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 | 7 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1883 | 4 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 7 |
| 1890 | 3 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 7 |
| 1893 | 17 |
| 1894 | 15 |
| 1895 | 12 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 4 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 6 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1910 | 4 |
| 1911 | 2 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 4 |
| 1928 | 1 |
129 stories matching fool
- The Abandoned Infant on Third Street
An April Fool's Day prank turns somber when a prominent Seattle real estate developer finds a newborn left on his doorstep.
- The Wooden Revolver That Sprung Tom Blanck
A murderer awaiting appeal in the King County jail used a hand-carved fake gun to force his way past the night jailer, then vanished into the Black River woods as a sheriff's posse rushed south by special train.
- The Great Seattle Manhole Swindle
A persistent insurance claim agent uncovers a ring of traveling grifters who fooled the city council into paying thousands for imaginary injuries.
- Scandal and Manners at the Grange Hall
An April Fool's party gone wrong triggers a public airing of grievances regarding youth behavior and adult etiquette.
- The Political Prostitutes of the Turner Camp
A fiery editorial denounces two local politicians for switching allegiances in a high-stakes U.S. Senate nomination fight.
- The Boom's Bill Comes Due: Chehalis County Taxpayers Foot the Cost
An Aberdeen editor tallies a quarter-million-dollar tax burden and blames real-estate speculators who promoted 'fool improvements' during the boom, then slipped out of paying.
- The 'Odd Fellow' and the Suspicious Wife
A Seattle man's secret late-night meetings with his fraternal order spark a domestic showdown over 'goat riding,' moral uprightness, and marital suspicion.
- The Garden Prank That Sour-Ed a Marriage
A husband’s elaborate scheme to fool his wife with gilded pebbles backfires, leaving the household in a state of icy tension.
- An April Fool’s Joke Gone Wrong
A local office prank involving 'hard-boiled' eggs and croton oil turns into a bitter lesson in Seattle workplace etiquette.
- The Sawmill That Silenced the Doubters
When E. B. Bennett Waters' mill turned out its first lumber, the local skeptics who had called the projectors fools had to hold their peace.
- The Telephone Dust Prank
A creative hoax in a small town fooled local housewives into wrapping their telephones in rags to 'blow out the dust.'
- The Great Tacoma Water Grift
How a corrupt water monopoly swindled the city out of nearly $1.5 million for a tainted water supply, leaving residents with a decade of filth.
- The Sheriff Who Wouldn't Shield the Strikers: A Labor Standoff in Newcastle
When a coal mine strike erupted in Newcastle, King County, Sheriff Cochrane refused to protect workers willing to cross the picket line, sparking a public confrontation with the mine superintendent and accusations of union intimidation.
- The Night the Coal Ran: How a Company Outsmarted Strikers with Negro Labor and Winchester Rifles
In a brazen move to break the Koslyn coal strike, company managers smuggled in replacement workers from Illinois under cover of darkness, escorted by armed deputies who fired through the sleeping village of Seattle.
- The Trial of a Seattle Predator
A harrowing look inside the coercive control and exploitation used by a man against his partner, as revealed through their private correspondence in court.
- The Wooden Revolver That Freed Ten Prisoners
Thomas Blanck held a jailer hostage with a carved fake gun, emptied the King County jail, and vanished into Seattle's streets.
- The Strikebreakers Who Became Policemen
During a four-month strike at Sumner Iron Works, Everett's police commission armed strikebreakers with police authority—and the Labor Journal demanded to know who was protecting whom.
- A Chinese Student's 1929 Speech Named the Racism Washington Tried to Forget
At the University of Washington's Cosmopolitan Club, Wesley Kai Hwa Kwang catalogued a century of anti-Chinese violence — including the 1885 killings in Squak Valley and the burning of Tacoma's Chinatown — and asked a white audience to account for it.
- Tacoma Park Board Erupts in 'Fossil' Feud
Facing mounting debt and public scrutiny, the city's Park Board lashes out at 'meddlers' and critics.
- City Hall Under Siege
Mayor Ronald is coerced by a stormy aldermanic caucus into appointing J. M. Wolfe to the Board of Public Works.
- The Agnostic Sermon at St. Mark's
A clergyman challenges the rising tide of skepticism and materialistic 'dogmatism' in 1893 Seattle.
- The Tangled Web of Tacoma’s Water Scandal
Public confidence in Tacoma city finances erodes as taxpayers learn the treasurer's bondsmen are heavily linked to failed banks and dubious deals.
- The Alderman, the Streetcar Man, and the Offer to 'Make It All Right'
Alderman J. Eugene Jordan answers a St. Louis letter from street-railway manager E. F. Wittler, denying personal spite while insisting that an investigation will expose who tried to buy a vote on the car lines.
- He Loved Her Too Much to Marry Her
Adam Gehm, a Bavarian logger working in Carbonado, shot himself in a Seattle lodging house after confessing to a friend that illness left him unable to provide for the woman he loved. He had tried once before.
- The Alibi That Could Save a Condemned Man
A condemned man's fate hinges on a Tacoma Labor Day alibi, a jailhouse confession, and a tailor who may have been pressured to identify bloody clothes.
Also about this, in other words
- A Fool’s Errand at Leschi Park
A traveler, sick and seeking vacation, was 'taken' by a group of gamblers at the waterfront pavilion, leading to a trial that exposed the city's predatory underworld.
- A Foolish Wager on Main Street
An overconfident local man loses money after betting his horse could outrun a human in a downtown race.
- A Dramatic Arrest and a 'Whisky Fit' at the Police Station
A suspect arrested for jumping a boarding house bill and passing bogus checks collapses in his wife's arms while in police custody.
- The Smooth Stranger’s Trap: A Banker’s Warning Against the 'Get Rich Quick' Scam
In 1920s Kennewick, local banks warned citizens that 'smooth strangers' peddling investments were likely frauds, urging residents to keep their money in trusted institutions rather than chasing phantom profits.
- The 'Smart' Grift: A Frontier Romance Scammer
A Chinese laborer attempts to use the legal system to recover money lost to a romantic swindler who promised marriage but disappeared with his cash.
- The Deaf Dodge
A local drunkard tries to outsmart a judge by faking deafness, only to be tripped up by the prospect of a free drink.
- The Great Mill Street Wagon Prank
A local hotel runner learns the hard way that the boys of Mill Street have a penchant for mechanical mischief.
- A Foreman’s Reckless Gamble with Dynamite
A Fairhaven clearing crew foreman ignores safety warnings and suffers catastrophic injuries during a stump-blasting operation.