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 |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 3 |
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 8 |
| 1862 | 5 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 49 |
| 1877 | 34 |
| 1878 | 23 |
| 1879 | 7 |
| 1880 | 10 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 50 |
| 1884 | 25 |
| 1885 | 60 |
| 1886 | 26 |
| 1887 | 29 |
| 1888 | 28 |
| 1889 | 67 |
| 1890 | 15 |
| 1891 | 47 |
| 1892 | 146 |
| 1893 | 135 |
| 1894 | 163 |
| 1895 | 160 |
| 1897 | 8 |
| 1898 | 4 |
| 1899 | 32 |
| 1900 | 5 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 50 |
| 1904 | 40 |
| 1905 | 3 |
| 1907 | 7 |
| 1908 | 23 |
| 1909 | 62 |
| 1910 | 10 |
| 1911 | 7 |
| 1912 | 4 |
| 1914 | 12 |
| 1915 | 9 |
| 1916 | 25 |
| 1917 | 17 |
| 1918 | 3 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1923 | 6 |
| 1924 | 6 |
| 1925 | 5 |
| 1928 | 1 |
1,450 stories matching met
- The Judge’s Double Life: Seduction, Abortion, and the Cover-Up That Shook Tacoma
In 1889, a young canvasser named Sadie Brantner took the stand to accuse Pierce County Probate Judge James Wickersham of luring her into a trap in Seattle, forcing an illegal abortion, and paying her off to silence. The trial revealed a web of deceit involving fake names, land fraud, and medical conspiracies.
- 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.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died 150 Feet From Safety
An 1894 coroner's jury in Franklin, Washington, heard how a small fire in the Oregon Improvement Company's coal mine became a wall of smoke — and why the men who could have escaped stayed to fight it.
- The Coal Creek Massacre: A Coroner’s Inquest into the Battle Between Knights of Labor and Mine Owners
In January 1890, Seattle Sheriff Cochrane deployed militia to Newcastle to suppress a miners' strike. When a riot erupted at Coal Creek, one man was killed and ten arrested. The subsequent coroner's inquest revealed a chaotic scene where union men claimed self-defense against armed mine owners, while the sheriff dismissed the Knights of Labor as 'too excitable.'
- The Wig and the Wire: How a Tacoma Newspaper Owner Tried to Destroy a Judge
In the sensational Wickersham trial of 1889, prosecutor R.P. Radebaugh’s own past and his alleged conspiracy to frame Judge Wickersham for 'immorality' were laid bare in court.
- Seattle's Fire Chief Vanished Before His Day in Court
A.B. Hunt disappeared after telling friends he was off to Tacoma for trial; the city removed him, named Alexander Allen Jr. chief, and left a mystery that only deepened when his father was summoned to prove his birth.
- 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 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.
- Seattle's Free Kindergarten Prepares to Open Its Doors
A new charity school at the old South School on Main Street will offer free early education and train a new generation of kindergarten teachers.
- The County's Ledger: A Glimpse into Snohomish Life in 1877
Minutes from the Snohomish County Commissioners reveal a town in transition: new justices, bridge bids, and the quiet bureaucracy of building a community on the edge of the frontier.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died Because They Stayed to Fight the Fire
A blaze in the Franklin coal mine sent smoke through the gangways on Aug. 24, 1894, killing 37 men and boys who thought they had time to escape.
- The Trial of Judge Wickersham: A Tacoma Scandal Over Land, Lies, and 'Delirium'
In February 1889, the trial of a powerful federal judge in Tacoma exposed a web of political corruption, land fraud, and sexual scandal involving a young woman named Sadie Brantner.
- The Navy Secretary Goes Down Into the Big Hole
Secretary of the Navy Herbert rides the lighthouse tender Manzanita across the Sound to inspect the giant new dry dock at Port Orchard, settles a bitter dispute over how deep to drive the pilings, and dances the night away at the Rainier.
- 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.
- 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.
- A Father's Vengeance: The Killing of the Muckleshoot Medicine Man
When three of Jerry Domnick's children died under Jim Bouchitt's care, the grieving father took a rifle into the woods — and the healer was found buried under a log near Soos Creek.
- A Veteran, a Fake Opium Deal, and a $2,000 Swindle
John Tilley thought he was buying cut-rate opium. Instead, police said, two men walked off with his cash, his watch, and a mortgage from his Idaho ranch.
- The Night Port Townsend Refused a Boatload of Strikebreakers
Twenty-eight destitute men from a Nanaimo miners' strike were shipped to Port Townsend aboard the North Pacific. Sheriff Miller met them at the wharf and said they could not land.
- The Loggers Who Built a Town: How an Indian Settlement Thrived on the Banks of Port Discovery
While Snohomish debated its own agricultural future, a thriving community of Indigenous farmers and loggers was quietly building a prosperous life in Dungeness, complete with schools, hotels, and dairy herds.
- The Pony Legislature’s Last Stand
In Olympia, a defiant territorial delegate denies rumors that the 'rump' legislature met to move the state capital away from Seattle.
- The 'Gold Brick' King: How a Master Con Man Sold Copper to a Banker
A too-trusting Aberdeen banker, a man disguised as an Indian, and a forged letter from the San Francisco mint—the Seattle trial of the notorious swindler 'Rebel George' Knowlton.
- Two Seattle Shipmates and the Hurricane That Sank a Fleet
Capt. D. Mullan and cigar-store owner L. S. Borchers, survivors of the 1889 Samoan cyclone, met in Seattle and remembered the Nipsic's escape.
- A Sinking Buggy, a Borrowed Team, and a Reservation About to Open
In 1892 a newspaperman packed his wife and infant into a rickety buggy to cross the soon-to-open Colville Reservation, fording the Kettle River and leaning on Native families along the way.
- She Rode 2,000 Miles from Wisconsin to Seattle — Alone, in a Dress
Emma Larson, a 31-year-old Seattle woman, crossed the continent on horseback with only her mare Kitty for company, sleeping under the stars and going days at a stretch on nothing but water.
- The Senator Who Came to Bless the Canal
Illinois senator Shelby Cullom tours Seattle's proposed Lake Washington ship canal, flirts with a presidential run, and tells boosters their city needs 'a little Chicago push.'
Also about this, in other words
- The Counterfeiter Caught in the Act
Dr. J. S. Methvin, an aspiring counterfeiter, is apprehended after escaping from federal marshals in South Park, claiming he was set up by a partner.
- An Elopement from Seattle
A local woman and her partner slip away in the night, choosing a life together in Whatcom.
- A Counterfeiter's Dramatic Courtroom Scandal
Dr. J. B. Methvin, on trial for counterfeiting, faced high drama in court as his current 'wife'—who had left her husband and children in Texas to elope with him—flew into a rage at the testimony.
- The Flat-Iron, the Umbrella, and the Inkstand: A Port Townsend Divorce Suit
J. K. Meyer's divorce petition turns a respectable Port Townsend marriage into a catalogue of thrown household goods, alleged affairs, and very public embarrassment.
- Tacoma High Juniors Dominate Annual Track Meet
Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors competed at the Y.M.C.A. athletic park to determine the city's track representatives.
- The Conductor, the Widow, and the Mock Marriage
A streetcar conductor's scheme to juggle two fiancées collapses in a dramatic confrontation on a Seattle trolley.
- The Milkman Wars of Grant Street
A competition for customers on the Grant Street bridge turns into a physical altercation, leading to an arrest.
- The Midnight Round-Up at the Central Police Station
A night of arrests in late 1870s Seattle lands a group of local characters in the city's lock-up, marking an ordinary, albeit unrecorded, night of territorial justice.