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 |
|---|---|
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1895 | 5 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1909 | 1 |
14 stories matching illegitim
- Washington Court Rules Fathers Have No Legal Duty to Support Illegitimate Children
A landmark decision from the state supreme court highlights a massive legal loophole regarding parental responsibility.
- The Ghost of the Yesler Will
Henry Yesler, Seattle's pioneer mogul, left behind a vast fortune and a city convinced he bequeathed it all to them—but the document is missing.
- The Shadow of the Railroad: Tide Lands and Public Trust
As Washington state's constitutional convention drags on, delegates engage in a fierce legislative showdown over the fate of public tide lands, pitted against powerful rail and improvement corporations.
- The Great Incorporation Panic of 1878
When a legal technicality threatened to render Seattle’s entire municipal government illegitimate, a frantic scramble to re-incorporate revealed the fragile foundations of early frontier law.
- The Saloonkeeper’s Open Letter to Walla Walla Voters
An unapologetic endorsement of Mayor Hunt from a local saloon owner who argues that city officials should ignore 'blue laws' in favor of prosperity.
- The 17,000-Acre Land Grab
A federal decision exposes how settlers were misled by illegitimate land claims near Wallula, Washington, setting off a scramble for government property.
- The 'Messenger' Drug Ring Exposed
Detectives charge that a Tacoma messenger service was a front for a widespread cocaine and morphine trafficking operation.
- The High School's Secret Salary Scheme
A Seattle school board trustee was caught in a tangled web of pay-roll falsification, revealing a bizarre scheme involving a military instructor and a city official's confusion over government pay.
- The Scandalous Streets of 1892 Seattle
A public confrontation on Front Street reveals a desperate woman’s attempt to claim child support and a mining man’s accusations of blackmail.
- A Six-Month Divorce Rule Meets a Quick Idaho Wedding
A Spokane court asks whether a divorced woman's speedy remarriage makes her an adulteress—and whether hundreds of local marriages and land titles are at risk.
- The Aldermen Vote to License the 'Weed,' 34 to 27
A year-old cigarette ban had become a dead letter, so Seattle's council moved to regulate rather than forbid — a $600 license, health inspections, a chemical analysis of every pack, and a fight over keeping the trade 1,000 feet from schoolhouses.
- The Pastor, the Circular, and the Hung Jury
For three days a Seattle courtroom heard accusations of adultery, an illegitimate son, and a pastor’s libelous circular. At 12:35 a.m., the jury was still deadlocked.
- The Man Who Thought He Owned Seattle Died Chasing a Ghost Fortune
Henry Zechow spent nine years and a small army of lawyers trying to claim an uncle's imaginary empire—including a block of downtown Seattle—before his body turned up in the Fraser River.
- The Pastor, the Missing Husband, and the Seattle Libel Trial
A church feud goes to court as Rev. M. H. Nichols is tried for circulating scandalous charges against Dr. T. B. Ford—whose testimony reveals a broken engagement, a vanished first husband, and a dramatic courtroom kiss.