Smallpox Panic on the Puget Sound
As Tacoma enforces aggressive quarantine measures, fears of contagion drive local authorities to police borders and vaccinate the public.
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.
In New Westminster, police discovered two Chinese men hiding in a shack, both suffering from smallpox. They were promptly corralled, and the house was boarded up. Meanwhile, Tacoma is embroiled in a heated debate over its strict quarantine against Seattle passengers. Charles E. Marvin, a local businessman, sparked controversy by refusing mandatory vaccination upon returning from Seattle, calling the policy 'child's play' and a 'humiliation.' Tacoma officials, however, remain vigilant, fearing the spread of the disease that has already claimed eleven lives in Victoria and forced widespread vaccination campaigns among Indigenous communities and the general public.
“They want to be free of disease so that no objection can be made to their working later in the Washington hop fields.”
Public health crises have historically been weaponized in the Pacific Northwest to target marginalized groups, particularly Chinese immigrants. This story captures the intersection of fear, racial bias, and the civic authority to restrict movement—a precursor to later urban quarantine politics.
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