The Opium Smuggler of Port Townsend
A ship steward is arrested and held on high bond after customs agents discover a hidden stash of opium on his person and in his cabin.
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.
Lur Sing, the Chinese steward arrested on the revenue cutter Wolcott last Saturday afternoon, was held by Commissioner Swan today in $3,000 bonds for smuggling nine pounds of opium into the United States. During the trial it developed that the Chinaman had four pounds of opium neatly concealed on his back beneath his blouse. The rest of the opium was found concealed in an old shirt in the stateroom.
“During the trial it developed that the Chinaman had four pounds of opium neatly concealed on his back beneath his blouse.”
This arrest reflects the height of the exclusionist era in the Pacific Northwest, where the regulation of commodities like opium was frequently used as a pretext for the policing and racial profiling of Chinese laborers and sailors. The framing of this account emphasizes the era's hostility toward Chinese immigrants.
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