Page:History of Washington The Rise and Progress of an American State, volume 4.djvu/428

 assuring him that “there is not a man in Tacoma who does not fully recognize the difficulty of the position in which you are placed by the prevailing agitation, and the patient good sense with which you have up to the present, met and surmounted that difficulty. The reaction of sentiment in your favor is quite marked. . . . Your visit has set matters right, and there will be no further misunderstanding. Our Chinese are still going, and there will probably be very few left here at the end of this week.”

On the 29th, the governor was invited to attend an anti-Chinese meeting in Tacoma, but being unable to be present he sent a letter saying, that while he sympathized with the American workingmen in their efforts to have the Chinese peacefully go, “the condition distinctly is peace; maintain law and order, and the victory will be yours.”

It was evident enough from all this and from other information received by the governor, that the people of Tacoma were determined the Chinese should go. Many of them seem to have hoped that they would be allowed to go peaceably, but the disturbing element was thoroughly resolved that they should go, and resolved to accelerate their going, in case there was the slightest indication that all would not leave before the time fixed by the declaration of the “anti-Chinese Congress.” It soon became apparent that the sheriff and his deputies were quite in accord with this sentiment.

The plans of the disturbing element had been carefully laid, and while the sheriff was assuring the governor of his ability to preserve the peace, and the law-abiding portion of the community was hopeful, if not confident, that he would do so, the agitators and their followers were prepared for action. On the morning of November 3d, they assembled to