Suspicion at the Waterfront
A Chinese merchant's attempt to return to Seattle is blocked by officials claiming his business records were fraudulent.
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.
A Chinese man named Ah Och, who left Seattle last summer, is currently on board the steamer Mogul at Tacoma and facing difficulty landing. Despite possessing a merchant certificate, Collector Saunders and Inspector Schuyler investigated his claim to be a member of the firm Ling Doug Lung & Co. Schuyler reported that the firm's place of business in an alley appeared to be a 'fake' organized only to facilitate immigration, as it contained no goods until recently. Schuyler concluded that Ah Och was not entitled to land, invoking the law requiring Chinese merchants to show they conducted business at a definite location for at least one year prior to departure.
“After learning these facts Mr. Schuyler reported them to Collector Saunders, and without examining the witnesses to the certificate expressed his opinion that Ah Och was not entitled to land.”
This event captures the xenophobic implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1890s Seattle, where port officials actively fabricated justifications to deny residency to established Chinese merchants. It illustrates the bureaucratic mechanics of exclusion that targeted specific communities.
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