Federal Authorities Seize Fifty Pounds of Opium in Seattle
A court notice reveals the confiscation of contraband from a Seattle residence in 1885.
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.
The United States of America vs. fifty pounds of prepared opium. John B. Allen, United States Attorney for Washington Territory, filed an information alleging that on February 17, 1885, at a house in the city of Seattle, A.W. Bash, Collector, seized one hundred half-pound cans containing fifty pounds of prepared opium. The goods were found concealed in a house in Seattle, and the federal court has ordered a hearing for the forfeiture of the contraband.
“The said goods, wares and merchandise were found concealed in a certain house at the city of Seattle.”
This notice highlights the mid-1880s crackdown on opium, a period that saw increasing racialized regulation and the broader movement toward the exclusion of Chinese immigrants in Washington Territory.
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