The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-02-22
RESIGN OR EXPLAIN.
The Alternative Offered to Com.
missioner Spriggs.
OUTCOME oFTHe TUE GAM CASE.
Judge Hanford Gives Him His Choice
He Asks for an Investigates
by Judge Gilbert.

In letter from Judge Hanford. dated
February TO- United States Commissioner
]. w. Spriggs, of this city, was given the
alternative of resigning his position or
submitting to an Investigation before
Judge Gilbert of the charge of collusion in
the abduction from Portland of Tue Gam
Chinese woman. This step was the finale
in the series of incidents arising out Of the
arrest by Deputy United States Marshal
d. w. West, of this city, Of Tue Gam in
Portland, under a warrant issued by
Spriggs. The case was shaded in mystery,
and all sorts of accusations were made by
the people of Portland when it was known
that the woman had been brought back
here without the cooperation Of the
United States marshal at Portland, by
whom the arrest should properly have been
that Tue Gam had been taken away from
her husband, a we'll known and popular
Chinaman of Portland, and was lying In
Jail in Seattle under a sentence of deporta-
ton to British Columbia, where she was
to be kept for immoral purposes. It was
claimed that the whole affair was . con-
spiracy and that Spriggs and West were
implicated. Upon writ of habeas corpus
issued by Judge Gilbert, of the United
States circuit court, Tue Gam was taken
to Portland. given hearing and released.
Proceedings were then instituted against
West, and he was taken to Portland on
requisition from the governor Of Or
egon, and tried in Portland on
charge of abduction. In the
course of his trial West swore that Spriggs
had given him letters to the United States
marshal in Portland asking the latter to
assist him in making the arrest, but had
also told him that If he could get the
woman to accompany him to Seattle with
out applying to the marshal he need not
apply to him.. He also swore that Spriggs
directed HIM how to make his return of
the writ in such manner as to conceal
the place and date of the arrest. At the
conclusion of the trial the jury found
West guilty not of abduction, but Of as
sault and battery, lesser offense. and
Monday he was sentenced by the court to
six months imprisonment.
While the most of these events were
happening Judge Hanford was in Cali
fornia, but on February 10 he wrote to
Spriggs giving him the alternative of re-
signing at his earliest convenience, AZ soon
- matters which were pending before him
could be determined. or of submitting to
an investigation of the reports that had
been made about him before Judge Gilbert.
II have had nothing to do either with
the habeas corpus proceedings begun on
behalf of the Chinese woman" said Judge
Hanford last night, NOR with the action
which has been taken in regard to West.
With Commissioner Spriggs, however, it
is different, as he is an appointee of this
court and responsible to it for any mis-
conduct in Office. When learned of the
reports that were circulated concerning
him and of the action that had been taken
by the Portland Bar Association, az well
IS of what West had sworn to at his trial
in attempting to shield himself, wrote to
Commissioner Spriggs offering him the
alternative of resigning or having the
matter investigated before Judge Gilbert.
After the receipt of this letter Commits.
soner Spriggs wrote letter to that judge
in which he set forth his side of the story.
aud the whole matter is now in his
banda -