The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-12-11
A PORTLAND
OPIUM DEAL
Pour Hundred and Eighty Tins Cap
tnred in Honolulu.
A TACOMA FIRM IS INVOLVED
Hawaiian Island Firms Party TO the
Portland CO. Knows
Nothing Of the Matter

Honolulu. December Z. per steamer
China to San Francisco. December TO-
Four hundred and eighty half-pound
tias OF opium were captured by the Gus
tom house authorities on December 1st.
They were found concealed in tins Of
soda crackers In a shipment Of ia cases
per Mount Lebanon BY the Portland
Cracker Company. 70 the Washington
Feed Company. Morris and Lowden.
OF the latstr company. are under arrest
They probably did not know they were
contraba1d goods.
Portland. December 10-H. Witten-
berg. manager Of the Portland Cracker
Company. in this city. says they know
nothing about the opium The firm
shippe a quantity Of crackers TO Hon
.oluIu. but it Is ridiculous to suppose
that the company is engaged in Illicit
trafic.
San Francisco. December 10.-The To-
cal federal authorities are much stirred
up over the story brought from the Ha-
waiian Islands this morning by the
steamer China that a large seizure OF
opium was made on November . at
Honolulu.
A number Of prominent business men
OF the Islands and Of the Northwest are
said to be under suspicion and the
Washington Feed Company. Of Taco
ma is also involved. -Four hundred and
eighty tins were captured other
finds" are reported to have been made
in goods shipped from Seattle and A. L.
Morris, business agent of the Portland
Cracker Company. is under arrest at
Honolulu.
The opium was carefully packed. The
shipment Of cracker cases was billed
for Morris. ]. 7. waterhouse. II. W.
McChesney & Son. and three Chinese
firms. The shipment was forwarded to
Honolulu on the steamer Mount Leb-
anon, Of the regular Astoria-Hawaiian
line The seizure was made on the
9th Of November. 1t is the largest SELF
ure since the capture Of the schooner
Henrietta The freight from the Mount
Lebanon was discharged at Honolulu
on the Pacific Mail wharf at I O'Clock
and the vessel sailed that afternoon for
Yokohama. leaving 174 cases Of crack
ers on the wharf. shipped by the Port
land Cracker Co. and by the Wash
ington Feed Co, to A. L. Morris. Be
sides these there were 100 cases OF salm-
on which were removed for inspection
as soon as the opium was discovered.
The first case Of cracers opened was
found to contain Is tins Of opium. The
salmon and cracker cases were immedi-
ately removed to the custom house.
where out Of 40 cases were found to
contain 4S0 tins Of the drug. As soon
as the opium was found warrant was
issued for the arrest of Samuel Low
den. of the Washington Feed Co, then
at Honolulu. 1t was he who swore to
the entry. Lowden was released on
furnishing $1,000 bail. L. H. Thurston.
cA-uAAAhStGAf SVAA5 MS oCSuAAt9- AHoAS-
ton said he did not believe Lowden
was guilty. but that he was being made
a catspaw of by designing persons. The
custom house officials think, however,
that Lowden knows something Of the
deal and as he has received some cases
from San Francisco also, opium must
have been coming from this city also.
AT Honolulu it is said the people be-
lieve that three prominent islanders are
involved in the smuggling scheme. Ar
rests were expected to be made at any
moment up to the time of the departure
of the China. All the cases which
were found to contain opium were
marked "Sodas," in black letters and
had the words Washington Feed Co."
marked on them with the name Of a
prominent island firm beneath