence of the pharmacy trade in 1880s Seattle.
- The Property Battle for Old Seattle
A lawyer and property claimant fight to secure titles to a sprawling Seattle donation land claim amidst territorial legal confusion.
- The Great Railway Bribe Scandal of 1891
When the Northern Pacific Railway sent complimentary transit passes to Washington state legislators to influence a deadlocked U.S. Senate race, the blunder sparked a statewide scandal over corruption and corporate power.
- Street Grading Blunder Ruins Home
A Seattle property owner sues for $10,000 after city street work triggers landslides.
- The Judge Who Was Too High to Rule
Washington state legislators launch an impeachment investigation into a Spokane judge accused of being a 'morphine fiend' who presided over court while intoxicated.
- A Night at the Chinese Lodging House
A persistent disturbance in a Chinese boarding house leads to a violent confrontation and a jail sentence.
- The Governor Condemns the Colfax Lynching Mob
Governor McGraw orders an investigation into the extrajudicial murder of two men in Whitman County, declaring that mob violence is no substitute for the courts.
- Olympia Bought a $1,500 Sewer Map Critics Called Worthless
A letter to the editor accuses the city council of buying a stranger's sewer plan without scrutiny—complete with a harbor reservoir already condemned in San Diego.
- The Blundering Firefighters of Pioneer Square
A satirical look at a day when a local livery stable fire turned into a slapstick comedy of errors for Seattle's volunteer hook and ladder company.
- The Town That Forgot to Define Its Borders
A paperwork blunder in Kennewick’s precinct boundaries leaves residents of three major additions accidentally disenfranchised, forcing a two-month delay for harbor elections.
- Seattle’s Water Famine Blamed on Political Spoils System
A new city administration’s mass firing of experienced water department staff leads to a catastrophic loss of service during infrastructure upgrades.
- The War on Rot: Kennewick's Fruit Crisis
As WWI labor shortages threaten the local harvest, an editorial demands federal intervention to preserve the region's fruit.
- The Unlucky Prospector and the Peril of 'Dynamite Mania'
While Seattle’s elite returned from an Alaskan excursion, a local laborer named 'Jim' Ward found himself embroiled in a bizarre dispute over mining claims, accusations of sabotage, and a reputation for blowing things up.
Also about this, in other words
- A Printing Office Blunder
A romantic visit to a printing office turns disastrous for a typographer when his fiancée accidentally destroys his hours of labor.
- The Cashier’s Downfall
A Seattle Transfer Company employee’s descent from competence to embezzlement begins with a simple, hidden accounting error.
- A Bungled Case of Robbery and Bad Paperwork
A classic instance of municipal incompetence led to suspected robbers walking free after their bail money was returned due to a clerical error in the police department.
- The Jailhouse Blunder in Seattle
A man was locked away for a week without due process, exposing deep incompetence in the administration of territorial justice.
- The Unraveling of a Grifter
A well-connected drifter faces consequences after passing bad checks in local saloons.
- A Hard Lesson in Friendship
A local clerk is swindled out of $200 by a former employer who promised a return on a worthless bank draft.
- A Day of Mayhem at City Hall
A Seattle newspaper recounts a chaotic Tuesday for the city's 'reform administration' involving a runaway engine, a fired official, and a physical assault on an editor.
- A Case of Bad Checks and Regret
M. O. Sinderude is sentenced to prison after passing a worthless check at a local business, citing intoxication as his defense.