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 |
|---|---|
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
15 stories matching roomer
- A Leap from the Window at 1718 Madison
Assistant city electrician E.C. Buckley barely escaped a brutal assault after his landlord, driven by baseless jealousy, armed himself and hunted him down.
- A Bereaved Husband, a Faithful Dog, and a 25-Cent Room
Daniel Bauman took morphine in a downtown lodging house after his wife died at the county farm. His little black dog stayed beside the body and fought off anyone who came near.
- The Bloody Hammer and the Brewer's Wife
Seattle prosecutors rest their murder case against Craemer after a courtroom day of fire, hidden gold, and a suspect whose hands shook at the sight of the weapon.
- She Fought a Sailor in the Dark—and Helped Police Find Him by Morning
Mary Kriser, who ran a lodging house at South Second and Weller streets, was robbed and sexually assaulted in September 1894. A neighbor broke down a door, and police identified a suspect within ninety minutes.
- Ladders to the Rescue: Spokane's Crescent Block Burns
A pre-dawn fire guts a three-story brick building, trapping lodgers until firefighters raise ladders to the windows.
- A Cook's Last Night in Tacoma
Injured, stranded ashore and facing the loss of his berth, a steamboat cook spends his final hours quarreling with his wife before swallowing morphine in a boarding-house room.
- The Strange Heist at the Palmer Inn
A 'masculine-looking' woman and a mysterious accomplice used a passkey to clean out a Seattle boarding house, leaving guests with empty trunks.
- Rent Pressures in the Red Light District
A street worker is arrested after struggling to meet the high rent demands of a boarding house landlord.
- The Great Seattle Balding Summit
After the Great Fire of 1889, fifty-two insurance adjusters gathered to assess the wreckage—and accidentally became the most famous bald-headed group on the Northwest coast.
- Brutal Assault at the Central Hotel
A young man of prominence is arrested after a violent attack on a woman in Seattle.
- A Thief Pulled From the I.W.N. Train
A sleeping guest is robbed at the Newport Hotel; Marshal Bennett catches one suspect aboard an outgoing train while two alleged accomplices head toward Spirit Lake.
- The Short-Lived Elopement of a Seattle Waiter
A 14-year-old girl and a theater employee wed in a rush, only to be torn apart by an incensed mother within the hour.
- The Artisan Hotel Lost to Flames
A morning blaze leaves a local landmark in ruins, with early-rising travelers suspected of accidental negligence.
- The Drunken Leap at the Tacoma Rooming House
A furniture salesman, searching for a companion named 'Alice,' broke into the wrong residence and was forced to jump from a second-story window to escape the homeowner's wrath.
- The 1878 Dream of Building Societies
A look at the early mutual loan movement, promising that the average working man could escape the cycle of high rent and finally own his home.
Also about this, in other words
- The Midnight Roommate Mix-up
A night of drinking turns into a farcical brawl when two roommates accidentally wander into each other’s beds.
- The Landlady of Cherry Street
A Seattle lodging house keeper is hauled into court after an altercation with a troublesome tenant—a minor dispute that reveals the grit of a changing city.
- The Midnight Room Invader
A locomotive engineer interrupts a burglary in progress at an American lodging house, leading to a foot chase and a quick arrest.
- A Home for Seattle's Working Women
A newly opened residence aims to provide affordable, safe housing for the growing class of professional business women in the city.