The Wild West of Asotin City
Federal authorities scramble as intoxicated travelers on the Washington-Idaho border cause local terror and gunplay.
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.
United States District Attorney White yesterday started the following letter to United States Marshal Hamilton with instructions to take action in the premises: 'Asotin, Idaho, April 30, 1889. United States Attorney William H. White—Dear Sir: We have been bothered very much during the last year by drunken Indians and think it is time there was a stop put to it. Of late the red men have become quite saucy. They travel in parties of from five to fifteen. One of them drew a pistol and snapped it several times at one of the residents, but it would not go off. As the white man was attending to his business at the time he was attacked, he would have been justified in shooting the Indian. As the whiskey is sold to these Indians at Asotin City, Asotin County, the United States attorney for this county says he can do nothing as it is in your jurisdiction. I hope you will attend to this matter at once as there is likely to be trouble if some one does not take this matter in hand. Yours truly, J. L. Goodnight.' In accordance with the instructions of District Attorney White, Marshal Hamilton wrote a letter to J. L. Goodnight in which he enclosed a return commission appointing him a deputy United States marshal for Washington territory. Mr. Goodnight was instructed to follow up the parties engaged in selling the liquor to Indians and limit them when there was sufficient evidence to convict.
“Of late the red men have become quite saucy. They travel in parties of from five to fifteen.”
This report highlights a recurring issue in Washington history: jurisdictional confusion at the boundaries of sovereign lands and local municipalities. Today, while we have evolved beyond 'deputizing' random citizens to handle federal enforcement, the tension over how alcohol policy is applied across tribal and non-tribal border zones remains a complex part of the region's regulatory landscape.
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