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 |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 3 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 16 |
| 1877 | 17 |
| 1878 | 6 |
| 1880 | 7 |
| 1882 | 11 |
| 1883 | 21 |
| 1884 | 11 |
| 1885 | 22 |
| 1886 | 8 |
| 1887 | 13 |
| 1888 | 8 |
| 1889 | 28 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 29 |
| 1892 | 42 |
| 1893 | 37 |
| 1894 | 58 |
| 1895 | 67 |
| 1897 | 3 |
| 1898 | 5 |
| 1899 | 7 |
| 1900 | 4 |
| 1903 | 19 |
| 1904 | 17 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 7 |
| 1909 | 23 |
| 1910 | 4 |
| 1911 | 5 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 3 |
| 1915 | 4 |
| 1916 | 5 |
| 1917 | 5 |
| 1923 | 3 |
| 1929 | 1 |
531 stories matching wrong
- The Wrong Chin Quong: A Smuggling Case Collapses in Seattle
Federal officers arrested the manager of Wa Chong & Co. as an opium smuggler, but Portland witnesses took one look and said he was the wrong man—while the real suspect sailed for China.
- A Marshal's Fruitless Hops-Field Chase
A warrant execution goes wrong when a marshal spends half a mile chasing the wrong man through the hops vines.
- Treasurer Hill's Tax Blunder
A local civic scandal as the City Treasurer faces accusations of incompetence and overreach regarding delinquent tax sales.
- Kennewick’s First Rules of the Road
The city council implements a new traffic ordinance to curb reckless driving and prevent accidents on business streets.
- A Shaming Serenade Gone Wrong
A citizen writes to the editor to defend a newly married couple from a violent, unwanted 'charivari' performance.
- The Butter Wasn't From Washington—and the Dairymen Knew It
Creamerymen and farmers across Washington protest dealers who relabeled eastern butter as local creamery product, calling it a fraud on consumers and a threat to a young industry's hard-won reputation.
- The House That Had to Move
A Seattle man faces an expensive bureaucratic nightmare when he realizes his brand-new home was built on the wrong plot of land.
- The Gauntlet Thrown in the Land Office
A settler, claiming he was robbed of his homestead, issued a dramatic challenge to the land office register.
- The 'Pompous Autocrat' of the Sound
A Seattle newspaper lashes out at a revenue cutter captain who refused to aid a vessel in distress, claiming his uniform shouldn't be 'rubbed the wrong way.'
- The Gentleman Burglars of Tacoma
A jewelry shop on a prominent street was emptied by thieves who posed as harmless customers.
- The Embezzler Who Outsmarted the Law
A clever swindler uses a well-meaning student as a pawn to evade arrest, leading to a bungled sheriff's operation in Tacoma.
- The Boy Who Only Wanted Ice Cream
A young boy's petty theft from a grocery store reveals a stark reality of neglected children in the city.
- The Price of Forced Payment
A local court ruling clarifies the legal weight of a promissory note signed under the duress of property attachment.
- The Wrong Man in the Wrong Room
A Seattle police raid on a lodging house intended to capture a notorious forger nets his innocent twin brother instead.
- The Price of Loyalty in the Mill
A convict's poem reflects on his friend's sacrifice after a desperate act of theft to feed a starving family.
- The Lawless Frontier
Violence on the Northern Pacific railroad line signals a looming safety crisis as massive construction crews arrive in the Cascades.
- The Price of Iron Rails: Fighting the Corporate Lobby
A century and a half ago, local taxpayers were urged to reject public subsidies for railroad giants, a struggle that mirrors today’s battles over public infrastructure and private gain.
- The Jealousy of Mr. McIntyre
A carpenter is warned to flee town under threat of gunfire following an alleged affair.
- The Great Seattle Property Map Scandal
A scathing editorial reveals that King County’s property assessments are so riddled with errors that the tax rolls are essentially worthless, leaving the local government in a state of administrative paralysis.
- City Leaders Arrested for Licensing Flop
Seattle's Acting Mayor and Water Superintendent find themselves on the wrong side of their own municipal ordinances.
- A Public Retraction of Slander
After circulating damaging rumors about a young woman in camp, a local man takes to the newspaper to publicly clear her name.
- Suspended Sentence for Liquor Sales
A local woman avoids prison for selling alcohol to Indians on the condition of future 'right behavior.'
- 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 Prosecutor Picked Prosser: Kennewick Demands His Resignation
Benton County's prosecuting attorney tells the commissioners he is 'prejudiced in favor of Prosser' in the court house bond fight — and the Kennewick editor says a public official has no right to a favorite side.
- The Ghost of Belltown and the Battle for the Ballot
In 1880, as Seattle’s population swelled, the newspaper sparred with shipping reports over the identity of a neighborhood that 'did not exist' and the urgent need for more polling stations.