The San Francisco call., 1896-03-07

I for the most part, to the police as well
Some of the Chinatown policemen knew
In vague sort of way of the existence O.
these CHASTITY dens, but they had neve
before, so far as is known, been pene
made the Investigations for THE CALL Sc
cured an entrance into the Pacific-stree
chamber OF tranquility"
And so THE CALLS story Yesterday
morning was news not only to its general
readers, but to the officials of the City a:
well. No complaints have ever been made
before, and no policeman ever had occa
sion to penetrate these noisome and
CHASTITY thresholds. Their occupants are
quite orderly; they are called chambers
of tranquility"
And the name is true enough in mate
rial sense. Those who pass the portals OF
these "chambers' make no disturbance,
do nothing of their own will to break
the peace or attract attention. They go in
dying. They come out in rude coffins.
Oh, yes, they are chambers of Tranquil
ity'-if the absence of noise denotes tran
guilty.
But the sufferings of the dying! Well,
that is a circumstance the Chinese code
takes no cogniZance of, and then the living
corpses inferred in these deadhouses cam
not suffer long-tkey usually die within q
week, or fortnight at most, and some
times within a day or two. So why bother
about that part of it? This is the Mon
golian' view OF the case.
The Christian reasons from q different
basis and does not m easure time altogether
by mathematic calculation. Time is rela-
tive snd dying man, housed in dank
and foul room, within touch, sight and
Nf tA<o
corpses, may suffer, perchance, even
though a heather, eternities of agony in q
week or q day.
And this humane view of the case is
sufficient, it is thought, to secure the
prompt action of the officials. The
Health Office will act promptly. DR..
Lovelace, the Health Officer, was greatly
surprised when he read of the horrors Of
these Chambers of Tranquility" in The
CALL yesterday.
81 had no idea,' he said, .'that such
places could exist in this City, even in
Chinatown, and believe the public owes
debt of gratitude to THE CALL for max
ing known this state of affairs. I shall
make personal examination of these
places at the very earliest possible moment
and have them suppressed.
''They are menace to the health of the
entire neighborhood, of course, and at all
ference on the grounds of humanity. The
dying ones who are housed in these dens
must suffer tortures. being so supersti-
tious about death. 1t would be a horrible
fate for the bravest white man who has no
superstitions at all.
ut is not little strange, 1 think, that
these deadhouses have never before been
exploited. However, now that the evil
has been made public you may depend
upon it that we will act at once"
There is, of course, ample authority in
law for the suppression of these Chinese
deadhouses by the proper authorities. 1t
is a well-established custom in Chinatown
to preserve the bodies of deceased Mon
golians for shipment to China. In the
case of wealthy or well-to-do Chinese there
is no reasonable objection to this, because
the bodies are usually embalmed or pre-
served in some sanitary method, or else
inclosed in hermetically sealed caskets.
But with the pauper Chinese who dies
lingering death in these chambers of
tranquility" the case is different. Often
their corpses are kept in these rooms for
more than week, nailed up in boxes.
with no precautions taken against decom-
position. Section of City ordinance 2457.
touching the burial of the deceased, is as
follows:
The bodies of all deceased persons dying
within the City and County OF San Francisco.