The Opium Steward of the Dakota
A routine baggage check on the steamship Dakota reveals a massive illicit cargo, sparking a criminal case that hints at a long-running smuggling operation on Puget Sound.
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 the last trip but one of the steamship Dakota to this port, a revenue collector observed William Gibbon, the steerage steward, carrying a carpet-sack from the steamship. Thinking all might not be right, he stopped the man and examined the baggage, finding fifty tin cases of opium, which was confiscated. The steward was allowed to proceed on the Dakota to San Francisco, but on her return from Tacoma yesterday, Gibbon was arrested by Sheriff Wyckoff, and taken before W. H. Andrews, U. S. Commissioner, where an examination was held. The evidence was conclusive that the opium was found with the prisoner, but he set up the plea that he was simply carrying off the baggage for a passenger. However, he was held in the sum of $1,000 to appear at the next term of the District Court. He endeavored to secure the bail, but had not succeeded at last accounts. The presumption is that this smuggling of opium has been going on for a long time.
“The presumption is that this smuggling of opium has been going on for a long time.”
This 1878 account of Pacific trade routes and the subsequent criminalization of cargo reflects the early, tense intersection of international commerce and local law enforcement in Seattle. Today, the Port of Seattle remains a massive hub for global trade, though the 'contraband' of the nineteenth century has evolved into the complex regulatory and logistical battles of the modern era.
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