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 |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 7 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1909 | 3 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1911 | 2 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
46 stories matching salesman
- The Traveling Salesman Who Out-Wrestled a Footpad
When an armed robber tried to hold up a local salesman late at night, he found himself in a Greco-Roman wrestling match instead of an easy mugging.
- The Vanishing Tailor
A charismatic salesman bilks local businesses out of hundreds of dollars before fleeing the city, leaving his manager and creditors in the lurch.
- Four Shots at a Seattle Policeman—and a Potato in the Revolver
Harry C. Good, a popular young salesman, is held on $10,000 bail after wounding Officer J. W. Glasscock at Third and Marion, while old friends recall the time they replaced his pistol cylinder with a potato.
- Fatal Fall from the N. P. Bridge
A traveling salesman loses his life after catching his foot on a protruding bolt while crossing the bridge between Pasco and Kennewick.
- Tragic Electric Train Accident on North Anderson Street
A Tacoma salesman was critically injured attempting to board a moving interurban train.
- The Butcher and the Counterfeiter
A young salesman tries to pass bogus gold at a local market, only to be outsmarted by a quick-thinking shopkeeper.
- The Wanted Kidnaper Who Once Walked Our Streets
A Tacoma detective identifies a notorious kidnaper as a local con man who scammed city businessmen a year prior.
- A Leap of Faith from the Moving Train
A traveling salesman’s confusion over a train’s route led to a painful injury near the Pine Street crossing.
- The Drummer’s Deed: A Tale of Lost Blocks and Mutual Recrimination
A traveling salesman thought he’d scored a bargain on Seattle real estate, only to discover his deed was for the wrong lot—and his seller had no idea either.
- The Plagiarism Scandal of the Walla Walla Poet
A local Tacoma salesman is publicly shamed after allegedly passing off someone else's verse as his own.
- The True Cost of a Cigar
A local cigar salesman challenges Everett's 'boosters' to practice what they preach by supporting union-made, home-grown tobacco instead of shipping money East for trust-made goods.
- A Small-Town Wage Fight Goes to Arbitration—and Both Sides Pay Half
When a Richland nursery salesman disputed his pay, the town improvised a three-man board instead of a courtroom.
- The Great Clothing Fiasco
A group of citizens in Cheney ordered clothing from a traveling salesman, only to find the garments were comically undersized.
- 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 Traveling Salesman’s Clever Ruse
A skeptical livery stable owner meets his match in a traveling drummer who refuses to pay for his own horse.
- Two Men Asked to Test a Seattle Schooner. Then They Tried to Kill Its Captain.
A would-be buyer and his genteel companion lured Capt. Jud La Moure into Puget Sound, attacked him with a lead sounding weight, and demanded his gold watch—until he produced a hidden revolver.
- The Mysterious Death of a Traveling Book Agent
After M.T. Connellan, a well-dressed encyclopedia salesman, was found dead on a hotel floor, the man who brought him there was arrested, leaving Seattle to wonder about a life of secrets.
- The Opium Smuggler of the Union Depot
A traveler posing as a hardware salesman is arrested in Spokane after authorities discover 1,300 pounds of contraband in his luggage.
- Love vs. Father: The Seattle Elopation That Defied a Kentucky Patriarch
When her fiancé’s train was late and her father sent a telegram to stop the wedding, a spirited young woman from Louisville chose love over obedience in downtown Seattle.
- The Rat That Didn't Die: A Seattle Street Performer’s Electric Shock Gambit
In a desperate bid to steal customers from a rival vendor on Commercial Street, an electricity salesman rigged a dead rat to a copper plate—only for the rodent to remain stubbornly lifeless.
- The Last Drop at Our Corner Saloon
A local saloon proprietor turns the tables on two armed robbers by pulling his own gun during a late-night hold-up.
- The Bullet That Vanished in the Hospital
A loaded .22 goes off in a Newport hospital room, and the bullet disappears—X-rays suggest Mrs. France swallowed it.
- The Shoe That Could Save Seattle: Why We Must Stop Exporting Our Hides to San Francisco
An editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch argues that Seattle’s economic survival depends on manufacturing its own boots and shoes locally, rather than shipping raw hides south for a 10% premium.
- 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 Labor Movement's Hard-Won Victory Over the Buck's Stove Co.
After a five-year boycott, the labor press calls for a truce with a once-hostile manufacturer now under new management.
Also about this, in other words
- A Merchant's Plight: The Cost of Overstocking
A Snohomish businessman faces financial ruin after a bad season leaves his shelves full and his creditors at the door.
- The Book Agent's Quick Exit
A traveling book salesman avoids a long legal ordeal by pleading guilty and leaving town immediately.
- The Smooth Talker of Tacoma
A persuasive con man leaves a trail of bamboozled businessmen and empty wallets.
- The Lucky Winner of the Auto
A resident of Wallula discovers he holds the winning ticket for an automobile, but his interest is strictly in the cash.
- The Clerk’s Odd Sales Pitch
A farmer learns a strange and aggressive new way to test if his wife is 'sound' while shopping in 1877 Seattle.
- The 10 Percent Rake-Off That Put Tacoma's Water Board on Trial
A job printer's testimony blows open an inquiry into the Tacoma Board of Public Works, where the president admits he knows little about running the city's water and electric plants—and a councilman asks if he has any shame.
- The Persistent Pest in the Parlor
A classic 1878 dispatch on the 'improved' book agent who swears he never bothers anyone—right before being forcibly ejected into the street.
- The Persistent Peddler of Front Street
A persistent brush salesman tries to make a sale in 1876 Seattle, leading to an amusing exchange about baldness and local vanity.