Border officials block Chinese merchant entry
New federal regulations trigger a strict enforcement crackdown on Chinese residents returning to Seattle.
Chinese Inspector Frank D. Schuyler returned home last evening from Portland, where he traveled to adjudicate the cargo of thirty-eight Chinese individuals aboard the steamer Signal from Victoria. The vessel had previously attempted to land in Seattle, but failing that, moved on to Portland. Inspector Schuyler and Collector Black of Portland examined fourteen of the group, admitting only four. Under the McCreary Amendment to the Exclusion Act, approved November 3, 1893, any Chinese person seeking entry must prove by two witnesses, other than Chinese, that they are a merchant who resided in the United States for at least one year. Certificates previously issued were seized and canceled. Notably, two Chinese boys, aged 10 and 12, were denied entry despite one claiming birth in the country, as the inspector concluded they lacked required documentation. Inspector Schuyler, acting under specific instructions from the Treasury Department, is strictly enforcing the new, sweeping provisions of the law, which reclassify many forms of manual labor to broaden the scope of the exclusion.
“Both were ordered back to the vessel and cannot come into the 'promised' Land.”
This reporting from 1894 highlights the aggressive federal expansion of the Chinese Exclusion Act via the McCreary Amendment, which sought to close loopholes for returning merchants. It captures the local machinery of systematic exclusion that defined Seattle's civic landscape during the late 19th century, a period marked by both systemic state violence and grassroots resistance.
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