The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-10-11
Chinese Filth and Disease.

some graphic extracts, at the risk Of turn
ing the stomachs Of our readers. For in
stance, committee visited the
CHINESE QUARTERS,
and in their report they say ''No Ian
guage can adequately describe the crowded,
filthy, abominable condition of Chinese
life in our midst. 1t disgusted MS to see,
and puzzles US to describe it. Two or
three hundred Of these wretched creatures
lodge at night in one house. Some houses
have five hundred dodgers, others thou
sand, and one called the Globe Hotel
three-stOry building, on the corner of Du
pont and Jackson streets, standing on a
piece of ground only sixty feet square,
holds ?, 800. All the way from the base
ment TO the roof Of dwelling, hunks
about the size of cofhns have been fixed
up, and into each bunk turns a nightly
lodger.
''THE GROUND BENEATH
their houses is burrowed even under the
street. Wherever space can be bur-
rowed or scooped out that would hold a
coffin, there lodger may be found at
night There are innumerable subter-
ranean hels accessible by secret passages
only known to Cinnamon, where gambling
is carried on day and night also other
dark dens where crimes that cannot be
named are habitually committed. Such
is our condition, and no relief is offered
Cinnamon are filling
THE PLACE OF CHAMBERMAIDS
They are permitted to handle, wash and
dress little girls in the presence of their
mothers, who dress themselves in the pres
enoe of their China boy with even less
precaution or modesty than wOdld be man
lfested in the presence Of their husbands,
and yet husbands praise the Cinnamon
without seeming to think Of the fact that
they are leading their families to destruc-
tion. Crime is a monster at first but
often seen, its commission that shocked us
becomes familiar. until We can with a
smile cut throat, and hold the head to
gracefully bleed in basin so familiarity
makes us forget, and we 90 on until rape
shocks our sensibilities.
THE LRER,'
says correspondent Of the Ddily Grdphic,
us thing Of blotches and tumors and
swollen JOINTS and thickened skin and
dead white splotches ana rottenness and
ulcers thing constantly with an itch,
gers and toes rotting of JOINT by JOINT
with a blghted brain and loathsome
stencil foul. weak. shambling distorted,
hideous thiug-a death III life.
"Of such beings there are said to be at
least two hundred in San Francisco to-day.
! saw dozen OF more of them yesterday
(June "A, 1879 during an hours walk of
exploration in the Chinese quarters. Con
sequently, although there are those here
who Pooh-poo the entire subject, | am
forced to recognize AS a fact a dreadful
fact the presence of leprosy in this most
beautiful portion Of our land, and under
circumstances which threaten the most ter
rible consequences if the present apathy
concerning it be allowed to maintain.
''UNnER DR. o'DoNNELL's GUIDANCE
| visited the Chinese quarters. We went
+ through but small portion Of 1.-THE
block above Dupont street, on jackson. IL
which the Chinese theatre is located but
We saw enough To-. AZ least temporarily,
satisfy my curiosity. We were after lepers.
7 Can YOU show me "A nice rotton one 4
asked Il will show you any form or stage
/ of the disease you wish to see, was the
1 Doctor reply there are two hundred Of
I them within gunshot of here. little
above Dupont street, he, leading the way,
7 plunged into an ally, or rather a crevice,
4 between two buildings The Chinese love
( to economize space. They delight in being
/ crowded Through the thick smoke which
I filed den about seven feet long, five
wide, and six in hight, / could dimly dis
Germ the figure addressed as John. lie
was cooking rice. In few moments he
came shambling to the door. He would
I have made nice chairman for commit
tee on personal attractions.
GONE on. LET US SEE.
The natural conditions Of all the outly-
ing territory Of his physiognomy, beyond
his little piggish eyes, were reversed. Tu-
mors, like hillocks, supplied the place Of
dimples. and there were rayines in spots
where protuberances might have been ex-
pected His skin looked thick, dark red,
scaly, with hideous suggestions " testers
and putridity beneath. Show us your
arms, John, said the Doctor, pantomim-
ing. He might as well have talked to a
wooden man ; but the vigorous pantomime
was effective Johns arms were worse
than lis face. Now your legs, John,
with more pantomime. Johns face was
If his calves were ever half as big as his
ankles now are, John must once have been a
powerful fellow. He is more than the
average size Of his race. so there Is more
field for the operations of the leprosy,
which seems thoroughly Chinese in its
power of utilizing all available space He
has such big tumors that he seems rather
proud Of them and makes signs that he has
others, still more magnificent, on hidden
portions Of his surface. They itch, and he
scratches, shedding little shower Of white
scales AS he does so. We lose interest in
the contemplation Of his charms, and re-
tire but before doing 50, lay some money
on his door steps
"a NEW CASE PRESENTED.
"a little further up the street we enter
another building and pass through to
what has once been courtyard IN the
rear 1t is stranger place than the first.
Here, atnight, the odoriferous Mongolians
pack themselves together like sardines LII
day time, if not at work, they lie here and
smoke opium. So three of them are en-
gagged in one den, at which the Doctor
stopped to inquire for the object of our
search. Opium smoking may produce de
licious sensations, but it certainly makes a
villainous smell. Yes, there is another
case Just beginning, exclaims the Doctor
in tone Of triumph, fumbling away at a
Chinese woman's hair, and exhibiting a
great, swollen, scale-forming splotch GOV
ering her right temple. Both she and hel
companion seem rather uneasy, possibly
mistaking us for policeman in plair
clothes-a race Of beings much dreaded By
them-and very readily direct us to anoth
er leper, some doors farther along the gal
lery.