The Lone Guard of Deception Pass
A maritime guard single-handedly outwits smugglers in a high-stakes standoff on the islands of the Sound.
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.
Two hundred and forty pounds of opium were seized at Deception Pass last evening. The sailor from the Wolcott, who was stationed there some months ago, made the seizure. The guard, a Swede named Ipsen, noticed two men on the beach just outside the camp and watched them until convinced they were smugglers. He then donned the garb of a settler, took an ax in his hand and, having concealed revolvers in his pockets, started for the camp of the smugglers. The ruse worked. Ipsen struck up a conversation by talking about the hardships of pioneering among the islands of the Sound, and soon had seen enough of the camp to be certain that there was opium there. Ipsen at a favorable opportunity covered the men with a brace of revolvers, disarmed them and compelled them to carry the opium to a place of safety. It was his intention to bring both the smugglers and opium to Anacortes, but the former made a break for freedom and escaped. After this, Ipsen secured a buggy and brought part of the goods here, leaving the balance in a storehouse on the south end of the island. At about noon today, the remainder of the opium was brought here by wagon and turned over to the Wolcott.
“Ipsen struck up a conversation by talking about the hardships of pioneering among the islands of the Sound, and soon had seen enough of the camp to be certain that there was opium there.”
Smuggling across the porous geography of the Salish Sea has been a constant throughout Pacific Northwest history, shifting from opium in the 1890s to modern-day contraband. The rugged, isolated nature of the San Juan Islands and Deception Pass that allowed for this 1894 standoff remains a defining, albeit heavily trafficked, feature of the region's landscape.
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