Olympia Officials Enforce 1862 Ban on Selling Liquor to Tribes
Superintendent Calvin H. Hale warns that selling alcohol to Native people is a 'grave offence' punishable by law and military enforcement.
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.
Information has been received at this office of the frequent and growing violation of the various provisions of the Act of Congress regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes. Notice is therefore hereby given that selling, disposing of, bartering or giving liquor to Indians in this Territory, or introducing or attempting to introduce the same into the Indian country, is a grave offence, punishable by fine and imprisonment by the laws of the United States. Agents have been instructed to secure the faithful and vigorous execution of the laws, and in the event of their inability to stay the sale, they are enjoined to call upon the U.S. Troops within their reach to assist them.
“Notice is therefore hereby given that selling, disposing of, bartering or giving liquor to Indians... is a grave offence, punishable by fine and imprisonment.”
This notice reflects the heavy-handed, often paternalistic, and violent mechanisms of federal control during the territorial period. The 'Indian country' designation and the threat of military intervention illustrate the fraught landscape of 19th-century tribal-settler relations in Washington.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.