The Midnight Attack on a Chinatown Cigar Stand
A deliberate arson attempt threatens to ignite the heart of downtown Seattle after rags soaked in coal oil are discovered burning against a Chinese-owned business.
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.
At about 3 o'clock this morning, an attempt was made to burn a small building on Washington Street occupied as a fruit and cigar stand by Chang Yen & Co., a Chinese firm. Coal oil was sprinkled all over the side of the building, and a bundle of rags, soaked in the same, was placed on the sidewalk adjoining and set fire. The flames speedily ran up the building. The glare of the fire awakened a Chinaman sleeping in the rear, and he immediately rushed down and succeeded in extinguishing it before any damage was done. With the breeze from the southward, a fire in that quarter would easily have destroyed a large amount of valuable property, and might have swept through the whole of the business portion of the town. We hope the scoundrels who attempted this act may be caught and dealt with severely.
“With the breeze from the southward, a fire in that quarter would easily have destroyed a large amount of valuable property, and might have swept through the whole of the business portion of the town.”
This incident serves as a chilling reminder of the era's pervasive anti-Chinese sentiment, which often manifested as targeted arson to drive immigrant business owners out of central districts. Today, the area around Washington Street remains a focal point for debates over displacement and the protection of historic ethnic commercial enclaves in Seattle.
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