The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-10-03
Wong Chok's Funeral.
The Strange Burial Rites of the Chinese.
Philadelphia Press.l

philadelphia Press.l
Wong Chok, the Chinaman who died in
the almshouse on Thursday last, was buried
in Machpelah Cemetery, Tenth Street and
Washington Avenue, according to the
strange rites of the Chinese religion Fully
5000 persons followed the cortege to the
grave, and vatnly strove to gain entrance to
the cemetery to witness the ceremony The
twenty policemen from the Seventeenth
District, under the charge of Lieutenant
Quigley, were powerless to keep the crowd
back. Men and boys besieged the gates, and
yelled and groane and hooted. Young ruff
fans swarmed over the iron pallngs, tram
pied over graves and knocked over tomb
stones in the mad rush to get near the dead
Chinaman's last resting place. Everybody
seemed to regard the day as holiday and
the occasion an opportunity 10 give vent to
ribald jest and vulgar witticism. Women,
some of them with children in arms, pushed
their way through the surgng mob of men,
and few so far forgot their sex as to-strike
out right and left in the attempt to crafty
their morbid curiosity.
In conformity with Chinese superstition
the corpse Of Wong Chok was not prepared
for burial in either his own home or that of
his relatives. After death it was taken from
the almshouse to the undertaking establish
ment of G. r. Williams, 920 Race street,
and thence to the undertaker's shop on
Pearl street. Early yesterday morning the
preliminary ceremony was begun by Wong
Park and Moy Dooeng, relatives of the de-
ceased. A plain walnut coffin was procured,
and in the bottom of it were deposited nine
Chinese coins. On top of the coins small
| bits of paper were strewn; the money to pay
the passage of the dead mans soul through
| nine places Of torment, and the paper to re-
| cite his virtues and implore for a speedy
return Of his spirit to EARTH
The body, after being washed in rice wa
| ter, had the queue unwound, and was cloth
| ed in new white blouse and pantaIoons.
and placed in the coffin. The outer soles of
the sandals worn by Wong Chok in life
were stripped off, in order that he would
have nothing of the earth about him in his
celestial journey, and the sandals were
placed on the dead mems feet. Then the
eyes were covered with pieces of manila pa
per punctured with nine holes, and strip
of red cloth covered the body from chin to
feet. Long tapers, made of the inner bark
of q tree indigenous to China, were lighted
and burned while this was being done, and
dirge was chanted
The coffin lid was then screwed down, the
| body placed in the hearse and driven to the
| laun1 Try of Wing Foy, on Ninth Street,
| above Race. Arriving there curious com
| piication arose. Wong Chok was member
| OF the Chinese secret society known as "Gee
Hing" and one of the peculiar usages of the
order is that, after death, circle of fire,
symbolic OF eternity, is built around the
corpse and incense is burned. When the
hearse halted three of the Cinnamon insist
ed that the coffin should be taken from the
hearse and placed on the pavement for this
purpose, but a sergeant of police of the
Sixth District positively forbade the ceremo-
ny taking place, as the crowd was growing
larger and noisier every moment. The de-
cisioa was meekly accepted, and prepare
lions we're begun for the funeral procession.
An open barouche drove up to the laun-
dry door, and into it hoped tall, Ratchet
faced Mongolian with two turbans on his
head, the inner one of red and the outer of
white. He carried a triangular banner
mounted on long pole. The banner was
inscribed with a number of characters, the
| Interpretation of which was known only to
| the members of the secret order. In front
OF the man with the triangular banner two
more Cinnamon, carrying square white flags
bordered with black, seated themselves.
They, too, had their heads bound up in red
and white bandages. One of them carried a
long sword, with a gold-plated handle, and
wore short linen buster over his blue
blouse. The other wore straw hat well on
the back of his head, and had his blouse
girded in with strip of white cotton, like a
butchers smock.
Another barouche drove up and into it
jumped two understood Cinnamon, each car
rying long pole, on which was wrapped al
ternate strips of white and black linen.
Fourteen hacks took the rest of the party,
and the chief nourner took his seat beside
the driver on top of the hearse. He was a
curious looking chap, this chief mourner,
and his duty still more curious. On his
head he wore white turban. Beneath the
white turban was piece of red flannel
twisted up like straight horn. 1t stuck
out straight and rigid over the mourner's
brow and made him look like fat-faced
unicorn. He wore linen duster bustoned
behind, and his pantaloons, rolled up at the
lover hem, displayed pair of brilliant red
stockings. In his hand the mourner carried
bundle of small bits of paper, punctured
with nine holes, the same as those in the
bottom of the coffin At intervals of few
seconds these papers were thrown over the
mourner's right and left shoulders, and IS
each piece was waited over the heads of the
crowd there was a yell and rush to secure
it, The distribution of the little pieces of
paper was for the purpose of tightening the
coffin, so that the horses could draw the
hearse. Otherwise, according to the popu-
lar belief in the Flowery Kingdom, the body
would become like lead before it reached the
place of burial.
With great multitude on the sidewalks
and in the street the carriages started up
Race to Fifteenth Street, and thence to the
Church of the Epiphany. az Fifteenth aud
Chestnut Streets, where Rev. DR.. Syle was
waiting to hold services. When the church
was reached, however, the crowd had be-
come so large and disorderly that the clergy
man positively refused to have the coffin
brought into the church-a decision, by the
way, that seemed to please the mourners
greatly, for they had consented to have the
service read because, as one of them ex-
pressed it, "Dlont want Ito make Christian
pleple mad.''
The procession, after leaving the church,
went down Fifteenth to Pine, down Pine to
Broad, thence to Federal and down Federal
to the Tenth Street entrance to the cemetery.
A line of policemen with drawn clubs stood
trying to press the crowd back as the hearse
stopped. The mourner with the triangular
banner got out of the barouche and made
his way with great difficulty to the hearse
He was followed by the Chinaman with the
little square flags, and by another Celestial,
who popped up mysteriously from some
where, carrying basket of provisions. Moy
Done, Lee Wun, Ling See and Sang See,
four mourners, came after the man with the
basket They threw open the hearse doors
and drew the coffin out, placing it on the
bier. AS they did SO the molrner with the
triangular banner began waving his strange
flag to and fro in the air. The square flags
were jumped up and down, and the mourner
who had been sitting on the hearse scattered
what few pieces of paper he had left on top
of he coffin. The four pail bearers grasped
the bier and began moving forward. AS
they did so, the triangular banner was waved
with a frantic ferYOr that threatenad To dis