Research the archive
Narrow 27,002 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 |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1889 | 5 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 8 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
46 stories matching vagrant
- The Seattle Daily Intelligencer’s Panic Over 'The Vagrant Horde'
As property crime spiked in Portland, Seattle’s newspaper urged citizens to arm themselves and remain vigilant against a 'vagrant class' they believed was sweeping the Pacific Northwest.
- The Criminalization of Unemployment
A Seattle candy maker, down on his luck during hard times, faces repeated arrest for the 'crime' of being unable to find work.
- Yakima's Sheriff Rounds Up the Jobless and Puts Them on the Chain Gang
With the valley crying out for labor at $2.50 to $3 a day, the county decides that any man without a job is a vagrant — and sentences him to hard labor.
- The Boodle Battle: Political Corruption and Vagrancy in Tacoma
As local politicians fight for control of city offices, Tacoma's Populists take aim at 'boodlers' and the importation of vagrants to influence local elections.
- The Marshal’s Club: A Vagrant’s Death on the Falmouth Harbor
When a Whatcom city marshal struck a drunk vagrant with his billy club, the man died. Now, a furious letter found under the body demands justice in Seattle.
- The Tragic Decline of Ben Bainbridge
A local man's descent from a $150,000 fortune to life as an indigent vagrant serves as a cautionary tale of vice and misfortune.
- The Ice Water Gambit: How a Seattle Drifter Was Framed for Theft
A local vagrant was doused in freezing water and coerced into a false confession by a cunning runner, only to be caught red-handed on Third Street.
- Clearing the Streets of 'Washington Street Aristocrats'
Local police launch a crackdown on the city's 'vagrants,' forcing them to either work or leave town.
- Tacoma’s Plan to Deter 'Tramps' with Forced Hygiene
Facing a seasonal rise in homelessness, Tacoma city officials considered a mandatory daily shower ordinance for jail inmates to keep the city unappealing to vagrants.
- Seattle’s Late-Night Policing of Indigenous Women
A 1873 ordinance allowed police to criminalize Indigenous women as 'vagrants' for simply being out after dark.
- The 'Vagrant' Scourge of 1878
A Victorian-era editorial attempts to pathologize poverty and social instability in frontier Seattle by blaming 'tramps' and theft for the city’s growing pains.
- Vagrant Jailed in South Tacoma
A man found loitering in a private room is sentenced to 25 days by Judge Griffin.
- The Naked Man of Pike Street
A teamster is arrested for habitual public nudity, sparking neighborly outrage and a demand for municipal court action in the heart of Seattle.
- The Wilds of the 'Lava Beds'
When an aggressive vagrant terrorized a Seattle officer with a chair, he fled into the darkness of the city's infamous 'Lava Beds' district—a place where the law struggled to follow.
- The Vagabond Fortune-Teller: Seattle Arrests 'Madame Malla' for the Crime of Telling Futures
In May 1877, the city’s law enforcement decided that predicting the future was a crime against public order. They dragged 'Madame Malla' from her shop, citing vagrancy, despite her having done nothing but read palms.
- The Search for 'Handsome Harry'
A classic bit of local crime reporting reveals a clash between Seattle's police and the era's self-styled 'toughs' in 1889.
- Police Urged to 'Clean Out' Seattle's Vagabonds
An editorial from the Post-Intelligencer calls for the removal of 'worthless vagabonds' from the city, warning of potential murder and riots.
- Gunpoint Justice on the Home Front
A local homeowner captures two vagrants in the act of raiding a pantry, bringing a sharp end to a string of local thefts.
- Mrs. Colby’s Call to the New Women of Seattle
Following the legal enfranchisement of women in Washington Territory, a public lecture urged Seattle women to embrace their new civic responsibilities as a 'co-worker with God' and a force for moral integrity.
- The Coxey Army Marches West
A radical movement of the unemployed faces hostility from the press as it turns its sights toward the Pacific Coast.
- Vagrants or Working Men? The Battle Over Municipal Justice
Seattle's police chief accuses a judge of letting 'dangerous characters' roam free, while the court clerk argues for leniency toward the unemployed.
- South Seattle Laborer Stabbed Over a Nickel
A brickmaker at Lohse's brick yard was attacked by a vagrant after refusing to hand over money for transit.
- A Slingshot, a Razor, and a Fight in a Dark Hallway
Two men who followed a laborer from a South Third Street saloon were identified after he fought them off and hailed help.
- The Confidence Men of the Steamer Route
A trio of swindlers fleeing Seattle justice find their match in a wary traveler on the Puget Sound steamship line.
- The Great Jailbreak of 1889
In 1889, fifteen of 31 prisoners escaped a city jail through a sawed hole in the wall; none were recaptured.