Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1891-10-30
The Puget Sound Collectors.
Reyeille,


The Puget Sound custom-housc was
established in 1871. There have been
twenty collectors, whose terms have
averaged twenty-five months. S. p.
Moses was the first collector. The In
dians were then very thick about
Olympia, and rifles were as necessary
as stationery. The Mary Dare was the
first vessel seized for smuggling, the
steamer Beaver the second. The
Beaver was the first steamer to round
the Horn. This was in 81. Col. John
\. Ehey was the second collector.
His salary was 81 900. D,ring his
term of Office the port Of entry was re-
moved to Port Townsend. f. C. Fitz-
bugh was the inspector at Whatcom
In lSJj the Indians killed Ebey when
he WIS at his farm on WILDLY Island.
Judge Swan got Ebey's scalp back
from the Indians shortly after. NJ. H..
Frost succeeded Ebey. c. c. Phillips
became collector in 1850. Victor
Smith, a friend of Lincoln, who brought
T3,OOJ,OOO of government money
across the isthmus, was the next man.
He tried to move the customs house to
Port Angeles, and the Port Townsend
citizens, getting possession of the Of
flee, held it until Smith, from reve-
nue. cutter, was about to lombard the
city, when it was surrendered to him,
and he removed his Office to Port An
gelcs. He was drowned on the Brother
Jonathan. DIR. Gum then became
collector. lie now lives at San Diego
In 1863 IL freshet swept the custom
house away. j. M. Asher was acting
collector after Gum, and then came
Harry Wilson. He died and Lincoln,
three days before his assassination, ap-
pointed his brother, Fred Wilson, to
succeed him. S. Garfelde, delegate to
Congress, procured his removal and
Fred Drew was appointed. Drew still
lives in Seattle. Drew was succeeded
by Gartieldc when beaten for delegate
by McFadden. Garfielde was removed
and Henry Webster, Indian agent at
Neah Bay, was appointed. Albert
Bash succeeded Webster in 1881. Her
bert Beecher succeeded Bash in 1885.
Quincy A. Brooks succeeded Beecher
in 1887.
Brooks administration was one con-
tinual round of squalls. Brooks made
Thurman chief deputy.
Thurman got into communication
with the special treasury agents, made
charges against his superior and had
Brooks dismissed from the service by
President Cleveland in December, 1888,
and himself appointed as acting col
lector. Thurman's head developed to
an enormous size and his services were
soon dispensed with.
James a. McCabe, a popular young
Democrat, was acting collector after
Thurman was dismissed, January 81,
1889, until Leslie Cullom, of Tennes-
see, then clerk in the printing de-
partment in Washington, d. c., as
sumed charge as collector.
Before Cullom could be confirmed
by the Senate, President Harrison in
April, 1889, appointed Charles NJ. Brad
shaw, of this city, as collector. Brad
shaw had been defeated for Congress in
1856 by Charles S. Voorhees,. The
charges and counter-charges against
Bradshaw are too well known to re-
quire repetition.
Andrew Wasson, OF Port Townsend,
a member of the State Legislature and
formerly prominent Republican in
California, was appointed as Bradshaw's
successor September 10Th last, and last
Wednesday he took charge of the dis
trict.