Morning journal and courier., 1893-03-24
CHOW FooK, THE HIGHBINDER.
Six Priests at His Funeral, anS
Mourners Wall for Ten Hours.

mourners Wall for Ten Hours.
IFrom the San Francisco Examiner.l
Chow Fook, one of the hardest eharact-
ers of Chinatown, died the other day, and
yesterday he was buried. He kept In Bak-
er alley one of the worst of Chinatown's
houses of i1l-fame.
Chow Fook was a member of the Hop
Wah society, and was rich. old, ugly and
villain to the core. His death has left
great void in highbinder circles.
"Chow Fook baily Itch, baily blave," ex-
planned the round-fsoed keeper of the lit
tie restaurant on Dupont street, near the
alley, when questioned yesterday.
He was g professed Taoist, and, being
rich, he was given a costly funeral, and be-
ing highbinder of standing, his obsequies
were largely attended. Very few of the
Chinese funeral trains yet seen in San
Francisco have been 30 imposing as Chow
Fook's.
From early morning yesterday until the
| funeral cortege was formed, about 2
o'clock, six Taoist priests were present In
4 the little room where the dead high
| binder lay in state. Charms and images
| were strewn around the apartment, and
richly colored hangings adorned the walls.
The blsok-robed churchmen kept up con-
tinuous appeal to the innumerable gods OF
their wild and fsnciful religion, now ring
| ing bells to propitiste the evil deities, then
| reciting in concert passages of the "Tso
Teh King" and anon giving praise to Yu
Wang Shang II (god, the perfect king)with
the loud clangor of brazsn cymbals.
They have a strange way of accounting
| for the name of the founder of their reliR-
ion, these Tsoist priests. THE Old Boy
they call him. He was supernaturally con-
ceived, they say, and his mother bore him
for eighty one years before he WAS born.
| When his birth came his hair was hosry
with age, and he was thenceforth called,
because of his aged appearance, Luao,tsze,
ar "The Old Boy"
All through Saturday night the cooks al
the bsgnio Of the deceased Chow Fook were
busily engaged at preparing the funeral
meats A hog was roasted whole, and dish
after dish esteemed by the Celestial palate
was carefully cooked for the morrow.
After the coffin lid had been screwed
down yesterday afternoon the porker and
all the delicacies were thrown into the al
ley. "Nsbba eat pswk or anything aptl
cousin de-" said one OF the Taoists. And
It Is go. The .tfuneral baked meats are
thrown away in accordance with sn an
Client superstition.
The dead Chow Fook was borne in 6
hearse to the Chinese cemetery. Thu
cortege was led by q hackload of Celestiali
whose Office IL was to scatter paper alons
| the way.
"why do they scatter paperF" repeated
and educated Chinese, when questioned las
evening at the Chinese church on Stocktor
street, near Clay. "well, because of ar
old notion that II the bits of paper wer,
not thrown along the route the demons
would make the corpse so heavy that Il
could not bs borne to the grsye.n
Chow Fook, despite the weight of BIZ
sins, must have been very light yesterday
IL the raoist rule held good, for paper gal
ore Uttered the entire way from Baker al
ley to the vsnlt in which the form wa
laid.
Following the men who appeared the de
mons came the hearss and then the mourn
ers- These mourners are clad In garment
of white, that being the mourning colo
among the Chinese. The priests followe,
the mourners, changing their cymbals an,
recitipg their liturgies, aad after then
came long line of carriages flled wit
"6ens.n
The body will be sent TO China by th
: next steamer which sails for Hong Kong
q Toward dusk the priests returned An
Y mourners completely enveloped In whit<
r took mp their station on the floor of th
a room In which the corpse had been durin
q the forenoon They sat huddled close Il
+ gether and set up q low moaning, accom-
l. panyipg their droning cries by movement
y OF their bodies-now swsytng In one q