Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-07-28
THROUGH CHINATOWN.
By Hiss Kate N. P07ue,s, Of Jack
son, Mississippi, and a deAcgate
to tile ". Z. Il.

Having read a short description OF
our trip through Chinatown in San
Francisco, the reader will be interested
in the following account of a similar
visit made by one of our company, a
young lady, who is an excellent
narrator of what she sees:
''In order to slum through Chinatown
it is necessary to have police sergeant,
a guide, and the shades of night. With
| this accompaniment, aided by the
determination not to allow any combi-
nation of sights, sounds or odors,
however horrible, to turn you back
you may consider yourself in proper
| trim to start for Chinatown At half
past eight we stood in the brilliant
pariors of the Occidental, saying good
bye to the pleasant friends we had
made in San Francisco. A few minutes
thereafter found us, in company with
Mr.. Benthien, formerly of this city, a
friend of his, and a guide, revelling in
the delights of the curio stores, which
may be found on every corner, and
which, it is needless to say, derive
their support from tourists chiefly.
Here we found everything from Chi
| nese spoons at 10 cents each, to old
| Satsuma jars, at $500; from 10 cent en-
broidered handkerchiefs to Canton
shawls at $3.50; from cotton sacques to
lounging robes, rich with silk and
threads of gold from the skillful en-
| warning of our escort to ''move on"
| daylight would have found us still hold
ing the fragile cups up to the light, and
handling lovingly the crepes and silks
| that were everywhere around us.
Leaving the shops, reluctantly, our
guide soon halted us before the door of
what, to us, seemed the back of a
tumble-dOwn store. Here in the pro-
tecting shadow of the overhanging
roof, he took possession of our purses
| and other valuables, and warned us to
keep close to the police officer ahead.
You may be sure we did not need this
| advice, for if ever kept "my eye on a
man." it was that policeman, whose
cleaning pistols made a spot Of light in
! the dim corridors through which we
passed. After traversing several
| passages, the roof of which almost
| touched our heads, and the sides of
| which were just far enough apart to
admit the passage through of one per-
son at time, we began the descent Of
the crazy steps, leading down to the
OPIUM DENS,
which you must know, are away down
in the interior of the earth. Indeed,
| thought, before we reached our jour
| ney's end, that we were going straight
through to the other side, and would
eventually land, toes up, in China
proper. Finally, however we struck
bottom, and when | found time to
think at ALL l realized why all these
curious, tangled and unsolvable puzzles
are called "Chinese puzzles" Of all
places on earth in which to lose ones
self, that den is surely the easiest
First you 60 down half dozen steps
then cut across dimlnutive landing,
down another flight through a dark
passage, around sharp corners, through
| dim corridors until another "devil's
stairway" is reached. By this time our
party was playing cross-eyed game of
chicky-me-craney-crow. Each member
had a deadly grip on the skirts (either
| coat or dress Of the member in front,
and one eye kept watch on the police
man ahead, while the others watched
the movements of the guide in the
rear.
AS we went deeper and deeper into
the bosom of the earth (and alas that
the bosom of our common mother
should be stained with such cancerous
spots!) we began to feel a curious op-
preston i'll our chests. This, we attri-
buted at first to the fact that we were
many feet under ground, in passages
| absolutely without ventilation. As the
oppression increased, and our breathing
became more difficult, we realized, with
eyes, ears and nose coming to the as
sistance of the brain, that we were in
| the heart of that kingdom, where the
gaunt, black-visaged Opium king holds
| his deadly sway Indeed, but for the
| fact that l could not possibly pass the
neighbor back Of me, and to retreat
| would require the call, Everybody
| charge" thus reversing the positions of
guide and officer, | should have hast
ened back unto the upper earth, leav-
ing the dens uneXplored. The fumes
of opium, which had stife us at our
entrance, grew denser as our journey
continued downward, and when we
reached the main floor from which the
smoking rooms lead, the air was so
burdened with the suffocating odor,
that some of our party came near fall
ing by the wayside.
| l wish that l could show to you these
opium votaries as [ saw them; that /
might picture to you their varying ex-
pressions, from the time they begin to
toy with the subtle poison, until they
are wrapped in its deadly embrace, but
that is beyond the power of either ar
tist or chronicler. Passing down the
corridor we saw men in all stages OF
stupefacation Paus1ng an instant in
the hall lifted the curtain dividing us
from a smoking room, and here, in the