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14 stories matching opium
- A Railroad Clerk's Side Hustle: 150 Pounds of Opium Land in Tacoma
M. M. Perl, chief clerk to a Northern Pacific superintendent, imported prepared opium from China aboard the Kingston—while federal agents seized a rival shipment under an 1881 treaty.
- Tacoma’s New Business Plan: Import High-Grade Opium for the Whole North
With the tariff cut, Tacoma entrepreneurs predicted they could supply wealthy opium users from Oregon to the Atlantic—and collect thousands in customs duties.
- A Vashon Island Farmer Stumbles on 80 Pounds of Smuggled Opium
A boy’s shout over a “funny box” on the beach leads customs inspectors to a sloop and an Italian sailor accused of running opium from British Columbia.
- The Opium Smuggler Who Beat Prison by Oversleeping
A Tacoma jury convicted Jack Forbes of smuggling 110 pounds of opium—but the defendant slept through the verdict, and the judge let him go until a new trial.
- A Customs Official, a Forged Check, and the Opium Hidden in Coal-Oil Tins
Ex-immigration inspector Thomas M. Fisher was arrested at Port Townsend for allegedly forging a Canadian officer's endorsement and pocketing a $350 opium-seizure reward.
- A Thief's Thin Lips Tremble at the Word 'Guilty'
R. H. Ford, an opium user accused in the Famous Clothing House burglary, expected eight years in Walla Walla. Judge Humes gave him three, and Ford congratulated himself on the luck.
- 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.
- The Opium Cipher That Cost a Customs Inspector His Job
Port Townsend's S. G. Glen Todd denies he was fired for sleeping on duty—or for ignoring opium and Chinese smuggling—and produces a cipher telegram to prove he reported both.
- Seattle's 1895 Police Chief Wanted Fewer 14-Hour Shifts—and More Control Over Opium and Newsboys
The annual report described a force stretched thin by budget cuts and proposed licensing pawnbrokers, druggists, newsboys, and garbage carts.
- The Ballard Suitor’s Violent Ultimatum
A young man from Dakota terrorized a Ballard family with a revolver and a bizarre demand for marriage, only to return later with a guitar and a hired musician.
- The Stove Thief, the Opium Smoker, and the Crooked Colony
A red-haired plumber's slip of the tongue and a morphine-addicted burglar's hidden shack give Seattle police a busy day in court.
- The Aldermen Vote to License the 'Weed,' 34 to 27
A year-old cigarette ban had become a dead letter, so Seattle's council moved to regulate rather than forbid — a $600 license, health inspections, a chemical analysis of every pack, and a fight over keeping the trade 1,000 feet from schoolhouses.
- The Night Federal Agents Made Chinatown Show Its Papers
A certificate sweep through Wa Chong’s rooms broke up card games and opium pipes and netted one man accused of lying in a deportation case.
- A Counterfeit Paper Trail Runs Through Seattle
Seattle customs officials insist no forged Chinese registration certificates have surfaced here, while the stories of two men tied to a San Francisco counterfeiting ring spill into Tacoma and Port Townsend.