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The White Eagle Saloon on Russell Street in east Portland has its share of colorful rumors and claims of ghostly presences. There was a bordello upstairs, one claims. An opium den in the basement, whispers another. Oh, and see that doorway there, the one that looks like the lid of a coal chute? That’s a secret shanghaiing tunnel to the waterfront. Shh — did you hear that? A soft ghostly step from the spirit of a murdered hooker on the second floor — and the toilet at the end of the hall just flushed itself! All of this, of course, is straight hokum. Fun hokum, but hokum just the same. But the most interesting story about the White Eagle is absolutely true, and serious as a heart attack. It attracted nationwide attention to Portland in general and the White Eagle in particular — and not the good kind of attention, either — and possibly, if not probably, involved international espionage. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1906) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/1806b.white-eagle-anarchists-499.html)