Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1880-10-25
BURIAL OF A CHlNAMAN.
How the Devil was Kept at a Distance
While the Souls Dinner of Broiled
Chicken and Rice was Eaten.

yesterday morning, while the gate
keeper at the railroad crossing near tho
entrance to the Evergreen cemetery
Brooklyn, was quietly reading the day's
news, a funeral procession dashed past
ut % rate that made him spring to his
feet, drop his paper and open his ewes
to their widest. The string of car.
riages were following a handsome
hearse, through the glass sides of which
costly casket was seen. The coffin
held the body Of the late Lee Wan. a
Mott street grocer, who died on the 3lst
nit.
On the hearse, beside the driver SAT
pale, gaunt Chinaman in gown OF
white silk, with strip of white liner
tied about his arms and white porce
lain bracelet on his wrist. who at inter
vals of every 200 or 800 feet scattered
Il half dozen slips of blank paper in the
road, III order, it was afterward eX.
planned, that the devil, who is believed
to pursue the dead, might be detained
ny lis curiosity to examine these papers
until the diseased man could be put un-
der ground out of his reach. The
dozen carriages following the hearse
were occupied by Cinnamon, some in
their native costumes, and others in the
attire usually worn here: some with
queues and others with cropped hair
most Of them with smooth faces. but
three or four with bristling whiskers
and mustaches; and more than half of
them smoking. In one of the carriages
WAS q white woman, and with her was
n little girl.
The grave was in an exposed spot
with little grass and no shrubbery neal
it-a place where the bodies of the
poor lie so thickly that there is hardly
a fO0tway between the mounds. The
coffin having been removed, not by
friends of the deceased man, but by
two or three drivers, it was lowered by
couple OF grave diggers. The China
men to the number of about fifty. drew
near, and threw earth upon the coffin.
Then they gathered in groups to talk in
their peculiar sing-sOng fashion. while
Il h3h dozen of their number mlOaded
from basket the dead mans clothing.
several red candles, Il large bunch of
slow matches, and box containing
Nictuals. The clothing was rolled into
Il bundle and burned. The candles and
slow matches Were set firmly i'm the
earth at the foot of the grave and
lighted. The box was then opened and
three bowls of boiled rice, a broiled
chicken, and plate OF lean meat pro-
duced therefr0m. were placed beside
the freshly heaped mound, that the dis
embodied soul might feed upon them
preparatory to taking its flight. The
chop sticks were not seen To move. nor
was there any perceptible diminution
in the quantity of the Viands. vet the
Cinnamon seemed to firmly believe that
the spirit of Lee Wan passed that way
and partOOk of the banquet. The
lranps in the neighborhoOd, who had
heen attracted by the oddity of the pro-
ccSsiOn and the ceremony, eyed the
dishes in Il way that caused an aged
opium smoking Chnaman to rouse
himself from his drealy condition, and,
ere the procession went back at the
same swift pace at which il came, to
thrust the souls dinner into the tea
hoX and make off with it.
After the mat had been spread be-
side the grave the mourncrS went up in
twos and threeS, and, standing or
kneeljng on this mat, saluted Lee Wan
for the last time. The salute consisted
"t raising and dropping the clasped
hands three times. accompanying each
movement with nod of the head, then
dropping on all fours, and duclling the
head three times more, the face almost
touching the earth Each nnrson oftor