Smuggling Scandal at Mary Island
A customs official is dismissed for allegedly allowing small craft to run illegal liquor shipments to Indigenous populations, sparking a debate on enforcement limits.
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 Secretary of the Treasury has ordered the dismissal of Deputy Collector of Customs Toole at Mary Island. Toole is charged with permitting revenue law violations by allowing small sailing craft to pass his port laden with liquor for sale to Indigenous populations along the coast. Toole, who arrived in Port Townsend to assign his reasons for dismissal to political policy, admitted that large quantities of liquor were being smuggled into Alaska past his post. He claimed, however, that he and his two fellow officers were fundamentally unable to capture the smugglers or retard their progress due to the vastness of the smuggling operations.
“He admitted that large quantities of liquor were being smuggled into Alaska past Mary island, but said that the three officers stationed there were unable to capture the smugglers.”
Customs enforcement in the remote reaches of the San Juan Islands and Alaska was a massive logistical challenge in the 1890s. This story illustrates the early tension between federal authority and the realities of maritime policing in the Pacific Northwest.
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