Raiding the Opium Dens
Police Chief Woolery and Officer McGowan raid a hidden opium den between Eighth and Ninth Streets, leading to the arrest of two young men.
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.
On Sunday afternoon, Chief Woolery and Officer McGowan raided an opium den located in the brush between Eighth and Ninth Streets, and arrested two young men who were indulging in the forbidden narcotic. At the Police Court yesterday, they gave their names as Tad Smith and Lee Bickinshaw and were fined sums amounting, with the costs, to $35 each. Bickinshaw was unable to pay up and accordingly went to jail for thirteen days, while Smith gave security for the payment of his fine within three days and was released. It is unfortunate that the keeper of the vile den escaped, and that only two of his patrons were captured. Every effort should be made to stamp out this growing evil.
“Every effort should be made to stamp out this growing evil.”
The crackdown on 'opium dens' in 1883 illustrates the era's xenophobic obsession with criminalizing substances associated with Chinese immigrants. This practice of moral panic and targeted policing predates modern drug policy debates but highlights how local law enforcement used 'vice' as a pretext for exclusion.
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