Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-08-31
CELESTIAL FUNERAL ExTRA0R.
DINARY.
A 0hiness High Muck-a-M Muck Speedsd Across
the River Styx-The Dead March in Saul
Struggling with the Oscophany of a Chi
nese Band.

| Htno Dauu.
A fine flavor Of the poetIcal and
sensational attended the funeral of
Lee Pal yesterday afternoon. The
deceased Chinaman wass supposed
to have been a poet, or something
Of that ETHEREAL kind. AS o matter
of fact we happen to know that he
didn't understand the difference
between dactyl or an anapest, a
spondee or trochee, and as to all
possible developments of the lam.
bus, the .c@sural pause, and as to
the linked sweetness long drawn
out of Longfellow's mystic Ella.
watha measures, he was worse
than an infidel. The fact is that
the deceased was in reality Chi
nese stock speculator of an order
which would have extorted the ad-
miration of Jim Keene or General
Bob Morrow. 1t is of record that
he once got up corner in rice in
Canton which laid low fourteen
millions of his countrymen
through the pangs of famine.
When he was in the full flush of
his manly vigor the suggestion that
he was q poet would have wrought
him to degree of desperation that
would have led him to lay out the
asperser of his honor.
But such as he was, poet or poe.
faster, speculator in rice or daring
adventurer in Celestial Pindaric
measure, Lee Pal was undoubtedly
accorded "scrumptious" funeral
yesterday. After the burning of
innumerable tapers and the scat.
tering of many small cups of bran.
dy, the night before, his final oh.
sequies, in tent on the open
space adjoining the plaza, were
something to be long remembered.
Roast pigs, roast goats, confections
ofvarious kinds were Uttered around
dd lib. There were priestly Chi.
nese celebrants, who stuck their
fingers in the pig very much after
the manner Charles Lamb de.
scribes in his immortal essay on
roast pig. When their digits
emerged from the brown and
tempting flesh, acolytes, from urns,
poured water upon their hands.
Tapers were burned, genuf1exions
were made, fol-de rOl and Chinese
sacerdotal fandahgo were INDUCED
in; and, finally, the procession took
up its line of march.
Ponet u Orr had furnished
bang-up hearse. The slap.up band
OF Dohs' was on hand, to give fit.
ting Caucasian 6clat to the occa.
sion, and to emphasize the senti.
ment that "the Chinese must go.u
The hearse was surrounded by
eight Cinnamon who had each
torn sheet in two and wrapped
the half around their burly frames
In sort of cat-a-cornered fashion.
There was an expression of undis-
guised joy on every Chinese face
at the fact that Lee Pal had handed
in his chips and given occasion for
o downright, outright funeral dem.
onstration. After the hearse came
some sixteen Chinese damsels of
SURPRISING beauty, each carrying
fan with which she coquettishly
endeavored to ward off the admir-
Ing glances of the Caucasians who
lined the sidewalks. We had taken
up our station at the end of the
Baker Block, at the corner of Main
and Arcadia streets, and we were
very much shocked by the levity
of two English tourists who stood
near us, and who were attracted by
this display of female l0veliness.
Their discourse ran somewhat in
this wise:
First Englishman-''Aw, now,
by Jove, aren't they 'andsome?"
Second Englishman-'Blast your
bloody hyes, listen to the music. 1t
beats the Adelphi, by Jove."
We confess that this music was
fearfully and wonderfully made
from u melodic and harmonic
standpoint. 1t was cross between
a Scotch bag-pipe, fish horn, a
caliope and hotel dinner gong;
but such as it was, it was played
with energy and an eye single to
effect. Those Caucasians who
came under its influence felt them
selves slowly congealing or, rather,
petrifying, after the manner of the
unfortunates who were brought, of
old, under the eye of the Medusa.
A gay and festive canopy, after
the model of gigantic sun-shade,
surmounted by some evergreens,
was a feature of the procession.
For the rest, for the most part, it
was made up of the Celestial cam
allie, of whom no partiular note
further than that, as Chinese, they
must 60, and not stand upon the
order Of their going, but 60 at
once, is required.
This memorable procession
moved from the Plaza to Main,
down Main to Arcadia, from Area
dia to Los Angeles, from Los Ange-
les through Requena to Main, and
thence, via Temple street, to the
Cemetery. The deceased was then
inferred in hole of proper di-
mensions, and enough provender to
satisfy the appetites of Il whole
tribe of tfamps was left around
loose, after which the cortege dis
persed.
1t has been said that the dead
Lee Pal was a Free Mason. This
impression was entirely due to the
fact that one of his remote ances-
tors was engaged, several thousand
years ago, as a Mason, in helping
to build the famous wall of China.