A Wealthy Englishman's Opium Run Ends in a Tacoma Jail
Jack Forbes, a young man with a family allowance and a taste for risk, is jailed after two trunks of opium are traced to a Tacoma hotel.
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.
TACOMA, Aug. 31.—[Special.]—Jack Forbes, who was arrested at Seattle yesterday on an indictment alleging smuggling, was sent to jail here today in default of $500 bonds fixed by Court Commissioner Emery, of Seattle. Some surprise is manifested here at Mr. Emery's action in fixing the bonds, especially in so small a sum as $500. Forbes is charged with bringing the two trunks of opium to the Hotel Nicholet here last spring, of which mention was made in the Post-Intelligencer at the time, and which was captured by Inspectors Jossey and La Lacey. He was indicted on that charge. He has been making trips to Honolulu of late, it is said, in connection with Billy Stewart, and it is assumed he has been smuggling opium into the islands. He was left a fortune of $12,000 last winter and it is estimated that he is worth $20,000 or more. Had he secured the $500 bail he would no doubt have skipped. His attorneys will endeavor to get Judge Hanford to fix new bonds, as it is claimed Emery had no right to act in the premises. When Forbes first came here he was given an allowance of nearly £100 per month by his English parents. He took to smuggling like a duck to water and seemed to enjoy it. He would, no doubt, have returned to British Columbia from Seattle without being detected if Inspector Loftus had not recognized him aboard the Rosalie.
“He took to smuggling like a duck to water and seemed to enjoy it.”
Opium smuggling through Pacific ports made early drug enforcement a game of class, mobility and luck: a young man with a private income could post bail and disappear. The case still rhymes with modern border enforcement, where wealth often determines who gets treated as a suspect and who gets away.
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