PORT TOWNSEND — It wasn’t so much a case of whodunit as who didn’t.
“Are there any scalawags in this courtroom who aren’t mixed up in this somewhere?” Judge James Swan asked.
Swan, portrayed by Milt Morris, presided Sunday at the final scene of “History’s Mystery,” an interactive game which took place on Water Street during Victorian Festival weekend.
After collecting clues and quizzing suspects, amateur sleuths handed in their guesses and gathered in City Hall chambers to find out who was in on the plot to smuggle opium on the Victoria to Port Townsend ferry, an actual case in 1893.
“I just want to say I’m so sorry that I’ve caused so much trouble for so many nice people,” accused smuggler Hattie Stratton said contritely after the other suspects had pleaded innocent to any wrongdoing.
Hattie was portrayed by Ashanti Stern.
In the end, four other people were implicated in the crime, including Hattie’s lawyer, played by Dennis Gregg, and customs inspector W. F. Learned, who were both in on the deal, Swan said.
Hattie’s mother, played by Catherine McNabb, was fined $100 for making underwear for illegal purposes, aided by Daisy (Mel Fitzmorris), the housekeeper at the Rothschild House, despite a plea for her innocence sung by her husband to the tune of “Danny Boy.”
