Vigilante Fury Follows Oakesdale Arson
After a suspicious fire destroys a row of businesses, Oakesdale residents threaten to lynch a Chinese resident previously evicted from the property.
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.
At 1 o'clock this morning, an alarm was sounded and flames were seen shooting from a deserted Chinese washhouse on Steptoe Avenue. There being no water works, there was no means of fighting the fire save by hand pumps and buckets. The flames spread to the restaurant and lodging house of L.W. Jennings. On the east was Fiske's meat market and Branch's bakery. These were quickly consumed, as was a shoemaker's shop. It was a narrow escape for a row of good frame stores. The property loss is about $11,000, with $2,700 insurance. There is no doubt that the fire was of incendiary origin. The Chinese laundry, from which the occupants had been ejected for non-payment of rent, had been vacant about two weeks. Many think the former occupant is the guilty party, and there is strong talk of organizing a mob for the purpose of driving the Chinese out of town. The cry of 'The Chinese must go' is frequently heard. If the perpetrator is caught, there is a strong probability he will be promptly lynched.
“Today there is strong talk, and the cry of 'The Chinese must go' is frequently heard.”
This article captures the volatile climate of the 1885-86 anti-Chinese expulsion era that lingered into the 1890s, where property disputes were routinely used to justify racial cleansing. It reflects a dark chapter of Washington history where the threat of lynching was used as a civic tool for forced removal.
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