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175 stories matching opium
- The Opium Smuggler of Port Townsend
A ship steward is arrested and held on high bond after customs agents discover a hidden stash of opium on his person and in his cabin.
- 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.
- The Opium Raid at Hoquiam
Four men were arrested and fined for smoking opium as federal officials clamped down on the practice in the Harbor.
- The Opium Sidewalk Mystery
Two men were accused of smuggling nearly a hundred pounds of illicit opium, but the case crumbled under the weight of insufficient evidence.
- The Opium Dealer Next Door
In the early days of Seattle, a Chinese merchant operated not just a grocery, but an 'intelligence office' and opium den on Washington Street.
- Police Raid Swope Hotel in Opium Crackdown
The manager of the Swope Hotel faces court charges after authorities discover two men smoking opium on the premises.
- The Opium Shack on Vashon Island
A recluse on the south end of Vashon Island shot himself after years of opium use, leaving a needle, eight ounces of the drug, and a letter blaming a man named George Weston.
- The Opium Smuggling Trap
A Seattle man accused of opium trafficking convinces a jury he was actually working as a government informant to expose a crooked customs inspector.
- The Great Seattle Opium Bust of 1885
Customs officers seize a boat and $1,200 in illegal opium near Duwamish Head, leaving the smugglers to flee into the night.
- The Vashon Island Opium Cache
Customs inspectors spend a day spading up an orchard on Vashon Island to recover a large stash of smuggled opium.
- Opium Raid on South Third Street
Federal authorities seized 50 pounds of contraband opium from a Chinese merchant's establishment in Seattle.
- The Case of the Counterfeit Opium
A man arrested in Everett for 'smuggling opium' into Seattle is cleared after authorities realize the suspicious substance was merely a fake product sold to con greenhorns.
- The Great Seattle Opium Double-Cross
A Victoria capitalist sues his smugglers for replacing high-grade opium with sawdust and molasses, revealing a bungled customs heist that captivated Seattle.
- 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.
- The Opium Smuggler of Whatcom
A man is caught at the border with a valise full of illicit opium, implicating a Seattle contact.
- 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.
- The Swindler in the Customs House
A former customs official turned smuggling mastermind uses a fake 'special detective' scheme to trick colleagues and line his own pockets with molasses-filled trunks.
- The Opium Smuggler of the City of Kingston
A baggage master is caught red-handed smuggling forty-five pounds of opium, but the customs inspector he tried to bribe was playing a double game.
- The Opium Ring Debauching Tacoma’s Messenger Boys
Detective Flannigan uncovers a ring of adults using opium and illicit lodging houses to exploit children in the messenger service.
- Opium Seizure in the Third Judicial District
Federal authorities move to condemn fifty pounds of contraband opium found concealed within a house in Seattle.
- The Opium Smuggler in the Beer Hall
A steamship engineer is arrested in a Seattle saloon, highlighting the city's early, tense relationship with the maritime opium trade.
- Exposing the Opium Dens of Opera Alley
A local expose reveals that teenage messenger boys are being drawn into the city's opium dens and disreputable houses, triggering a promised police crackdown.
- The Green Smuggler and the Tricky Trunk
A novice opium smuggler is nabbed in Puyallup after his anxious behavior at the train station tipped off the local police chief.
- The Underground Opium Pipeline
A bold smuggling operation involving pack animals and stages ends in a Spokane arrest.
- Customs Raid Finds Illicit Opium in Walla Walla
Law enforcement seized $1,000 worth of smuggled opium from Chinese business houses in a coordinated sting operation.
Also about this, in other words
- The Opium Evil: How 48 Cans Slipped Past Seattle's Customs Inspector
In 1877, a Seattle paper raged about opium smuggling, corruption in the revenue service, and a den where 'white men, Chinese and Indians' met—a racist panic that echoes today's drug crises.
- The Opium Smuggler of Second Street
A diligent customs officer tracks a young man and his illicit cargo to a local rooming house.
- The Opium Smugglers of University Street
A customs inspector corners two French laborers on a Seattle gangplank with a heavy cache of illicit opium.
- Raiding the Opium Dens
Police Chief Woolery and Officer McGowan raid a hidden opium den between Eighth and Ninth Streets, leading to the arrest of two young men.
- The Underground Opium Trade of the Pacific Northwest
As high tariffs threatened profits, British Columbia factories relied on smuggling to keep their product moving into the American market.
- The U.S. Seizes Fifty Pounds of Opium
Federal authorities move to forfeit a large cache of prepared opium found concealed in a Seattle residence.
- The Ship That Smuggled Opium: How a Legal Loophole Freed a Vessel and $13,000 in Penalties
Judge Hanford rules that the steamer *Walla Walla* is not liable for contraband found in its cargo because the master lacked knowledge of the smuggling, setting a precedent for common carriers.
- Crackdown on Opium Smuggling
A federal grand jury indicts four men, including a longtime steamer employee, for smuggling large quantities of opium into the region.