The Opium-Hand Coaching Scheme
A theatrical agent was arrested after authorities discovered a systemic scheme to coach Chinese witnesses in court through signals and physical props.
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.
Judge Lattio, the referee before whom Chinese passengers from the steamer Signal were being examined, became convinced today that the witnesses, principally opium hands, were being systematically coached as to testimony. A search was made, and Ed White, an attache of a dice theater, was caught in the act and arrested. A list of witnesses was found on him, along with a long string of instructions for witnesses in the case of certain Chinamen, telling them just what to say. The Chinaman wore a red rag on his finger for identification, and the witness was instructed to stroke his mustache in a peculiar way for a similar purpose. White and two men he was coaching were arrested and held to answer to the grand jury. Out of fifteen Chinese granted writs of habeas corpus, it is claimed only two were entitled to land.
This story highlights the systemic, state-sanctioned hostility toward Chinese immigrants in 1890s Washington, where legal proceedings were often weaponized to exclude them. The 'opium hand' characterization was a common racist trope used by the press to dehumanize immigrants and discredit their legal claims.
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