The San Francisco call., 1897-08-12
CHINATOWN
BECOMING
EXCITED
The Petition to President
Mckinley Stirs Up
the Mongols.
MANY GIRLS TRYING TO ESCAPE.
Afraid They Will Be Done
Away With to Hide
the Crimes.
! STRANGE ACTON OF AN OFFICER.
STRANGE ACTION OF An OFFICER.
A Fleeing Slave Caught and Re-
turned to Her Brutal Master.
Another Rescue.

Good work was done yesterday on the
petition to President Mckinley regarding
slavery in California. In addition to the
individual work OF those who are looking
after the signing of the document, a move
ment is on foot to have a series of lectures
delivered in the pulpits of the City bv
men who are thoroughly conversant with
the conditions in Chinatown. The Sc
lectures will be delivered in churches of
all denominations, and will have for their
object the arousing of public interest in
all circles, IN order that the evil may be
suppressed.
Many additional copies of the petition
were made yesterday to supply the de-
mand from those who desired to take it
TO friends. Several copies were sent to
the Baptist convention at Twin Lakes,
and mum ber OF the ministers of that de-
nomination have promised 10 give their
time to its circulation. 1t is believed that
from 1000 10 1000 names will be added
there. Copies will also be taken TO the
surrounding cities for signatures, one
going TO Sacramento this week, which will
be presented to the Governor and other
State officials. Copies will also go to Los
Angeles this week, and before the end of
the month it is expected that a copy will
be in every city and town in the State.
Every day additional evidence is secured
to be used before the committee when 1t
comes, and word seems to have got around
among the slaves that the movement is on
foot, and they are more anxious than ever
to escape, as they seem TO think that the
agitation may lead to their being done
away with in order to hide the crime. The
mission workers have received several
urgent pleas recently, asking for assist
ance to get away from those who are hold
ing the slaves in bondage.
The Chinese Society for English Educa
tion has placed men oil guard a. tie dock
to see that no more women or girls are
permitted to come ashore unless they are
legitimate immigrants. They say it is
very easy matter to put stop TO the busi-
ness of importing slaves if the customs
officials attend to their duty as Collector
Jackson is doing. They say the mer-
chants wives and those who have right
to land are always vouched for by men of
good standing and who are we'll known in
Chinatown. while the slaves are always
vouched for by people who ara little
known, or who, il known, have very bad
regulations.
Formerly it was well known that the In
coming slaves were coached by the in ter
prefers right under the nose of the Off
cials, and some OF these cases were so
rank that nothing but connivance could
have permitted them to get through.
This is borne out by the statement of one
OF the slave girls published in THE CALL a
few days ago, when she told how a China
man was permitted to go aboard the ship
and talk to her. He told her what to say,
and while he was doing this the mission
aries who were on the lookout for such
cases were refused admission to the ship.
1t IS also learned that cable m message has
been sent by the slave-dealers here to
their agents in China TO send no more
girls until the present agitation has
ceased. This will mean that slave i'm por-
tations will fall off for a few months at
least, except on those ships which started
before the notice was sent across.
One of the workers from the missions,
who has been helping in the re scue field
for years, tells OF an incident which oc-
Cured last week in one of the alleys,
which indicates that all the fault for the
slavery in this City does hot lie with the
Chinese, but that officers of the City are
to blame. This lady begged that her name
be Kept secret, as she said it would cause
her world OF trouble with the police if
she told what she knew. She said that
she was passing through the alley about
o'clock one night when she heard a woman
scream and a door of a house OF evil re-
pute was thrown open and the girl rushed
out into the street.
A police officer in uniform happened to
be passing and the girl ran up to him,
grasped him by the arm and begged that
he would protect her from her master.
The officer, so says the lady worker, delib-
erately took the girl by the shoulders and
thrust her back into the house in the
hands of her brutal master. The lady
was so horritied at what she saw that she
could do nothing until it was too late and
the door had been locked and barred.