The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-21
HE HELD UP 81 CHINAMEN.
THEY WERE ARRESTED AS THEY
LANDED FROM a TRAIN.

Although Passed by the Federal Onhcor at
Malone. Inspector scharr rounced Upon
Them tho moment They Arrlvcd-Ono Wo-
nau In the Pnrty-Ai but Thirteen Let 60
Chinese Inspector J. Thomas Schnrf caused
! the arrest Of ffty-one Cinnamon and one
Chinese woman. who arrived in this city on
the 7:45 o'clock train from Montreal yesterday
morning. There was no evidence that any OF
the Cinnamon was ineligible under tho laws OF
the United States. or that any Of them was a
law breaker. They had been regularly exam
inod and passed on the surrender OF their papers
by the customs officials at Malone. n. V, after
crossing the border, and were on their way to
this city, where most of them have lived before
and many have business interests. For eight
hours the Cinnamon were detained in the police
lookup at the Grand Central Station. Then
Schnrf realized that no had overstcpped his
authority and let thirty-nine of the prisoners go.
The remaining thirteen, including the girl and
the man who claimed her rs his wife, were taken
before United States Commissioner Alexander
in the Federal building, and were held In $3.50
bail each for examination. Several Of them got
bail. but the rest were marched off to Jail, where
they will stay until Mr.. Scharf 10 ready to give
them a hearing.
A number Of Chinese merchants who came
down to the Federal building in the interests Of
their countrymcn denounced tho arrest as an
outrage. Every one Of the men, they said. had
resided In this country, and had gone home
after procuring tho papers which would identify
them in case they wanted to return. These
papers they had given up. according to law, to
the customs officials at Malone. so that when
Scharf bounced upon them they were without
means Of defending themselves against his
charges.
According TO Inspector Scharf. he ran across
tha ~ - -, Ir ap,,IAnt To hnI Inan IN = N IN N ~
Lake to visit his son. who is spending the sum-
mer there, and boarded the train from Montreal
on Thursday night. Finding q large party of
Cinnamon on board, he became suspicious. The
more he thought about it the more convinced he
became that the Cinnamon had been struggled
across the border. Before taking any action,
however, he talked with the conductor OF the
train. The conductor told him that the China
men had come to Montreal from Vancouver
over the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and had
boarded his train. They were fresh from China.
the conductor said. That settled all doubts in
Scharf's mind. He has never liked the authori-
ties at Malone anyway. and he became con
gled Orientals in his way. He resolved to arrest
them the moment the train reached New York.
found that almost all Of them could speak Eng
lish didn't alter his purpose.
| Station Scharf was the first man to leave it. He
made a mad Tpsh for the police station. intro.
duced himself 70 Capt. Delaney and asked for
six policemen to help him round up a crowd of
law.breaking Cinnamon. The policemen were
supplied at once, and Scharf led them back to
the train. The Cinnamon were just leaving.
but Scharf held them up and through an inter-
prefer told them that they were under arrest.
When the Chinrmen realized what had hap
pencd they became very much excited. Some OF
them dropped their bundles and wanted TO
fight, while all OF them jabbered e~Xcitedly TO
one another and looked as though they would
like to have done things to Scharf. A number
OF their friends who had come to meet them
/ rrnfaofa uatn thA arrnGtG nrN .tfnrnl all
kinds OF evidence to show that the travellers
were eligible and had been legally admitted to
the country, but Scharf was obdurate, and all
hands were marched around to the station
house.
The Chinese woman opened her eyes very
wide at the things she saw. The rest OF the
party who had not been in tho country, before.
she is now Mrs. Lee Yin. Her husband was one
Of the detained party. He is a ,burly. good look
Of blue embroidered silk. Others of tho party
wore expensive clothing.
Scharf hustled downtown and told Assistant
United States District Attorney kohler what he
do next. Mr.. Kohlcr didn't compliment SchRrf
on his capture. Just what he did say to him is
not known, but when the inspector left the Of
late in the afternoon and after. questioning his
prisoners decided that ,thirty.nine Of them were
time in getting out. The other twelve protested
but Scharf luSged them all downtown TO COM
missioner Alexander's office.
When Inspector Scharf was asked whether he
believed the prisoners were new in the country
he said: "Idon't say that. | think They've all
been here before: that is. all but the girl. but
they're not eligible. just the same"
."Whv were they arrested here instead of at
the point where they crossed the border r.
We'll. III tell you. The officials at Malone
are ignorant OF the law. For instance. they let
this girl in because she is the wife or alleged
that. 1t may be the universal law to allow u
woman to follow her husband anywhere, but it
don't go with these Chinese. Then. again. I hold
the husband because I'm told he's a gambler.
Under the law Chinese gamblers can't come
back into the country. The balance, l feel sure,
have, come in in an irregular fashion. There
may be a lot OF red tape about It. but it's the
law. There's a big book full OF these laws about
Cinnamon, and it's a safe contention that in
some way or other every one of these men have
violated one or another of these laws. The Sec
rotary of the Treasury has empowered me to
make these arrests whenever l see fit"
Inspector Scharf admitted that he hadn't in.
vestigated the cases Thoroughly. and said it was
possible the officials at Malone had. He couldn't
help that, though, because he knew tho Malone
officials were a little weak on the law.
PAWNED WATCH TO PAY HIS FINE