Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-06-23
CUTTING THEM QUEUES.
Five ChI1ese Prisoners Suffer rrea
IndIgnity In san Francisco.

FAfe SnI9ese Erlsoners suffer a Great
The San Francisco Post of the srd
inst. says;
''In obedience to an ordinance of
the Board of Supervisors approved on
the goth of April, Sheriff Nunan to-
day issued instructions to head jail
keeper Dougart to have the hair of
every male prisoner in the county
jail cut to uniform length of about
a quarter of an inch. The ordin-
anee made no distinction of race.
and the Chinese were therefore in
cluded. As it is popularity believed
among white people that the culture
OF the queue Is part of a Chinaman's
religion, 1t was thought that some
of the prisoners would resist the at
tempt TO deprive them of their pig
tails. The tonsoria1 operation was as
witnessed by several members of the
press and was supervised by Sheriff
Nunan in person.
The first victim of the anti-coolie
zeal of the city fathers was Ah Foo.
petty larcenist, whom the prison
van had just brought from the Po-
lice Court in time to open the ex-
hibition. Alfred StreeteF, profess
lonal barber, who is serving a term
for sending threatening letter to a
young lady, was entrusted with the
snears. The prisoner, who appear
ed much astonished at the distin-
gulshed delegation, was seated on
rough bench inthe eororider and di-
reeted TO uncover his heead. The or
der discounted him more than ever.
and he tremblingly took his seat. ev,
identity inspired with the belief that
ne was being prepared for execution,
for his eyes filed with tears as he
unloosed his queue and allowed it to
trail on the floor. The operation
was performed in few moments by
the nimble Streeter, and the denud-
ed heathen was permitted to retire
after casting long, sad look at his
shorn locks and a fercely indignant
one at the barber. Chung Tung,
another larcenist, was next op-
Grated on, but he manifested
the utmost stoeicism, and never
Wlnehed under the terrible indigni-
ty: All Chu, All 10y, a boy, and
Chung Lung a weather-beaten, vi
clous looking old sinner, were led ND.
All Chu was the first shora while
the other prisoners watched the pro-
ceeding with intense interest. [Ah
10y was next placed on the bench
and then the oldest culprit was invit-
Ito take The vacant seat. He was
the first to decline. sHVhat 70 Won ;
ne began, but in moment a aturnkey
took him by the shoulders and shoT-
ed him down, and the barber nimb-
ly ran the bright shears through his
cherished black hair. 1t was a very
'ry elaborate and gaudy queue, thick
and spliced with blue silk. and
touched the floor when its owner
stood erect. He evidently Thought
more about his hirsute decoration
than all the other prisoners eombin-
ed, and while the shears were towing
with 1t he sat as uneasily as though
the seat were the cover of a red-6ot
stove. The Fillainods look which he
cast at the barber when lie was al
lowed TO stand up and examine the
locks he had cherished for over for
ty years was more hatefully elo-
quent than volume of printed
abuse. The trio were then marched
back to their cells with their hats,
two sizes too large for THEN shorn
pates, pressed down. despairingly
over their sullen brows. To balance
matters, couple of white prisoners
were then led out to be barbarized.
There was some difficulty, however,
experienced in finding culprit with
hair sufficiently long. Finally Dan
iel Hallehan, a poor inebriate. who.
in default Of his fine, was locked I'D
for few days for drunkenness. was
dragged up to the anxious seat. His
mental agony at being subjected to
the indignity was so apparent and
the unfortunate man pleaded so
earnestly to be exempted, that he
was allowed to escape, and John
McGovern, a vicious looking young
thief, with fine shock of black hair,
was invited to Ell the vacancy. As
the reporter left the barber was re-
ducing McGoyern's hair to the re.
gulation length"