The Trial of the 'Squak Valley' Vigilantes
In a tense courtroom session in 1885, a defendant stands trial for the murder of a Chinese laborer, exposing the brutal reality of anti-immigrant violence in Washington Territory.
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.
For the past eight days, the District Court has been constantly occupied with the case of the Territory of Washington against Daniel Hughes, indicted with several other persons for the murder of a Chinaman, Moo Goat, at Squak, on the night of September 7th, 1885. Hughes is a bachelor, about thirty-five years of age, of Irish parentage. He is about six feet high, with jet black hair and whiskers. He possesses a wonderful control over himself, and during this long trial, his countenance has not been seen to change. Hughes is what is known in the west as a rancher. Three or four years ago he took up a claim under the homestead act, on the shores of Sammanish, or Squak Lake, where he has resided a greater portion of the time since. The substance of Hughes' testimony, while on the stand, was as follows: 'On Monday, the day of the shooting at Squak, a man rode up to my house and said that the citizens of the valley were having trouble with the Chinese, and they wanted me. I took an old rifle, which I had never shot, and for which I had no ammunition, and started down the lake in my boat to the road. I pulled down to where the road strikes the lake, and walked over to Mr. Tibbetts' store, and asked for ammunition but he had none to fit my gun. The boys were then getting ready to go over to Wold Brothers. The night was dark. I went along with them for a mile or so, but fearing we would get into trouble, I turned behind, crossed the field, and walked to my boat on the lake to go home. Just then I heard the shooting, over at Wold's.' The defendant proved previous good moral character, but his story was not corroborated in any material particular, except that he was with the party when they left the store for Wold Brothers' ranch.
“The boys were then getting ready to go over to Wold Brothers. The night was dark. I went along with them for a mile or so, but fearing we would get into trouble, I turned behind.”
This trial captures a dark chapter in Washington's history during the anti-Chinese expulsion era of the 1880s. Today, it serves as a stark reminder of the long-standing tensions surrounding labor, race, and the violent efforts by some to enforce exclusion, themes that remain hauntingly resonant in modern civic discourse.
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