The Sheriff vs. The Reservation Agent: A Neah Bay Standoff
When a federal agent refused to obey a district court order, a deputy sheriff took a midnight steamer to enforce the law—only to be met with a threat of the guardhouse.
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 Interior Department at Washington ordered the trader's store at the Neah Bay reservation closed, as S. H. Baxter, the trader, had been debarred from business there. Baxter applied to the District Court for a restraining order to prevent the agent from closing the store. He got it, but Agent Wood had to obey the command of the department in Washington, and so he closed the store, despite the restraining order from the District Court. For disregarding the order, Mr. Wood was called to Seattle and sued for contempt of court. Then came a new appointment of agent at the reservation, and Col. Powell, of Virginia, assumed the duties of that position. It was necessary for the trader, Mr. Baxter, to get a new restraining order on Colonel Powell in order to have the store opened and kept so. The court granted a second order, which restrained, or sought to restrain, Colonel Powell from closing the shop. This was forwarded to the sheriff of Clallam County, who in turn handed it to his deputy, with instructions to proceed to the reservation and serve it upon the agent. The deputy accordingly proceeded from Dungeness on board the steamer Dispatch last Monday, and arrived at Neah Bay late at night. The deputy at once proceeded to the house of the agent, about 2 o'clock in the morning, and roused him from sleep. The Colonel poked his head out of the window and asked what was wanted. The deputy sheriff commanded him, in the name of the United States, to get out and open the store. The Colonel yelled back that he’d be hanged if he would. 'And look here, Mr. Deputy,' continued the old gentleman, 'you clear out of here with that paper just as quick as the Lord will allow, and if I find you prowling around here after the steamer leaves, I’ll lock you in the guardhouse, you understand?' 'I think I do,' replied the deputy, 'but I mean to leave Judge Greene's order in your office, where it will be handy for you when you get up. Good morning.' He returned home on the steamer, and the Colonel still 'holds the fort,' as it is understood that he is acting under instructions from the department in Washington to obey no order emanating from any other source.
“The Colonel poked his head out of the window and asked what was wanted. The deputy sheriff commanded him, in the name of the United States, to get out and open the store. The Colonel yelled back that he’d be hanged if he would.”
This 1885 clash over federal versus local jurisdiction at Neah Bay mirrors ongoing tensions in Washington State history, where tribal sovereignty, federal oversight, and state court authority frequently collide. It highlights the persistent friction between distant federal bureaucracy and the immediate, on-the-ground reality of legal enforcement in the Pacific Northwest.
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