Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1894-07-26
QUEUE LOST. CASTE LOST.
Sing Sing Means to Gee Sing Perpetual
Exile from the Flowcry Land.


Exile from the FIowcry Land.
When Gee Sing was sentenced in the
general sessions the other day to four
years Imprisonment for stabbing his
cousin, Gee Kce, no sign of emotion
stirred his placid features as he was
led into the prisoners box, and he sat
down on the bench, leaned back, and
closed his eyes composedly. To all ap-
pearances, he was the most uncon,
cerncd of the prisoners. Another pris-
oncr who had been sent up for robbery
was bcwailing his fate. lie was a
good-lool<ing young fellow with a head
of curly brown hair. Running his
fingers through his hair he said sor.
rowfully:
"Thatll all have to come off now
The Chinaman suddenly sat bolt up
right and looked at the speaker with
interest
what you say?" he demanded.
81 said that the Sing Sing barber
will be after all of us, returned the
young man, "There won't be enough
hair left on our heads to stuff a pillow
for flea"
Gee Sing clutchcd his queue with
both hands and walked over close to the
speaker.
They cut off that?" he demanded
hoarsely, tapping his pigtail.
Certainly" was the reply. "Cut II
off short and throw it away"
The Chinaman walked back to his
seat, buried his face in his hands, and
rocked to add fro for a moment Then
the courtroom was disturbed by the
most unearthly sound that ever echoed
from its walls. Gee Sing was crying.
When Chinaman cries, and there are
few men in this country who
have seen Chinaman in tears,
he cries hard, and the sound of his
lamentation is weird. The court Off
Gals rushed into the prisoners pen and
after little succeeded in quoting the
weeping man. Asked what made him
burst out so suddenly he replied that
he was forever shut off from friends
and relatives and his native land, hav,
ing been sentenced to have his queue
cut off
81 thought it was only to go to jail,
he walled. "The judge did not tell me
it was to cut my queue off"
lie was taken away still weeping
Inquiry in the Chinese quarter showed
that Gee Sing had not overratcd the
weight of his misery. An intelligent
Chinaman said in regard to this
''In China a full-blooded Chinaman i;
nothing without his queue. If in any
way he loses it he loses his caste with
it. His family drive him out, his friend;
repudiate him and he becomes an out
cast. had friend whose uncle hat
his queue torn from his head by ar
accident. Rather than bring dis
grace on himself and his family
he seized it. tied it about his throa
and stranglcd himself to death with it
So great is the regard in which it il
held. We have an old Chinese proverb
These are reckoned as the dead; the
blind, the lepcr and the childless,' anC
the present generation might add &c
this the man who lost his queue Whei
Chinaman comes to this country il i
usually his intention to amass sun
of money and return. If by any chanc,
he looses his queue he is not allowed t.
return, but must always be an exile
Gee Sing has been shut off from tn,
hope of his life. He had hoped to re
turn rich and honored and take hi
place at the head of his family. Nov
he must always stay here. There is +;
society of Cinnamon in this city VIII
call themselves the Mo Bin Tong; tina
is, the No Pigtail club. They ar,
Americanized Cinnamon, and take al
oath always to stay here, and they in
sure the keeping of their vow by cut
ting off their queucs."- Y. Sun.