Three Chinese Men Murdered in Squak Valley, 1885
A brutal anti-Chinese attack in the Washington Territory ends in murder and injury, prompting a somber funeral in Seattle.
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.
The three Chinese men who were murdered at Squak Monday night were buried yesterday from Shorey's undertaking establishment. It is thought that two of the Chinese men who were wounded in the trouble at Squak will recover, and that the third, who was badly wounded, will die.
“The three Chinamen who were murdered at Squak Monday night were buried yesterday.”
The 1885 anti-Chinese riots in Washington Territory were a series of systemic expulsions that forced Chinese residents out of towns across the Pacific Northwest. Today, this dark history is a vital part of recognizing how labor unrest was weaponized into racial violence.
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