The Price of Turning Informant
A Seattle man is targeted for retaliation after allegedly reporting his neighbors to the police for opium use.
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.
Jimmy Goon Gan, a Chinaman doing business at 518 Washington street, swore out a warrant yesterday in Justice Humphrey's court charging Chin Sam Sing, Woo Quin Bang, and Chin Look Foo with having threatened his life. The three men for whom the warrant was issued were arrested a few days ago for smoking opium, and for unknown reasons, claimed that Jimmy Goon Gan gave the information which led to their arrest. Jimmy Goon Gan claims that the trio came into his lodging house yesterday, and with angry words and threatening gestures made him think his time had come. Gen told his story in such an excited manner that it was hard to translate, but the nearest meaning obtained was that the men said, 'We will kill you. You told policemen we smoked opium.' Gan said his enemies would have killed him then if some of the other people in the house had not protected him.
“The trio came into his lodging house yesterday, and with angry words and threatening gestures made him think his time had come.”
This incident highlights the precarious position of marginalized residents in the 1890s, caught between law enforcement looking for targets and the internal pressures of a community facing structural racism. The mention of 'opium dens' in this period was a common trope used by city authorities to justify harassment and raids in the International District.
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