, 1882-05-12
A Queer Funeral.

Chinese funerals have been written up
so many times that the subject has be-
come somewhat notorious, but one day
recently something novel in this line was
presented worthy of more than passing
mention, in the funeral of Man Bang,
u Chinese miner, who was killed in coal
shaft at Combo by the falling of large
lump of coal. Man Bang was Il Chinese
Free Mason i'll good standing, and quite
prominent in the order, and as the Chi.
nese MaSons are very feryent in their
mystice ties they determined to use Far
West slang to spread themselves on the
funeral At first it was determined to
hold the funeral service on Sunday, but
the mob demonstration of few weeks
ago determined the Celestials to bury
their comrade on Saturday, when honest
men were at work.
At l:3O o'clock the coffin was taken out
in front of 40i Wazee street, and the
first rites begun. Under Sheriff Farmer
had ordered out strong posse and Chief
of Police LOmery was on hand with II
squad of officers, and these formed Il
hollow square in which the Chinese be-
gan their mystic rites. Although it was
IL Masonic funeral there was little SINH
larity with such n ceremony as performed
by white Masons. Here and there
glimpse could be caught which might
indicate similarity to the initiated, but
the swobe of the Joss sticks, the uncouth
dresses and the hfeous iargon obscured
these familiar signs and left only an i'm
preston of strange custom.
In the hollow square formed in the
roadway of the street, the Chinese placed
the coffin and two tables in row. On
one tablo was the familiar roast pig,
and on the other were edibles of various
kinds, with II teapot full of whiskey. On
both We're burning joss sticks, and in
front OF each was a mat.
The Masons were dressed in the most
fantastic costumes. There were present
about forty members of the lodge, Hong
Shun Tong, A. f. and A. M. The wor-
thy master, Ali Sin, was dressed in
hastily constructed suit of cheese cloth,
buttoned in the old.fashioned Arkansas
style, with nails iabbed through the
fabric. 1t was ragged Gt the edges and
cut bias in the back, with transverse
ruching running from the port gangway
to the starboard jib booE. He had eyi-
IDENTIFY been stabbed in the back with a
bottle of blueing, and altogether made a
startling appearance. On his head he
wore towel wound in the shape of a
turban, such MS colored aunties are in
the habit of wearing. On each side of
the coffin during the ceremonies, stood
u standard-bearer, holding a flag of
triangular shape with black
and red triangle in the cen1er. Beside
the s,andard-bearers stood Mason on
each side, holding parti-colored wands,
like miniature barber poles. The re-
gala of the others was equally alarming.
The Senior Warden had ON cheese
cloth surtout, made like polonaise with
u large rent for ventilating purposes in
in the waist. The Junior Warden had
his pants rolled up to distinguish him.
A most noble Prince of Jerusalem had
his shirt stuck in his pants and wore
severe and lofty expression, somewhat
marred by the loss of part of his nose and
and his front teeth. The Ancient Free
and accepted brethren wore red rags on
their left arms and white cloths on their
right arm. The second degree men wore
their badges on one arm and the Appren.
tices had the breasts of their shirts
turned up with only white rag on their
arms. The services consisted of wierd
incantations in front of each table. The
Masons knelt down on mats, recited a
prayer, fumbled some joss sticks, and
poured u thimbleful of whiskey on the
ground. After an hours hard work of
this kind the coffin was placed in the
heGrse. The procession was headed by
a hack in which were four Cinnamon.
One held control OF big gong, another
held pair of cymbals,a third beat tom
tom, and fourth blew a flute. They all
worked hard and made terrifcn noise all
the way to the grave. This was for the
purpose OF soaring away the devils, and
succeeded in soaring several horses until
they turned summersaults and hand
springs. At the grave the funeral SER
vices did not differ much from the usual
ones carried ont at Chinese fun
erals. The clothing and all
the funeral paraphernalia were burned
in heap, except the flags and miniature
barber poles, which were buried in the
grave, Fireworks in the shape of bombs
and tirecrackers were exploded, and sew
eral pistol shots were fired. Every
Chinaman was then presented with
small piece Of candy and q coin five or
ten cents, by the best friend of the de-
ceased, a parting token of his friend
ship, but the meats were not eaten. The
funeral then returned.
The best of order prevailed through
out. The crowd pushed somewhat
rudely on Wa2ee street, but the officers
held them in check. At the grave the
crowd was small All the Chinese
women were out, and many Chinese
Masons came down from Como and nj
from puabln