A Chinese Resident, a Hatchet, and a Lenient Sentence in Olympia
Mayor Horr and other officials testified to Jim's good character before he received 60 days and a $100 fine, a punishment some in the courtroom thought too light.
Mayor Horr's Chinese employee, Jim, was today sentenced to 60 days in jail and fined $100 for an attempt at deadly assault on a white man with a hatchet. Walter Milroy, T. N. Allen, Mayor Horr and City Attorney Fitch testified to the hitherto good character of the Chinese man. This was considered by many in the room as a very slight punishment for a man convicted of such a crime.
“This was considered by many in the room as a very slight punishment for a man convicted of such a crime.”
The case shows how racial labels and local reputation shaped justice in 1890s Olympia: a Chinese resident could have powerful character witnesses and still be discussed as an exception. The episode belongs to the broader history of anti-Chinese exclusion in Washington, when Chinese workers were routinely singled out in law and in the press. Modern conversations about bias in sentencing and who counts as a 'good' defendant remain painfully recognizable.
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