Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-03-27
japanese Girls Held as Slaves. and
Forced into Lives OF Shame
i'll Butte.
Brought From Their Country to Amer
lea. Their Boss" Trades Upon Their
Flesh and Blood.
Ne Here Have a Tale of Horror That
Makes the Whole Heart
Sick.
But. man. l tell you this is a free coun.

| slaves.
We'll, they are slaves, and much more
abused than the colored people were in the
! south. Such slavel.s, Why, its a blot on
| the escutcheon OF every American that
| such things can be; but you know what 5
! everybody's business etc. that's the
! beauty of our great American spread eagle
/ government.
well | won't believe it unless | can see
| it.
IF you dare to go can show you the
| living proofs.
| Oyerhearing the above conversation on
| the streets of Butte, the writer's curiosity
was much excited, so he ventured to intro
| ducc himself to the speakers and inquire
! what it was all about. they said they were
| speaking of Il lot of japanese girls in the
| town, who were held as slaves and COM
| pelIed to lead lives II shame hy their mas
,er, also Il Jap. Ihe story seemed as in
! credible to the writer as ii had to the first
! speaker, and after croSs-queStIonlrg the
| young man who seemed to be conversant
| with the facts. he came to the conclusion
| that it was worth investigating So in
! company with these gentlemen he repaired
! to one of those fimsiIy constructed wood
| en- buildings which are so thick III some
| quarters of the morally rotten town. This
| one was next door to a Chinese laundry 81
! Wyoming street, and is in the quarter of
| the town that Is given up to the exclusive
POSSESSION of fallen women and the class or
men who infest such localities. and loafers
who live on or off this class Here are
plenty of low groQ QgerleS, concert saloons
and all that goes to make life hideous.
Within pistol shot are gathered repre-
Sentatives of most all the nations of the
earth, and here they live a life worse than
that of beasts. Here you can see the fat.
blear-eyed French woman, the blonde and
equally bleary German, the frOwsy dirty,
ltl-Cothed cOIoreG woman, the brazen and
| more insolent American all painted.
powdered, towdry, sovenly and sometimes
drunk, all equally revolving and disgust
ing The hou-e to which we were first
conducted was a double one with bay
window on eac,l side. The room we en-
tered was lighted with a kerosene hang
ing lamp. As soon as we were admitted
the curtains were pulled down and
we were invited to entertain the girls.
In order to have an excuse ior STAY
ing, We had TO buy beer for the girls.
After some time, we learned 10y means of
the young nau that spoke Japanese and
acted as Interpreter, and from words that
we could make oat from some of the girls
WHO could speak a little English, that
their master whom they designated as
The Boss was absent just then, and
that for this reason they could talk 10 US.
But they SCENE. very fearful and in evi-
dent terror all J,le slmt. 1t WIS only after
much coaXing and assurances that we
would pay the boss, if necessary, for the
time spent, that they consented to talk to
us. We finally learned that most of them
really were slaves, and that they had been
bought by The Boss" either of their
poor relatives in Japan or had made their
own baI gans by which they agreed to
stay with him and give him their earnings
for a certain length of time, varying from
eighteen months to three years, in con-
sideaation of his bringing them over to
this country paying their fare, etc. He
had represented to them and to their
parents and relatives that there was ID
great demand for them as servants by the
Americans and he would find them good
places where they could work and earn
enough so that they would be able to pay
him and send back to their parents or
other relatives, enough money to help
them very materially. But after reaching
here he forced them into a life of shame
under threats of turning them out to shift
for themselves in a strange land. where
they did not know the language or the peO
pie. He threatened also to arrest them for
failing to pay him MS dues and not fulfill
ing their agreement with him.
In some cases he had used force and had
beaten them and had put them on a
starvation allO vance for food. The present
fears Of his personal punishment, together
with their ignorant terror of the majesty
e L. III, ~,
used as they were to the severe penalties
and the deep disgrace which the japanese
law luficts for the non-fulhlIments of con-
tracts, made an apalling barrier to fight
and filed them with despair. Naturally
docile and timid in disposition, utterly
ignorant Of the country's laws, weakened
by starvation and suffering from abuses,
believing that Oaly starvation and disgrace
would succeed their escape. they yielded.
In order to make his hold upon these
helpless waits still more secure. this fend
receives their Mail and reads it before
they get it. Withholding, of course, all
that would disagree III any way with his
interests and sending all their letters for
them under the same system. From an
evalOpe that was addressed by him which
one of the girls showed Us and its com
parisOn with the correct address which she
had, it was clear that he had misdirected
it on purpose to have 1t go astray. He
| also allows them a very small supply of
| clothing, and that only suitable for house
wear This. with the absence of head
! gear, makes ii almost impossible for them
| to run away even if they thought they
| could. This plan, however, seems hardly
! to have entered the heads of most of them.
so simple and honest are they. They seem
| to be fairly well fed as far as one could
| judge by appearances, ana they did not
/ complain Of any lack IN this respect. The
! Jap's OWL interests demand this, for if
! they were ill-fed and haggard looking, it
! would spoil them as a marketable COM
| modify.
They were all dressed as neatly as the
| gaudy materials Of their Mother Hubbard
! gowns would allow, and they seemed as
| clean and tidy as the circumstances would
! permit. Neatness Is a characteristic Of the
| japanese people. most of the girls, in spite
/ Of their painted cheeks. seemed quite
modest and innocent, In vivid contrast to
/ the women of other uatiohalities in their
| neighbOrhood. Some of them were hardly
! more than children, nOne of them much
| over 20 years of age, and the others rang
ing from sixteen to eighteen At this
/ DlftGE We were lDLUIu4Cu lldC IlEEt Were
| some more of the girls around of Galena
street who belonged to the sams "boss. :"
These we visited on the next evening, and
| found them In charge Of a sister Of the
boss. D." who was a biack-browed. dark
skinned, evil-faced she dragon, and her
presence made II, ,;;of course, d0ubly dificuit
to get any information from these girls
Taking advantage Of a momentary alb
sence, we were able to find out that they
were kept under practically the same con-
ditions as the others, and that they had
been living in Spokane Falls for sew
eral months under the surveillance Of =
dragon and had only lately been
brought to Butte They seemed sad and
homesick, and in spite Of thsir tawdry
fnery. appealed very strongly 10 ones
sympathies by means OF their simple and
chIldlike ways
| This longing for the green islands OF
their Pacific home, and sight Of the loved
home faces we're very touching and pathet-
ic. One Of them spoke with much tender
ness OF her mother and how bad her
daughter wzs doing. She had refrained
| from telling her 50 that she might be
| spared the grief and shame. She hoped
to get back nome II some way after her