A Boat, a Dog, and Men Hidden in the Drift Logs
Customs officers arrest two men near Point Wilson for running Chinese migrants past the restriction law—a case that exposes how exclusion was enforced on the water.
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.
From the Argus: Last night two men named John Brunton and J. O. Stroud were arrested near the wreck of the bark Hoadley, below Point Wilson, by Collector Bath and his force, for alleged violation of the Chinese Restriction law. They had a large white open boat that had been seen several times just before the sudden appearance of strange Chinese men. On this occasion they were noticed by Mr. Bailey, who quietly went down to the beach with his dog, when seven or eight Chinese men jumped up from among the drift logs where they had been hid. As no other boat had been seen near there at or just before the time, the conclusion was irresistible that the white men with the boat were smugglers. They had a hearing today before Justice van Bokkelen, at which they claimed to have landed four white men from Victoria. After hearing the evidence they were committed for trial at the district court on two charges—violation of the restriction law, on circumstantial evidence, and violation of customs regulations, prohibiting the landing of passengers from a foreign country from a vessel not cleared at the customs house; the last on their own confession. They were admitted to bail in the sum of $500 each, but were committed in default.
“As no other boat had been seen near there at or just before the time, the conclusion was irresistible that the white men with the boat were smugglers.”
The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act turned the Pacific Northwest’s water routes into a cat-and-mouse border. This Port Townsend-area arrest shows how exclusion was enforced on the water—and how smugglers, migrants and customs officers all navigated a law built on racial exclusion.
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