Infamous Opium Smuggler Returns Home
After serving four years in the state penitentiary, a former customs inspector turned criminal is back in Seattle.
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.
E. A. Gardner, whose name was well known to all residents of Seattle a few years ago for his connection with one of the most famous opium smuggling cases in the history of the country, is in Seattle at the Diller Hotel. At one time he was a member of the police force, then a customs inspector, and finally chief inspector at Port Townsend. Now he has just served out a term of about four years in the Auburn penitentiary for opium smuggling. He reached the city from the East on Monday night. Apparently he is in the best of health and spirits. He said, 'I am back to Seattle to stay, for I intend to make the city my home from now on. During all of my trouble, I have made no statement involving any man or casting any reflection on others.'
“I am back to Seattle to stay, for I intend to make the city my home from now on.”
Gardner’s story highlights the historical prevalence of smuggling and the deep corruption within the regional customs service during the late 19th century.
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