The Tragedy of the Lottie
Seattle's Chinese community demands justice after a human-smuggling operation ends in mass drowning.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Chinese of Seattle and Victoria are terribly worked up over the loss of the men who were drowned in the British Columbia sloop Lottie, which was sunk while coming over from Victoria some time ago. One of the most intelligent Chinamen in the city yesterday made the following statement: 'There are Chinamen in Victoria who act as brokers in making arrangements with owners of vessels for bringing in Chinese. These brokers have grown rich at the business. In this case they pretended that the Chinese were to be brought across in a steam launch and landed in Portland, but instead of that they put them on the sloop and all were lost.' There were twenty-eight men in all. There is great excitement among the Chinese, both here and in Victoria, and it is probable an effort will be made to get damages from the brokers.
“They pretended that the Chinese were to be brought across in a steam launch and landed in Portland, but instead of that they put them on the sloop and all were lost.”
This tragedy highlights the perilous reality of the exclusion era, where racist immigration laws forced individuals into dangerous, informal smuggling networks. The exploitation of migrants by 'brokers' remains a recurring, heartbreaking theme in the history of migration in the Pacific Northwest.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.