The Raid on South Fifth Street
A police raid on a gambling party in Seattle’s Chinatown leads to a chaotic scene of fleeing patrons and two arrests.
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.
Chinatown was in a state of great excitement for a short time last night owing to the unexpected appearance of Detective Philbrick and Capt. Hanna at a gambling party. About fifteen Chinamen crowded into the back room of Wo Hop's tea store on South Fifth, between Main and Washington streets, during the evening, and commenced playing cards. They say it was poker, but it looked like faro. One of the Chinamen lost his money and to get even reported the game to the police. Detective Philbrick went in the front door and before the players were fairly aware of what had happened he was among them. The scene that followed was laughable to any one who was not concerned in it. Chinamen went in all directions, over the table, under the table, around the ends and poured out of the back and front doors like sheep. Philbrick meanwhile caught two unlucky Celestials by their pigtails, and was getting his handcuffs ready when a line of Chinamen, driven back from the back door by Capt. Hanna, came upon him. The prisoners, who gave their names as Ut Sing and Ching Lung, each rolled a cigarette and walked quietly to headquarters. They were released on $75 cash bail each.
“The scene that followed was laughable to any one who was not concerned in it.”
This account reflects the pervasive anti-Asian sentiment of 1890s Seattle, where 'Chinatown' was subject to frequent police harassment and voyeuristic reporting. The language used—specifically the caricatured descriptions—is an artifact of a period defined by the Exclusion Acts, reminding us that local law enforcement was often used as a tool of systemic racism.
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