 Tibbetts served as Justice of the Peace in Squak, Washington, which is present day Issaquah.He gave a firsthand account to early historian of the west Hubert Howe Bancroft of the violence against Chinese hops pickers on the night of September 7, 1885 in Squak.Tibbetts was charged as an accessory in relation to the case because he refused to help the Chinese on their way to the Wold brothers' farm but nothing ever came of the charges.