The Revenue Cutter 'Black Pup' Intercepts Smugglers
Federal authorities captured a launch near Whidbey Island, but the white smugglers escaped into the night, leaving eight Chinese laborers behind.
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.
Lieut. Horace B. West, of the United States revenue launch Black Pup, last night made one of the most successful captures in the history of smuggling on Puget Sound. Acting on advices from Victoria informers, he steamed out last evening and spent the night searching the shore line of Whidbey island, with the result of running onto a smuggling launch in a little cove. After a half-hour's chase he overhauled her, but he found only eight Chinamen aboard, the white men in charge having escaped to land in a small boat in the darkness. The vessel proved to be the Fairy, which was built in Tacoma a year ago. United States commissioner Swan is trying the detainees, and they will all be sent back to China on the next steamer.
“After a half-hour's chase he overhauled her, but he found only eight Chinamen aboard, the white men in charge having escaped to land in a small boat in the darkness.”
This incident highlights the intense enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act in the Pacific Northwest, where the federal government ramped up border patrol operations on Puget Sound. It serves as a reminder of the discriminatory policies that governed regional life and maritime activity during this era.
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