The West Coast "Crimper Kings"

In the shadows of the West Coast sea ports, men (and women) vanished from saloons and sidewalks…only to wake up halfway across the ocean.This week on Same Crime, Different Time, we uncover the brutal trade of crimping—and the reign of Joseph “Bunco” Kelly, Maxwell Levy, and James Kelly, who all called themselves the King of the Crimpers. We’ll discuss:* What it meant to be “shanghaied”* How sailors were fooled* How reforms finally ended the crimps’ grip* And why echoes of this crime still exist todayStep into the fog, the boardinghouses, and the lawless wharves of the 1890s. History has teeth.🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.Sources* The Oregonian (Portland, OR), multiple issues, 1890s–1910s. Archival coverage of waterfront crime, the Flying Prince scandal, and Portland’s crimping culture.* Morning Oregonian, October 6, 1892. Coverage of Joseph Binco and the Flying Prince case.* San Francisco Chronicle, April 2, 1875. Report on Shanghai Kelly’s “booze cruise” scheme and claims of crewing ships in a single night.* Daily Alta California, August 15, 1873. Articles describing kidnappings and forced labor tied to San Francisco’s waterfront crimps.* The San Francisco Call, 1880s. Accounts of Shanghai Kelly’s operations and public fears of shanghaiing.* Larry Engelmann, Intemperance: The Lost War Against Liquor (1983). Context on saloons, drugs, and social reform tied to crimping culture.* Barney Blalock, Portland’s Lost Waterfront: Tall Ships, Steam Mills and Sailors’ Boardinghouses (2012). Essential history of Portland crimps, the North End, and Levy’s contemporaries.* Barney Blalock, The Oregon Shanghaiers: Columbia River Crimping from the 1870s to the 1930s (2014). Focused study of shanghaiing in Portland and the Pacific Northwest.* National Archives, Records of the U.S. Shipping Commissioner, Portland & San Francisco (1870s–1890s). Legal cases and testimony related to sailor kidnappings. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jbchambers.substack.com/subscribe