It's worth noting that in the late 1800's, Portland had the reputation for the world's highest number of Shanghaied sailors.There are extensive tunnels beneath much of the city that once contained trap doors leading up to bars and taverns. All a man had to do was stand on the wrong spot and he would fall into the tunnels, be subdued, and wind up on a ship against his will.
Portland's most famous Shanghaier was a hotel owner named Joseph "Bunco" Kelly. He bragged that he could field an entire crew in less than 12 hours. One evening, he ran across some men who had stumbled into the cellar of a mortuary. In their drunkeness, they mistook some casks of embalming fluid for liquor. Although some of the men were dead and the others were dying, Kelly brought all 22 men to the ship and claimed the dead ones were merely unconscious from alcohol. By the time the captain discovered the truth, he had already set sail.
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