The Shadow Ledger: Seattle’s Monthly Arrest List
A raw, unfiltered tally of twenty-nine arrests made in June 1878 exposes the policing of Seattle’s streets—where poverty, Indigeneity, and ethnic status shaped the reach of the 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.
We have been handed the following list of arrests (twenty-nine in number) made by Officer Miles during the month from June to July 5th: Kelly and another, Frank Allumharr, Lynch and Datherty, D. K. Lorell, Lucy Smith, James Wright, Michael Scaulin, John McIntyre, Charley (an Indian), Ben Graham, William Smith, Lee (a Chinaman), Charley Stewart, Bill (an Indian), Jan (an Indian), Michael Scaulin (second time), Ah Lung (a Chinaman), Hop Sing, Ah Bong, Sam (an Indian), Toot and Charley, Joe Foster (an Indian), Chas. Imdey, Thomas Stols, J. Chapman, Charles Anderson, John and Harry (Indians), Michael Scaulin (3rd time), and Nor So.
“We have been handed the following list of arrests (twenty-nine in number) made by Officer Miles during the month from June to July 5th.”
This 1878 police blotter offers a blunt look at the early apparatus of Seattle law enforcement. Much like today, these records reveal a system that disproportionately targeted transient laborers, Indigenous people, and Chinese immigrants—reminding us that the 'criminalization of status' is not a modern innovation, but a foundational thread in the city's history.
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