Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-11-26
FOOLING THE EVIL ONE.
HOW THE FRIENDS OF LEE HEM
YOU SAVED THE CORPSE.

fOO SHfEO ne NOnHSC.
How n Dead Chinaman in New York Is
Laid at Rest-The Body Lying in State
Scattering Bits of Paper Through the
Streets of the Metropolis.
Lee Hem You was dead, and Lee
Hem You was TO be buried. The body
of the Chinese gambler lay where he had
died, in a small, stuffy, rather squalid
room at Mott street, next door to the
temple of joss. Death had not brought
pallor to the face. The skin was of that
yellow tint it had in life, in common
with the rest Of his race.
Lee Hem had killed himself-not by
sudden and violent means. His lungs
had been eaten away by opium smoking.
The face, as that of consumptive, was
pinched and drawn, and the high cheek
bones were made still more prominent
by the deep hollows of the cheeks.
For time the body was alone. Lee
Henn's countrymen avoid the dead when
ever possible. They do not neglect the
dead, however. Lee Henn's death had
been anticipated Before he died other
Cinnamon had gone to James Naughton,
an undertaken in Mott street, and en-
gagged his services. By and by the un-
dertaker came to prepare the body for
burial. A Chinaman is never buried in
any garment he has worn in life. There
fore, a new dark blue blouse, black,
baggy trousers, new sandals and white
stockings were bought and put upon Lee
Hem.
Then his cue was wrapped loosely
around his neck, from left to right, and
on his head was placed a tight fitting
black skull cap, having at its top a knob
of red plush. After the body was placed
in the coffin the room where it lay was
prepared for the visits of the dead mans
friends. a tin pan filed with earth was
placed at the foot of the coffin, as was
also a square piece of board.
THE PROCESSION.
All was ready. A group of Cinnamon
entered. Each one walked to the foot
of the coffin chanting, and in the pan of
earth each man stuck candle about six
inches long and as thick as finger, and
piece of punklike substance of the
diameter of lead pencil. On the wooden
board they heaped little pile of papers.
Then the priest of the temple of JOSS lit
the candles, the punk and the papers. A
thick, peculiarly smelling smoke from
the incense filed the little room and
drifted through the building as the Chi
namen chanted. In five minutes the
candles, punk and papers had burned
away and the Cinnamon went out. An
other group came in, and the same cere-
mony was repeated until all Lee Henn's
friends had taken their farewell.
At o'clock the undertaken came, and
the time for the trip to Cypress Hills
cemetery on Long Island was at hand.
Within the coffin were placed a fan and
numerous oblong slips of rice paper, on
which characters were written, and then
the coffin was taken to the hearse, which
stood at the head of a procession of five
carriages. On the windows of the car
riages were pasted long slips of red
paper covered with black characters
Into wagon in the rear were lifted a
roast sucking pig and several jars Of
boiled rice. A Chinaman took his seat
on the hearse with the driver and the
trip was begun. Immediately the China
man on the top of the hearse began
throwing more oblong pieces of paper
covered with characters into the street
from bag which he carried.
This was to protect the dead man.
The Evil One always follows dead
Chinaman, but before he can catch up
with the hearse and claim the dead
mans soul he must pick up and read all
the pieces of paper thrown from the
hearse.
EvADING THE EVIL ONE.
BY the time the procession had reached
the Thirty-fourth street ferry the Evil
One must have been blocks behind, but
the hearse just missed the ferry and he
caught up. AS soon as the hearse drove
onto the boat the Chinaman scattered the
slips with lavish hand. A number Of
small boys, however, usurped the func-
tions of the Evil One, and scrambled to
pick up the papers, thus throwing the
Chinaman into despair.
The man perched on the hearse, how
ever, was equal to the emergency. Just
as the hearse drove off the boat he threw
all the slips he had left, prodigious
number, upon the deck. ard before the
Evil One could pick them all up he was
carried back to New York, while the
procession pursued its way to Cypress
Hill in peace.
On arriving at the cemetery the coffin
was placed beside the open grave in the
Chinamen's lot, where twenty or more
Mongolians already lie, and again were
candles, punk and paper lighted and
chants uttered. Then the body of Lee
Hem was lowered into the ground, and
the roast sucking pig and boiled rice,
which had been set upon ground near
the grave, were replaced in the wagon
and taken back to Mott street.
Formerly the food was left at the
cemetery for the departed, but tramps
Chinese funeral with delight, scenting
it from afar, like vultures, as the process
sion wended its way to the cemetery,
leaving behind trail of appetizing
smells After the funerals the tramps
held high carnival, with never a thought
of the dead Chinaman, deprived of his
rice and roast pig. Consequently, to pre-
vent this sacrilege, the Cinnamon now
take the food back with them and eat it
themselves after they have returned to
Mott street
Lee Hem You will be mourned. He
was wealthy, in the Chinatown sense of
the term, a persistent, conscientious
gambler and leading and influential
of the Chinese gambling asso-
citation known as the Fan Tan Tong
New York Advertiser.