The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1897-05-01

NOurIISSS, GHu 81, 100, COuIu SIldIICS
hut neither the cook nor the laundry
man eve gave his confidence concern
ing the feud, ard, as you shall hear,
neither is now available for testimony.
Charley Go Lee. being a washer of
shirts, was rather looked down upon by
Hong Fat, who cooked at the Cheerful
Heart restaurant and ravished the lum-
be-men and sheep drovers with his
-stewed tripe. Hong Fat had a decided
opinion that any Chinaman who was
a Chinaman would be unwilling to re-
main at the shirt-washing industry any
longer than it would take to negotiate
with some restaurant, and as Charley
Go Lee had been IN the country II years
and still purified other peoples clothes
Hong Fat reviled him. Perhaps this
scorn of the cook had some consider
able part in building up the enmity. Ii
is only a surmise, however, and l do
not guarantee it.
The wickedness of this story begins
right here. 1t was Charley Go Lee who,
talking with other Cinnamon from
down the railroad, became inspired, and,
1Gtl llIlS "lCIc liz bulltN oldlSS llfdI-
shall was to be found. visited him and
spoke wisely, but in u~nfriendly nan
ner, of Hong Fat, the cook. Bereft of
its liquid pigeoning, Charley's English
was sufficient to notify the official that
a Chinaman without a certificate of res
idence was to be found in the Cheerful
Heart restaurant at Geyserville at any
time a government representative would
care to call. And the very next week
man with a star and a document called
at Geyserville, and when the down train
pulled out n mournful and murmurous
Chinaman was on board. and dinner
was late and poorly cooked at the res
taurant of the Cheerful Heart that day.
Firecrackers were, however, burned in
the laundry OF Charley Go Lee, and
festivity reigned there.
Hong Fat did not want to leave the
country. His devotion to America and
her likable qualities might well serve
as an example for the instruction of
young persons of lighter complexion
than his own. He had been foolish in
not registering long ago when the op-
portunity came, but, being a stubborn
Chinaman and also believing that his
remissness would never be discovered,
he had held back. AS he looked from
the train and saw the decoration on
Charley Go Lees laundry and more
over saw that industrious person, who,
with great virtue and foresight, had
obtained his certificate at as early a
date as it could be issued to him. great
anger came into Hong Fats heart, for
Charley was leaping and dancing and
laughing at him. The train whirled on
Ats narrow-gauge way down past the
restaurant, the back of which looked
upon the railroad, and Hong Fat saw
the meat man with his package pound
ing at the rear door, and he knew he
was pounding for him, and that he
would never open the door to that meat
man again. He saw the three chickens
which he had intended that very even
ing to put into a pie-saw them scratch
ing about in the rubbish of the door
yard. and he realized that many a day
would pass before he would again de-
capitate a chicken to make a lumber
mans holiday. Many a day? Why, it
would never be again. He would be
taken before white men, all of whom
hated Chinese, and most of whom would
readily lie glibly about his evil char
acter, and then he would be punched
into a ship and be sent back in disgrace
and poverty 10 Climatic China from
which he had set put so hopefully years
before to make a fortune in the new
world.
1t is not given eve 50 wise a man as a
deputy United States marshal to know
what is passing through n Chinaman's
mind, and 50 the official was utterly I'M
prepared when the heather, with a
sudden Y, dived through the window
of the coach in a passion for the liberty
beyond. It was a dark night, and, al
though the train was stopped at once,
the hurried search revealed no sign of
Hong Fat. The conductor was unwill-
ing to delay longer than was necessary,
and, telling the marshal he would bet
ter go on to the next town and wait
for morning, he signaled to pull out.
The narrow-gauge train had travelled
many miles from the town Of the Cheer