The tugboat captain who challenged a federal marshal
When the captain of the tug Tacoma ignored a U.S. marshal's order to stop a libeled ship, the law caught up with him at the McNeil Island penitentiary.
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.
Some time ago we published an account of the ship Richard III being towed out of the harbor at New Tacoma by the tug Tacoma, while she was in the charge of the Deputy United States Marshal, during the temporary absence of that officer. It will be remembered that before the ship was under way the officer of the law—Sheriff Winsor—jumped into a small boat, and rowing out to the tug notified Captain Cameron, master of the Tacoma, that the ship had been libeled and was in his custody. For some reason the captain of the tug saw fit to disregard the officer's words of warning, and towed the ship out to sea. On the return of the tug, Captain Cameron was arrested for contempt of court, and pending the return of Judge Greene, he was placed in the United States Penitentiary on McNeil Island. This action on the part of the officers of the law will be applauded on all hands. What is the use of having laws if people will openly and flagrantly violate them at will, and then be allowed to go unpunished?
“What is the use of having laws if people will openly and flagrantly violate them at will, and then be allowed to go unpunished?”
Federal maritime jurisdiction was as much a force to be reckoned with in 1883 as it is today. Captain Cameron's 'contempt' highlights the era's transition toward absolute federal legal authority over the volatile waters of the Puget Sound.
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