Police Sweep Targets Opium Dens
A police detective executes a raid on several laundries suspected of being opium dens, seizing pipes and bowls as evidence.
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.
Detective George Cave made a 'round-up' of the opium smokers yesterday morning and arrested An Ong, who was quietly enjoying himself in his laundry on Commercial street, near Weller; Ah Chung, Ah Charley and Ah Gee, all of whom were in Gee Lee's laundry, on Jackson street, and James Williams, who was in a room over a laundry in the alley between Washington and Jackson and South Fifth and Sixth streets. Four pipes, eight bowls, several boxes of opium and four cooking lamps were secured as evidence. Yesterday afternoon each prisoner gave $20 bail and was released to appear before Judge Rivers this morning.
“Detective George Cave made a 'round-up' of the opium smokers.”
This police action highlights the historical reality of the anti-Asian criminalization of the late 19th century, where the 'opium den' trope was often used as a pretext for surveillance and control within the Chinese community in Seattle.
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