Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1893-05-06
CHINESE MOURNERS.
Wailing for Hours Over a Depart-
ed Highlander.

acCSrS OF CHINATOWN, recently Q1eQ u
was hurled in San Francisco. He kept
in Baker alley one of the worst of
Chinatown's houses of ill-fame. Chow
Fook was a member of the Hop Wah
society, and was rich, old, ugly and n
villain to the core. His death has left
q great void in highlander circles.
"Chow Fook baily Itch, baily blave,"
explained the round-faced keeper of
the little restaurant on Dupont street,
near the alley, when questioned by an
Examiner reporter. He was a pro-
fessed Taoist, and, being rich, he was
given a costly funeral, and being a
highlander of standing, his obsequies
was largely attended. Very few OF the
Chinese funeral trains yet seen in San
Francisco lave been so Imposing as
Chow Fook's. From early morning I'M
til thef funeral cortege vas formed,
about two o'clock, six Taoist priests
were present in the little room where
the dead highlander lay in state.
Charms and images yer strewn around
the apartment and richly-colored hang
ings adorned the walls. The black
robed churchmen kept up a continuous.
appeal to the innumerable gods of
their wild and fanciful religion, low
ringing bells to propitiate the evil del
ties, then reciting in concert passages
of the "Tao Teh King" and anon Civ
ing praise to Yu Wang Shang To (God,
tho perfect king), with tho loud clangor
OF brazen cymbals. They have a
strange way of accounting for the
name of the founder OF their religion,
these Taoist priests. 1.-The Old Boy
they call him. He was, systematically.
conceived, they say, and his mother
bore him for c~ighty-one years before
he vas born. When his birth came
his hair was hoary with age, and he
was thenceforth called, because of his
aged appearance, Luno-tsze, or 1.-THE
Old Boy" All through Saturday night
the cooks at the bagnio of the deceased
how Fook were busily engaged at
preparing the funeral meats. A hog
was roasted whole, and dish after dish
esteemed by the celestial palate wa
carefully cooked for the morrow.
After the coffin lid had been screwed
down the porker and all the, other deli
caacies were thrown into the alley.
"Nebba eat pawk oranyt'ing apty cous-
in de-" said one of the Taoists. And it
is SO. The funeral baked meats are
thrown aw3y in accordance with an
ancient superstition. The dead Chow
Book was borne in n hearSe, to the Chi
nese cemetery. The cortege was led
by a hack load of celestials, whose of
flee it was to scatter sacred paper
along the way.
"Why do they scatter paper?' re-
peated AZ educated Chinese when
questioned. "WelL, because of an old
notion that if the bits of paper were
not thrown along the route the de-
mons woul make the corpse so heavy
thatitcould not be borne to the grave"
Chow Fook, despite the weight of his
| sins, must have been very, very light,
IL the TaOist rule held good, for paper
| galore Uttered the entire way from
Baker alley to the vault in which the
form was laid. Following the men
who appeased the: demons came the
he&rse and then the mourners. These
mourners were clad in garments of
whiGe. that being the mourning color
among the Chinese. The priests fol-
lowed che mourners, Changing their
cymbals and reciting their liturgies,
and after them came L. long line of
carriages filed with ~'tiens."
Toward dusk the priests returned
and the mourning commenced in earn
est. Six mourners, completely en-
veloped in white, tool up tlaeir station
on the floor of the room in which the
corpse had been during the forenoon.
They sat, huddled close together and
set up n low moaning, accompanying
their droring cries by movements of
thor ~bodies--now swayiug IN one di-
rection. anG. then ia another. The
priests sat upon, a raised platform.
They were robed IN black. and had GU
riors heuddrssses, some having pea
cock feathers in; their hair. These
priests made q most unearthly din,
chanting bits Of Taoist i~nvocatjons and
making discordant sounds on Chinese
cymbals and with sh~rill-voiced bells.
Gathered around were as many celes-