A Forged Passage: The Counterfeit Papers That Nearly Smuggled Chinese Immigrants Into Seattle
A ring selling near-perfect imitation government certificates was caught trying to land Chinese immigrants at Tacoma, Seattle and Port Townsend — and the customs collector was not impressed by their craftsmanship.
San Francisco, June 29. — Collector Welburn today received telegrams from Tacoma and Port Townsend which notified him that the collectors there have recently captured half a dozen Chinese with forged certificates, bearing the signatures of O. M. Welburn and his deputy, Thomas Cusick. At Tacoma the forgers tried to have Ah Duck and Ah Look admitted under excellent counterfeits, numbered 45,641 and 46,640. At Seattle the same forgers tried to introduce Ah Lun and Wong Chong under certificates numbered [blank] and [blank], and at Victoria two Chinese were arrested in possession of excellent imitations of the certificates issued at the San Francisco office. Speaking of the matter, Collector Welburn said:
"An examination of the records of this office shows that there have never been any such numbers on our books, hence the purported certificates must be forgeries. The people who are in the Northern band of forgers, if there is such a band, have not gone about their work as cleverly as the Foss gang pursued its labors. The Foss people were very clever, and they were well informed regarding our numbers."
The Chinese holding the certificates are under arrest, and every deputy who can be spared will try to discover the forgers who sold them the certificates.
It has been known at the internal revenue office for some months that the northern and southern borders of the country have long been infested with the peddlers of cunning imitations of the government certificates. It was for some time believed that the Mexican border would be the principal working place of the counterfeiters, but the vigilance of deputies has probably driven them to the North. The demand for certificates is so great that the best forgeries rapidly sell for from $100 to $500. Fops stated to a deputy United States marshal, while en route to the penitentiary, that had his hand not been betrayed by one of their number it would have earned a fortune in a year. Some of the wealthy Chinese were ready to pay fabulous prices for the privilege of coming here.
“An examination of the records of this office shows that there have never been any such numbers on our books, hence the purported certificates must be forgeries.”
Then as now, the machinery of immigration ran on paper — and where the law drew a hard line, a market for forgeries grew up around it. This 1895 roundup shows federal agents chasing counterfeit certificates across the same Puget Sound ports that still process, detain and turn back people today. The episode also reminds us that anti-Chinese exclusion was enforced not by a wall but by documents, fees and the constant threat of deportation.
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