The Kidnaping of Sam
A witness speaks out against the detention and deportation of a Chinese laborer by a local official.
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.
A correspondent writes to the Post-Intelligencer regarding the kidnapping of Sam, a Chinese laborer, by a man named Warner at the Sumas, Washington, railroad depot. Sam, a resident of Huntingdon, British Columbia, had been living and working there for two years. Sam had no business being on the American side of the border until he was brought across by a man named Egan. Warner caught them, tore up Egan's pass, and arrested Sam. Witnesses claim the pass was valid and that Warner's actions were merely a play for personal prestige at the expense of an inoffensive laborer. The correspondent, S.P. Coombes, calls for Warner to be fired and Sam returned to his home, citing several local witnesses to the event.
This incident reflects the intense hostility toward Chinese immigrants in the 1890s, when the Geary Act and local agitation aimed to expel, restrict, and harass Chinese workers. The story highlights the constant vulnerability of border-dwelling laborers to arbitrary enforcement and xenophobic vigilantism.
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