The Yellow Glove Standoff on San Juan Island

Steilacoom, Washington Territory, though unknown to general fame, has some historical importance. It was from there that General Harney dispatched Lieutenant Pickett—since famous as a Confederate commander—to seize San Juan Island, which the British Columbians claimed for themselves. Many stirring anecdotes of those days are related by the pioneers, particularly regarding the judicial tension on the island. When the island was occupied conjointly by British and American troops, and magistrates were appointed by both nations to mete out justice, the judicial dignity of the Britons was so shocked by their American counterparts that they were eventually compelled to retire from the bench. The English magistrate assigned to the island circuit, impressed with his own importance, appeared in court in faultless attire and wearing the most fashionable gloves. His Yankee confrere, appointed apparently to provide a sharp contrast, appeared in a suit of rusty gray, a collarless flannel shirt, and large, horny hands that had never known the refinement of gloves. British dignity could scarcely stand the association. The final straw came one day when the American justice appeared on the bench with unkempt hair and beard, but arrayed in a brand-new pair of glaring yellow kid gloves. When he took his seat and held up his hands with fingers outstretched, the audience roared with such laughter that business could not proceed. The mockery was so evident that the English magistrate retreated from the bench in a fit of disgusted anger, vowing he would never again sit with such a 'boar.' He kept his word, and the American residents were thereafter tried before their rude but just and fun-loving justice of the peace. Thus, American diplomacy gained another victory through absurdity.