The Abduction of a Lighthouse Keeper's Son
A mysterious robbery at the Admiralty Head light station left a 16-year-old boy missing and officials suspecting passing opium smugglers or indigenous travelers.
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 lighthouse on Admiralty Head, opposite this city, was, during the absence of the keeper, J. E. Evans, last night robbed by unknown persons, and Harry E. Evans, aged 16 years, son of the keeper, abducted. Evans, Sr., returned to the lighthouse today and found the lights burning and the lighthouse boat, numerous household articles and three guns stolen. The rooms in the house presented the appearance of having been ransacked. Suspicion attaches to no person in particular. It is surmised, however, that Indians returning from the Puyallup fields to British Columbia committed the deed. In the vicinity of the light is a favorite cruising ground for opium smugglers. A heavy storm has prevailed on the Straits for the last two days, and it is improbable that a small boat could proceed very far. Two steamers will scour the surrounding shores tomorrow to trace the robbers.
“In the vicinity of the light is a favorite cruising ground for opium smugglers.”
This incident captures the rugged, often lawless atmosphere of the Puget Sound waterways in the 1890s. The paper's immediate pivot to scapegoating Indigenous travelers reflects the era's pervasive prejudices while also highlighting the real, historical anxieties regarding trans-border smuggling.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.