The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-23
NEW Y0RK's HEATHEN.l
1t Starts Il New Nov ent Among
the Residents OF Nett street,
winch Is Certainty Unsapc In
Character

When Tom Quang died three months
ago III his wretched room, his country
men refused to go near him to cut a
hole in the Roof so that his spirit might
escape, or to dress him in his best
clothes. Tom did not possess any BET
ter clothes tlan those which he always
wore, but they were gorgeous in The
eyes Of Charlie Chu. the perfume ped
der, who found the dead body
Everybody in chinatown knows
Charlie says an exchange He goes
about the streets selling cologne and
Chinese perfumes For even in the
vile tenements there can often be de-
tected the odor of cheap scents poured
out in Wasteful quantities. Charlie wa
never considered very bright and he
did good many things at which the
merchants and gamblers laughed. The
concluding proof of this unsoundness
came when he took possession Of the
clothes of Tom Quang
The purple coat, a. fancy girdle and
sound pair OF shoes caught the eyes
of poor, faH-clothed Charlie, and as
there was no one to claim the dead
mans estate, the perfume peddler put
them on himself. Chinese custom makes
this a lideeus crime, as the spirit Of the
dead is supposed to- remain in his
clothes. When Charlie Chu appeared in.
Mott street wearing Tom Quangs CARL
gnents there was terrific scandal.
The poor peddier was denounced and
buffeted about the town. He was re-
fused admittance to any house. land
there was no place for him to sleep
Finally, he found a. refuge in the back
yard of No. ii Poll street, and slept
there during the warm summer nights.
He could not, throw away the dead
mans clothes. for then he would have
had none to cover his own body, 50 he
lived in defiance Of the spirit of the:
dead Tom.
A few weeks ago the perfume peddler
began using strange words and talking
in an incoherent manner. Soon some
of the more superstitious Cinnamon
heard references to spirits and myster-
fous talk about the fungshul, or burial
customs. Then it was proclaimed that
the uneasy spirit of the departed Tom
WAS talking through the poor peddler
who wore his clothes
Tom had been buried in Evergreens
cemetery, Brooklyn, where all dead
New York Cinnamon lie, and his spirit
was understood to be calling for re-
moval to his native land. 1t is the
fondest hope of every Cinnamon that
his body viii be carried back to China,
so his spirit can hover about his fam
Fly and the scenes Of his childhood. So
silly Charlie, wearing dead Toms
haunted clothes, aroused a. movement
to send bodies Of his countrymen lying
in Evergreens cemetery back to China.
a week ago James, Naughton. the
Mott street undertaken, took up the re-
mains of two departed Cinnamon and
sent them to San Francisco for ship
ment to Hong Kong The Six Conpan-
des in San Francisco each year provide
for the. return of dead bodies, but there
has never been any concerted action
of that kind in New York Two large
plots of ground were bought in Ever
greens cemetery by On Young Min. the
first consul in New York, in 1889. They
now contain nearly 700 graves.
Last year, when DR.. Chu Chuk Fong
was mayor of Chinatown, he hung out
his sign as a physician on the joss
house, and during the year there was
greater mortality in the town than ever
before. The deaths numbered 235, and
the superstitious claimed that the sign
of the joss house had worked evil. DIR.
Fong is now in China.
For six months or more there has
been talk among the merchants of rails
ing fund to send the bodies of the
dead back to China, but nothing def
der who wore Tom Quang's clothes be-
gan his mysterious talk.
A few days ago a meeting of the mer-
chants was held in the joss house, and
a committee was appointed to raise
funds. Several thousand dollars are
said to have been secured in a short
time. Leek Bak Dong was engaged to
prepare the bones for shipment at
price of $1.4S for each body. The hand
ling of the dead is a task of much aver
sion to the Chinese, so that Lee had no
opposition in securing the contract.
Only the bodies of those who have
been dead for eight years or more will
be taken up. as it is only fleshless
bones that are revered. After opening
the coffin, the bones will be wrapped
in four separate packages with clean
linen. The skull is put in one package,
the spine and ribs together in another,
the right arm and leg in the third and
the left leg and arm in the fourth.
These are then placed in a zinc box
and sealed up. On the outside is
marked the name, age, family, dynasty
and ancestral home of the dead man.
When all the bodies have been pre-
pared, they will be shipped to the Six
Companies in San Francisco and for
warded to the Dong War zee Yuen at
Hong Kong. This institution is the
great hospital in whose care all bodies
are sent. From there relatives will be
notified of the arrival of the bones so
that they can be claimed. Eventually
all that remains of the dead will find
a final resting place in a sealed jar ON
the family altar.
THE nUELLo IN FRANCE.