Underground Railroad on Whidbey Island
Customs inspectors arrest nine men at a secret 'station' near Coupeville as the federal government ramps up enforcement of exclusion laws.
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.
Nine Chinese men, charged with being illegally in the country, were brought to Seattle last night after being arrested on Whidbey Island. Customs Inspectors John A. Plum and C. P. Miller discovered a house—12 by 30 feet—located about a mile and a half from the beach, which served as a station for the 'underground railroad' by which Chinese travelers entered the United States. Inspector Plum arrived alone and initially found half a dozen men, but eventually identified twenty-seven people total. The nine men taken into custody appeared to be the most recent arrivals, while others claimed to have lived in the country for years. The men carried slips of paper with the names of white local residents who could vouch for them.
“The station is a house about 12x30 feet in the corner of a clearing about an acre in extent, and about a mile and a half from the beach or any other habitation.”
This account captures the grim reality of the Chinese Exclusion era in Washington State, documenting both the sophisticated resistance networks used by the immigrant community to survive and the relentless surveillance by federal authorities.
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