Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-01-31
All SIN A BIO MAN NOW.


or chinatown" as it is now called,
almost the first thing which strikes
their attention is the big wooden sign
of "Wo Kee Company" situated in
large black letters about midway upon
the side of three-story brick, which
is devoted entirely to the business OF
the firm, in Chinese and Cuban pro-
auctions. 1t is the richest firm OF Chi
namen in the eastern United States
The two members, All Dom and Fong
Cham, are reputed to be worth over a
quarter of a million.
TIE senior member, Mr.. All Dom,
was in Cuba about the year 1868 as a
cigar maker; in the next year he and a
companion came to New York. They
had for their joint capital 81 and a
common old carpet bag, a blanket and
cigarmaker's knives. They and their
baggage went to No. 62 Cherry street,
that being then the Chinese headquar-
tiers OF this city. Shortly after All
Dom found work as cigar maker, and
then he and a few other Chinese cigar
makers moved into Mott street (No.
$40, thus founding nucleus for the
present Chinese colony. "New York"
says All Dom, ''was different in those
DAYS when there were but q handful of
Cinnamon here. They were not per-
secuted as now; to the contrary, they
were everywhere petted and liked,
possibly because they were as a
sort of curiosity. l have known several
companions of mine (some of whom are
! dead now who made from IS to $40 n
! day by selling candies or cigars upon
the curbstones of this city. Children
as we'll as grown-up people came to
! patronize Cinnamon simply because
! they were Cinnamon, but the opinions
have changed so rapidly since then that
now the people and children will not
patronize them simply because they are
Cinnamon. / know upon one occasion
while / was standing chattering with a
friend of mine who was running a
candy store upon the corner Of Bowery
/ and Canal, in about the same fashion
as you see the Italians are doing now, a
! gentleman came up and shook bands
with "Ah Sin" and spoke a few pl eas mt
words with him. When the gentleman
went away my friend found 50 gold
piece in his hand. "Some days" said
All Dom, 1.-The Chinese peddlers would
have their pockets full of silver and gold
pieces given him by benevolent ladies
and gentlemen, who thought they were
in great financial distress. Mostly all
the Chinese in New York were then In
the cigar business and acting as sailors
or cooks and stewards upon vessels that
piled between here and the Asiatic
coasts. There was then not single
laundryman here. Indeed" said Mr..
All Dom, 1--WE tried TO stop the first
Chinaman who came here to open Il
Chinese laundry, right near Cherry
street. We even offered to assist him
into any other kind of business but laun-
dry. No, the fellow PERSISTED that a
wash-house was his favOrite business.
Most all the Chinese laundrymen came
from the county of Sing Wing. l am
from Nam Hway, and even to this day
there are but few OF my fellow towns
men who would go into the washing
business. They are mostly in the cigar
and grocery business"
Mr.. All Dom worked at the cigar
trade during the day and in the even
ings he smoked cigars with his friends
at "a Mott street. Gradually the little
coloney grew until several houses
in Mott street had Chinese room
ers. He noticed that all his cou1-
trymen. like himself, were crav-
csc. Some were actually growing
old for the mere monging for Chinese
foods, such as sharksfins, bamboo shoots,
Beach dc Mars, lotus seed soups and
birdsnests soups, or bean curdles, Chin
csc wood fingers, sour duck feet, oyster
sausages, etc. One evening in cold
December when the Chinese New Year
} was rapidly approaching, Wo Quay,
, one of the cigar makers jumped up
suddenly from his opium bunk and said
he would give half of his fortune If he
could only get sip of Chinese birdnest
, soup or q chopstick full of sharkiins.
Another said he would give whole
dollar for pound of Chinese sailed
turnips, which are now sold on Mott
street for five cents pound, and SO
) went up the prices in Chinese produce
by the frenzied Cinnamon of New York
without even a Chinese cabbage leaf in
sight. Mr.. All Dom, like the good and
quiet heather that he is, took every
thing quietly, and the very next week
after getting his pay on Saturday eve
ing he tucked half of it away in the
saSest corner of his blue blouse and
, kept up the addition until he had got
an even hundred dollars. This he sent
over TO his friends in Hong Kong,
China, and in about seven months after
they sent the goods from Hong Kong
(by sailing vessel) there arrived at g.
Mott street, New York, large and Sc.
curely tied box from China, and it was
consigned to Mr.. All Dom. the young
cigarmaker, now the prince of Mer
: chants.
This box contained all sorts OF Chi
nese eatables, dried, picked, canned
and smoked meats, vegetables, fishes
/ and preserves and spices. They form
ed the nucleus of the Wo Kee Com
, pany, the large importing firm at pres
ent with its New York headquarters a
l No. 8 Mott street, and the Havana
Hong Kong and Yokohama, Japan
. branch houses.
1t is needless to say that the New
. York Cinnamon were surprised as wei
as delighted to see genuine Chimes,
eatables before their ewes No soone