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.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 7 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 5 |
| 1880 | 6 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 12 |
| 1884 | 8 |
| 1885 | 16 |
| 1886 | 15 |
| 1887 | 14 |
| 1888 | 11 |
| 1889 | 25 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 31 |
| 1893 | 34 |
| 1894 | 53 |
| 1895 | 69 |
| 1899 | 12 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 6 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1928 | 2 |
353 stories matching speak
- The Schoolroom Rebellion
A student faces expulsion for daring to recite Robert Ingersoll in class.
- A Gavel, a Roar, and a Populist Ticket Born in Chaos
King County's People's Party convention at Turner Hall turned into a shouting, proxy-fighting, faction-splitting marathon—and buried Dr. J. Eugene Jordan and Jack McDonald on the way to nominating a ticket.
- A Circular Saw Opened His Skull—and He Stayed Conscious
At the Stetson Post Mill on Commercial Street, engineer Horatio Stetson crawled under a rip-saw table to fix a belt. The saw caught his head, cutting through bone and into his brain, yet he never lost consciousness.
- The Day Washington Was Born: A City Holds Its Breath
As the nation celebrates statehood, Seattle gathers in a packed hall to hear speeches on liberty, land fraud, and the future of the 'Queen City.'
- Billy Fife: Self-Taught Caricaturist of Frontier Seattle
A biography of Billy Fife, a sailor and self-taught caricaturist whose sharp wit and rare artistic skill captured Seattle's frontier life.
- The Chief's Daughter in the Shadow of the City Named for Her Father
A San Francisco Chronicle correspondent visits Princess Angeline in her Seattle shack and finds the city proudly carving her father's face on a new business block while his daughter lives on charity.
- A Fraternal Leader Draws the Line at English—and at the Ballot Box
Visiting Knights of Pythias supreme chancellor W. W. Blackwell wants the order to require English and ties voting rights to language, warning of foreign anarchists.
- The Girl With a Tag and a Basket, Half a World From Home
Hilda Kanniainen left Finland in June, crossed the Atlantic and the continent without speaking English, and arrived in Seattle bound for her sister in San Francisco. Strangers took her in for the night.
- The Last Goodbye: A Seattle Widow’s Final Sermon
Rev. I.W. Read delivers a poignant eulogy for Addie Z. Pross at Market Street Baptist, reflecting on her hopefulness and refusal to gossip in the face of sudden death.
- Troops Take the Yards as Seattle Braces for the Great Railroad Strike
Regular artillery, deputy marshals and a nervous militia dig in across the city — even hauling the state's rifles up to the university for safekeeping — as the 1894 Pullman boycott reaches Puget Sound.
- A Son Takes the Stand Against His Father in a Seattle Murder Trial
Prosecutors in the second Wilcox trial alleged that Charlotte Fetting's murder was a conspiracy involving her son-in-law—and the witnesses included the son-in-law's own teenage son.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- A City Turns Out for Its Dead: Seattle's Memorial Day, 1895
Three hundred and five veterans, three militia companies, high-school cadets and a twelve-foot column of flowers marched Front Street and filled the Seattle Theater — while the Board of Health kept the schoolchildren from singing.
- Eugene Debs Brings the Railroad War to Seattle—and Dares His Enemy to Debate
At a packed Armory, the American Railway Union leader accuses a railroad manager of bribery and corruption, challenging him to a public forum and a $1,000 charitable wager.
- The City with Two Police Chiefs
While a legal battle over the city charter rages in court, Seattle finds itself in the absurd position of having two men claiming to lead the police force at once.
- The Mayor and the Murderer
A scathing editorial questions the ethics of Mayor Ronald defending a local killer while in office.
- Nativist Rally at Ranke Hall: 'Close the Gates'
In 1895 Seattle, an anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant A. P. A. meeting warned of 'unrestricted immigration' and claimed Catholic nurses secretly baptized Protestant infants.
- A Rockefeller Tells Seattle It Is Destined to Be the New York of the Pacific
Visiting Cleveland iron magnate F. Rockefeller—brother of John D.—says the harbor beats New York's and the ore is right here, if only the city will manufacture instead of import and steer clear of the boomers who killed Wichita.
- The Insanity Trial of Mrs. Meagher
A mother’s public accusation that her daughter was held in a house of prostitution results in a court hearing to determine her sanity.
- A Discharged Laborer Speaks Out
Patrick Lavan, a laborer dismissed from city water works, writes to the press to dispel rumors of violent threats and describe the hardship of supporting seven children.
- An Ex-Priest Turns a Packed Seattle Hall Against the Jesuits
At Ranke's Hall, former Catholic priest J. B. Daly tells the A.P.A. that the Society of Jesus is a secret political machine—then drapes himself in the flag and leads three cheers.
- 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 Police Chief, a Feuding Reporter, and a $50 Verdict
Chief of Police Rogers is fined for manhandling a Times reporter in his own station house — a personal grudge that spilled over into the law.
- The Gold Rush That Never Was: How Canadian Laws Stifled Seattle’s Northern Dream
A Victoria contractor tells the Star that new British Columbia legislation has turned away American miners, leaving Alaska's gold fields dark and local businesses in ruins.
- Judge Lewis Blasts Portland and Olympia Over Seattle's Canal
A Tacoma judge's letter urges Washington state to fund the Lake Washington canal, accusing Portland's Oregonian and a political 'combination at Olympia' of trying to strangle Seattle's growth.
Also about this, in other words
- A Screaming Farce at Pioneer Square
Proponents and opponents of a Seattle bond issue clash in a volatile open-air debate that devolves into name-calling and public disruption.
- The Loudmouth of Pioneer Place
A citizen complains to the Post-Intelligencer about a street orator using obscene language and attacking religions, urging police intervention.