After the Riot, Life Under Martial Law
While Seattle remained under military occupation following the anti-Chinese expulsion riots, the saloon keepers petitioned for the right to reopen their doors.
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.
Yesterday was a clear, pleasant day, and many persons who had kept themselves housed up since the town went under martial law, came out to give themselves an airing. The result was that the streets were thronged all day, and Seattle looked quite itself again. A delegation of citizens engaged in the liquor business, wholesale and retail, called on General Gibbon and represented to him that General Order No. 2, which provided that all places where intoxicating liquors are sold should be closed, and remain closed indefinitely, was working a great hardship upon those who had their money invested in the business, as their licenses were running out and their rent going on just as though they were permitted to carry on their business. General Gibbon took the matter under consideration, and soon issued the following: 'Special Order No. 2: So much of General Order No. 2, dated February 8, 1886, as relates to the closing of saloons is hereby altered to allow them to open and remain open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. All proprietors of saloons are hereby notified that no drunken or boisterous persons will be permitted in their places of business. Any violation of this order will subject the party offending to arrest and punishment.' During the day Louie K. Kidd, a printer, who, it is alleged, took an active part in the forcible expulsion of the Chinese, was arrested and lodged in jail.
“General Gibbon took the matter under consideration, and soon issued the following: 'All proprietors of saloons are hereby notified that no drunken or boisterous persons will be permitted in their places of business.'”
The 1886 anti-Chinese expulsion riots were a dark chapter of violent nativism in Seattle, echoing modern tensions regarding immigration and the displacement of marginalized communities. Martial law was a blunt tool of the era to restore order, contrasting sharply with the current debates over the role of police and civic unrest in downtown Seattle.
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