The Opium Smuggler of Second Street
A diligent customs officer tracks a young man and his illicit cargo to a local rooming house.
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.
While in Victoria some time ago, Mr. Gardner ascertained that there was a young fellow of Chinese descent who was shipping it to Portland and there disposing of it. Mr. Gardner came to Seattle, and failing to detect the fellow he went to Portland and by visiting the various Chinese joints got a clue which finally led to the capture of the smuggler. He learned that a portion of the opium had been sent over by the Northern Pacific Express, and Mr. Gardner commenced watching that establishment. Yesterday afternoon a Chinese fellow, aged about 18 years, took a demijohn into the office and ordered it sent to Portland. The diligent customs officer tackled the boy and found the demijohn to contain forty pounds of prepared un-stamped opium. The lad gave his name as U. Ho-et. He is said to be half Chinese. He is very intelligent and reads a good hand, has been in Seattle one month and roomed on Second street near the brown church. He admits that he has been engaged in the opium shipping business, but claims that he is working for a man in Victoria named Taylor, who sends the dope to him here, and he simply receives and reships it. His books, which were taken from him when he was arrested, show that he shipped a trunk to Portland on Thursday by the Northern Pacific. He was put into jail, and his preliminary examination will be held today before United States Commissioner Eben Smith.
“The diligent customs officer tackled the boy and found the demijohn to contain forty pounds of prepared un-stamped opium.”
This story reveals the intense surveillance of Chinese residents in 1880s Seattle, where customs enforcement often doubled as a tool for racial profiling and containment. The 'brown church' mentioned likely refers to one of the early churches near Pioneer Square, an area that has seen constant displacement and transformation over the last 140 years.
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