The Opium Sloop of Port Townsend
A routine smuggling bust on the Puget Sound uncovers a cargo of opium, a piano, and a fugitive deserter, sparking a legal struggle over seized property.
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.
Peter Bendstrom, Herman Garres, Wm. Hittet, Minnie Hittet, and Chas. Heeley were brought before United States Commissioner J. G. Swan today on charges of smuggling. Bendstrom and Minnie Hittet were released, and the other three were held in the sum of $500 each. These are the parties arrested at Tacoma at the time the sloop Skagit and her cargo were seized. The cargo consisted in part of about 30 pounds of opium, a piano, and a lot of furniture. Parties in Victoria claim the piano and furniture, on which they hold a mortgage, and appeared here today to prove property, which the Customs authorities still hold. It is thought that it will be condemned and sold with the sloop. It is said that Heeley is a deserter from Fort Townsend, and that he is wanted there. He is reported to have been engaged in smuggling for a long time.
“The cargo consisted in part of about 30 pounds of opium, a piano, and a lot of furniture.”
The smuggling of illicit goods via the intricate waterways of Puget Sound has been a persistent theme in Pacific Northwest history. While the contraband has changed from the 1885 opium trade to modern-day trafficking, the challenge of policing the vast, porous maritime border between Washington and British Columbia remains a central, unresolved struggle for local and federal authorities.
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