An Unlawful Entry Trial
A Chinese man arrested under the Exclusion Act is brought before the U.S. Commissioner, highlighting the pervasive surveillance of the era.
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.
Saey Gat, a Chinese man, was arrested Friday night by Chinese inspector Meredith and brought before U.S. Commissioner Emery yesterday morning for trial on the charge of being unlawfully in the country. When Saey was examined, he was found to be palpably green, although he claimed to have lived in Seattle ten years and to have worked in several laundries here. When he was asked to name some of these laundries, he was puzzled and could not even give the names of the places he had been employed. After long and tedious questioning, he dug up from the depths of his faded memory the name of Bin Chin, owner of one of these laundries. In a small valise in his possession was found a ticket to Boston. In the same valise was also found a letter addressed to Mark Ten Fui, of Seattle, in the latter's own handwriting.
“Saey was found to be palpably green, although he claimed to have lived in Seattle ten years.”
This arrest occurred under the shadow of the Chinese Exclusion Act. It serves as a reminder of the systematic state violence and surveillance used against the Chinese community in Seattle during the late 19th century, a history that requires modern recognition.
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