, 1883-12-27
The San Juan Difficulty.

in regard tp the location Of the bouu-
dary line hrrurru Washington Ter
ritorv and British Columbia, and the
tragic events OF early days ON san
Juan island. havr made that spot his
toric ground. lis SAID when Greek
meet, Greek then comes the tug of
war" and that catastrophe very near
IL resulted through thu stubborn de
termination Of Governor Douglas.
then chief executive OF British Col
umbia. and the mitliuchiug purpose
Of General ". :. Hmucy, who was
in command of the Department
Of Oregon. Both were mon
of indomitable viii. and each
was determined to fully yinGcate the
rights Of his home government. 1t
was the paradox of an irresistible
force ard an immovablc body
On the 18th day of December
1888, the first permanent occupation
Of San Juan under the British Gov
ernment was effected by landing I.3uO
sheep thereon from the H b. Cos
steamer Beaver Ne English settler
or cOlonist had been upon the island
previous to that time, and no attempt
at occupation on setting up Il claim
had previously been attempted, the
proprietv Of claiming it having been
discussed by the II. B. Co. that sum
mer. The sheep We're placed III
charge Of Chas. j. Griffin. then Il
clerk in the company's service. On
learning of this invasion Of Ameri-
can soil. Hon. /. y Ehey, then Col
lector of Customs for Puget Sound
district. notified Governor Douglas
that the sheep We're liable to seizure
for being brought within the jmis-
diction Of the district without pay
ing duties. Governor Douglas there
upon claimed it as British soil, and
appointed Mr.. Griffin a stipendiary
magistrate for the island of San Juan
as dependency of Vancouver island,
thus extending the English laws over
the island. Collector Ebey, having
means of enforcing collection of du-
ties, there being no revenue cutter
or war vessel ut his disposal, protest
ed against the action of the British
Governor, notifying him that his I'M
justitiabie intrusion would have to be
accounted for. He also appointed a
Mr. Webber L. S. inspector of Gus
toms and stationed him on San Juan
with instruction to keep an account OF
all goods and dutable effects landed
there by the English. Shortly after,
ward Il complaint was sworn out
against Mr.. Webber by the collector
of Vancouver island, Capt Sangster
who also, acting as constable, attempt
ed the formers arrest. Mr.. WebbeI
successfully resisted arrest, as the
warrant set forth no more hienous
crime than that Of Calling himself q
custom house officer. He remained
at his post about a year, but finally
left on account OF the insecurity
againsC northern Indians who com
mitted many depredations. Oscar
Olney succeeded Webber in Office
but left also for the same reason Il
few months afterward, aud was in
turn succeeded by Paul *. Hnbbs, jr
These danges.; from Indian raids re-
tarded the settlement of the San
Juan archipelago many years. Al
the first session of the Legislative
Assembly of Washington Territory
in 1854, the upper part of Island
county, which by It's organization in
1852 by the Oregon Legislature, in
cluded within its boundaries the isl
ands of San Juan, Lopez, Orcas,
Blakeley, Decatur and Shaw, was or
ganized into the new county of What
com. The assessment of San Juan
was made that year, but the collection
of the tax was not enforced till III
March, 1855, when the sheriff seized
upward of thirty sheep on the Hud
son Bay Company's farm, and sold
them at auction fer taxes due the
county, having been refused the pay
ment of such taxes by Mr.. Griffin,
1t was for this seizure the FL. B. Co
afterward presented claim through
the British Minister, to our State
department at Washington, for 81,
QUO The last assessment was made
May 70, 1883, at which time there
was due the county S935. The com
pany had on the island 1900 sheep
~ head of cattle, 5 yoke of oxen, 81
horses and 4G hogs. In July, 1858
there Were % actual settlers on San
Juan.
In May, 1859, these settlers request
ed Gen. Harney to give them Il small
force for protection, which he did L
few weeks later, placing there Capt
Geo. b. Plckett'a company of the 9Th
Infantry. On the very day that
Capt. Pickett's command Ianded,;HeI
Brltanlc Ataiesty's ship Satellite came
into the harbor of San Juan and
landed Major De Courcey as the Eng
1sh stpenhary magistrate. Maj.
De Courcey acted with conservative
forbearance, and prevented aompi-
cations that must have arisen had he
been rash OF nasty man. On the
day after Capt. Pickett and Maj. De
CoUrcey arrived, H r. Crosby, JUS
uce of the Peace ut Whltcom, arriv-
ed N the steamer Constitution. on a
visit; but seeing an attempt to set up
and enforce British laws. reprcsent-
ing both civil and military, he re
NAMED on the part Of the [. s. Mai.
De Courcey had full power under
orders from Governor Douglas to en-
force any Of his commands, and it
Will be readily seen that if he had not
acted with great discretion very Sc
rIous results would have followed.
But new complication arose. Mr..
Dallas, one of the H.B. Co. directors
was Informed while on.a visit to the
island that hog belonging TO the
company had been killed by a settl. +
hained Cutler. 1t Is said that this
man hada rash. petulant temper, and
boar belonging to the compIny had
broken into his fields; and IN anger
lie killed it, but went at once
and offered to pay for it. Dallas at
once rode to the farm house Of Cut
Ter and asked him in Il very insulting
manner how he dared tou:h the com
Pany,s property, and threatened to
nave him arrested and taken t. Vie
torla for trial; he wouid teach the
sqnatters a lesson &c. Cutler was