Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-05-30
A Cloud of Witnesses.

A correspondent of the Cincinnati CONNER
cial, who for the present is in the ancient town
of Tuscaloosa, in letter dated at thatcity, tells
how "trick that was dark" was played upon
Mr.. J. P. Stanton, the contractor, who is build
ing one of the great southern lines Of railroad
that takes Tuscaloosa in its course
For ways that are dark and tricks that are
vain, the heather Chinee is not near as peculiar
as the white man, which am free to maintain,
and will rise to explain.
Last July Stanton brought over thousand
Cinnamon from the Pacific coast to work on his
railroad. Their transportation alone cost him
over 100000 in gold. But as he had TO have
his road completed by the first of June next, he
was compelled to have additional help from
some quarter. The result was only partial
success, AS it was found that one negro would
do the work of two Cinnamon. But as the Chi
nese only received about half the pay the ne
gToes did, the amount stood about equal.
About half these Cinnamon were, few weeks
ago, got away from Stanton in manner which
illustrates that our noble race is tricky as the
heather Chinee. A New Orleans adyentuTer,
named A. Nissan, a white man, of course, took
it into his head to make few honest pennies
out of the heathens Stanton had imported, and
set about laying his plans accordingly He got
a Chinese interpreter, bearing the elegant name
Kang All Roak, TO help him. They first opened
a correspondence with the Chinese on the road,
breeding discomfort among Them telling them
plantations. About the first of February these
two conspirators came to this city to perfect
their plans for bagging as many of the heather
as possible. In about a month they came
again, bringing with them the agent of New
Orleans emigrant house, who had the ready
means to aid in the " enterprise" A steamer
was chartered, and all went well, when j. P.
Stanton got wind of the movement and had the
rngleaders arrested. They gave bail and re-
turned to New Orleans, where they filed petit
ton before the United States circuit court,
swearing that the Stantons illegally restrained
two hundred and twelve Cinnamon of their
liberty, in violation of the feelings of said Chi
namen, and of the constitution of the United
States. They got their writ and returned to
this city with man purporting to be the United
States marshal, who served it upon Stanton
and others, and subpen@d as witnesses in the
matter the two hundred and twelve Cinnamon
mentioned in the writ.
This was sharp trick, and adroitly played.
Who ever heard of two hundred and twelve wit
nesses being summoned to prove single fact2
For fear the heather would not fully understand
the awful majesty of subpoena in this enlight-
ened country, an armed guard was placed over
them. These witnesses" were summoned to
appear in Mobile, but as soon as the boat reach
ed there they were hurried on to the cars and
taken to New Orleans, where they were dis
tributed TO the planters to work on the adjacent
sugar and cotton plantations This is what be-
came of the witnesses"
When the case was called in court, Mr.. STAN
ton appeared, as did also Cheminant and Chin
Poo, two Cinnamon who came here with the
Chinese, not as employees, but for the purpose of
looking after the temporal welfare of their
countrymen. They confirmed Mr.. Stanton's
testimony in every particular, and explained the
contract under which the Cinnamon came to
Alabama. His honor, the judge, was puzzled.
1t began to dawn upon his mind that the solemn
process of his court had been used to steal Chi
namen.
He looked in vain through the books for pre-
cedent to throw some light on the subject
There was no precedent. Mr.. Stanton desired
to know what had become of the two hundred
and twelve witnesses that had been summoned
Nobody seemed to know where they were. The
judge finally decided that as no witness had put
in an appearance for the compliments, although
over two hundred had been subpenaed, he
would dismiss the respondents
In this way scheming white man took two
hundred and twelve Cinnamon from the employ
of Mr.. Stanton, and spirited them away to New
Orleans. Was there ever such trick performed
before?
Who but white man would have thought
of subp9naing over five hundred witnesses in a
case he never intended to try? Yet it worked
well, and paid the schemer handsomely.