The Sheriff Who Refused to Enforce Mob Rule
In 1885, as anti-Chinese sentiment gripped Seattle, Sheriff J.H. McGraw defied a mass meeting of local citizens by refusing to join an exclusionary committee, citing his oath of office and the rule of law.
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.
J.H. McGraw, Sheriff of King County, received a communication from the secretary of a mass meeting held at Yesler’s Hall on October 3rd, notifying him that he had been named to a committee of fifteen tasked with ordering the Chinese population of Seattle to leave the city. In his formal response, McGraw declined the appointment. He stated, 'I am an officer of the law, the Sheriff of King county. As such officer I have taken an oath to uphold the law. If I were to act upon your committee, the Chinese, in view of my official character would naturally construe my request into a command. It would amount to official intimidation of them.' McGraw further noted that it would be a gross breach of duty to join a vigilante group while simultaneously being responsible for arresting participants in any resulting breach of the peace. 'I have too much respect for a large majority of the persons composing the Mass Meeting at Yesler’s Hall to believe that they would want an officer to violate his oath or disregard his duty,' he wrote. 'Whatever I can do consistent with my duty as a citizen and an officer, that I will cheerfully do to relieve the community of the grievous presence of the Chinese. More than that honorable men will not expect of me.'
“It would be an unusual thing to see the Sheriff of the county one day requesting the Chinese to leave, and the next day arresting men for a breach of the peace, caused, perhaps, by the request of the day before.”
This letter from 1885 highlights a pivotal moment in Seattle’s history where the tension between mob-driven civic 'reform' and the professional integrity of elected officials collided. Today, this conflict resonates in the ongoing local debates over who has the authority to police public space and whose rights are prioritized when local pressures for social change clash with established legal protections.
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