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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 5 |
| 1876 | 19 |
| 1877 | 17 |
| 1878 | 6 |
| 1880 | 5 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 14 |
| 1884 | 7 |
| 1885 | 18 |
| 1886 | 5 |
| 1887 | 11 |
| 1888 | 11 |
| 1889 | 23 |
| 1890 | 5 |
| 1891 | 18 |
| 1892 | 68 |
| 1893 | 61 |
| 1894 | 49 |
| 1895 | 46 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 8 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 18 |
| 1904 | 33 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 8 |
| 1909 | 30 |
| 1910 | 8 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 3 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 4 |
| 1917 | 5 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 2 |
526 stories matching drink
- The Chief Knew Seattle’s Dance Halls Were Selling Beer. He Had One Question.
A Post-Intelligencer investigation found liquor flowing openly in variety theaters despite state law and police orders—then the police chief asked reporters whether it was true.
- The Absinthe Defense: How a 'Swissess' and a Headache Saved a Murderer's Life
In the high-profile Spencer trial in Spokane, witnesses testified that Edward Spencer drank absinthe to sober up before killing Ella Mundt. The court heard he was 'jolly' until the end.
- The Man Who Forgot His Own Murder
Edward Spencer takes the stand in his own murder trial, claiming amnesia and absinthe-induced blackouts to explain why he shot Ella Mundt in Spokane.
- The Lonely Death on Harris Street
A worker for the Fairhaven Land Company is found dead after a final, downward spiral triggered by isolation and heavy drinking.
- The Price of the 'Effect': A Lesson in Lost Ambition
A cautionary tale of a promising man who traded his health, property, and standing for a descent into the depths of a bottle.
- The Deadly Water at Clover Creek
For years, the city has ignored the dangerous, contaminated state of the municipal water supply, preferring half-measures over a permanent solution.
- Kennewick’s Saloon Keepers Pivot to Soft Drinks
As Washington State approaches prohibition in 1916, local bar owners prepare to trade spirits for sodas, card tables, and light lunches.
- A Tragic End on the Prairie
The lonely death of a local farmer reveals the harrowing struggle against the ravages of alcoholism.
- A Christmas on the Ice King: The Climb That Saw Rainier Smoking
In 1894, Major Ingraham led six men, seven homing pigeons, and a camera onto Mount Rainier’s glaciers. They came back with frostbite, a story of steam and smoke rising from the crater—and one pigeon missing.
- The Prohibition Ploy: Licensing Soft Drinks to Stop Bootlegging
A new city ordinance requires soft drink counters to purchase a license, not for revenue, but as a lever to shut down businesses caught selling liquor.
- A Tavern Shooting Over a Refused Drink
A notorious local man opens fire in a saloon after a laborer refuses his offer to share a round.
- The Phantom Friends of Spokane: A Temperance Warning
An editorial in The Spokane Press warns that friendships forged over liquor are hollow illusions, citing William Makepeace Thackeray to argue that alcohol destroys genuine human connection.
- The High-License Fight of 1885
As Seattle grapples with the rise of saloons, local temperance advocates and city officials debate the 'high license' strategy to curb the city’s drinking problem.
- Blood on the Card Table
A festive night at an O'Brien saloon ends in a horrific murder-suicide, leaving the community reeling and questions of old grudges swirling in the air.
- The Price of a 'Bad Man's' Temper
A Seattle newspaper editorial rails against a lenient verdict for a saloon regular who murdered a bartender over a perceived slight.
- The Captain, the Dark Dock, and the Cry 'Man Overboard'
A Seattle jury weighs damages in the drowning of Capt. George Hill at Anacortes, where lanterns, liquor and a first officer's memory shape the case.
- The Darkest Hour: Temperance Leader Declares Cause 'Dead' Amidst Political Corruption
At the State Temperance Alliance meeting in Seattle, Rev. Clark Davis delivers a scathing indictment of the liquor industry's grip on politics and religion, while Rep. De Steiguer rallies support for Watson Squire.
- A Desperate Jump at the Spring Street Wharf
Deserted, drinking, and despondent, Kate Johnson tried to drown herself in Seattle harbor—then fought the men who pulled her out.
- Seattle Slams the 'Ladies' Entrance' on Saloons
After a 2,500-name petition, the city council orders saloons to keep one street entrance and bars the screened side doors and signs that drew women in.
- A $10 Bill, a Loaded Dice Game, and a Fatal Shot at the Hotel Northern
Paul K. Page's preliminary hearing lays out how a friendly dice game in a Seattle saloon turned deadly when a disputed ten-dollar bill ended in murder — and how the state's star witness had secrets of his own.
- The Snake in the Parlor: How Two Con Artists Drained an Elderly Man Dry
In May 1877, John Dowd and his accomplice targeted a respected Seattle citizen with a fake land deal, winning his trust before stealing his watch, cash, and dignity at a local saloon.
- The Wife Who Built a Saloon to Save Her Marriage
When her husband blamed his drinking on a 'dull' home life, a Seattle woman staged a radical intervention that turned their parlor into a cabaret.
- South Tacoma’s Water Crisis
A broken pumping station leaves local residents drinking from Clover Creek instead of the city's new wells.
- Violence at Easton Over a Drink
A railroad worker is shot at a station near Yakima following a refusal to share a drink.
- A Fatal Cocktail on Pike Street
A railroad foreman, suffering from heavy drinking and paranoid delusions about his son, takes his own life in a downtown boarding house.
Also about this, in other words
- The Doctor Who Walked Among Us: A Case of Acute Alcoholism
In a rare moment of public health transparency, the Snohomish Star details the physiological dangers of heavy drinking, warning that moderate consumption can turn a man into a 'walking dynamite' ready to explode at the sight of a candle.
- The Patriotic Drunkard
A Walla Walla local argues that his drinking habit is a noble contribution to the war effort.
- The Anatomy of a 'Drunk' in 1883
A local observer breaks down the social mechanics of the saloon-crawl, from the first casual invitation to the inevitable collapse on the floor.
- Kennewick Declares War on the Bottle
With state prohibition looming, the city council passes a sweeping ordinance to criminalize the possession, sale, and even the advertisement of alcohol.
- The Price of a Glass of Beer
A Seattle man faces legal consequences for a small, unthinking gesture that violated the territory's strict and discriminatory liquor laws.
- The Grape Juice Coup of the 1914 Fair
A Kennewick producer saves the Democratic Party's booth at the Puyallup Valley Fair by rebranding his grape juice as the official 'Bryan's Beverage.'
- The Con Man and the Widow
A crafty imposter poses as a weary veteran to swindle a charitable widow out of her supplies.
- The Old Publican’s Monopoly: A 1885 Labor Dispute Over Where You Drink
An 1885 editorial muses on the history of spirits and accidentally reveals how local employers used the 'company store' model to control where workers spent their wages.