Federal Request for Protection at Port Townsend
The Marine Hospital Bureau at Port Townsend expresses alarm over recent threats and requests a watchman to secure the facility.
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 telegram from the Marine Hospital Bureau was today received from Port Assistant Surgeon J.M. Gassaway at Port Townsend, Washington Territory, asking authority to employ a watchman to protect property of the Marine hospital service. He says that many attempts have been made recently to enter the hospital in the town, and the place is now considered in danger.
“Many attempts have been made recently to enter the hospital in the town, and the place is now considered in danger.”
Port Townsend was a major point of entry for the Pacific Northwest, and federal facilities were often the first to face the volatile security environment of the 1880s, marked by labor unrest and xenophobic tension.
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