The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-10-04

Chinatown Uas uisd with excitement
eaffy yssterd ~ morning. Tire yelling
could BE- heard blocks away. Shr5u " hist
Ing from a hundre9 whistles gave po.lce~
EFssn cold shiyers. and 10 add 10 the nys-
terra the rig bell a. IRE headquarters con-
usnced % cla1g FL al oF8fnous manner.
with the rush Of ths FIRE apparatus came
q rush s1f humanity Egsrythtng centsred
81 the so-oaIied Chinese soSs house, on tfe
sGlew esfw4en Washington street and
Yesfer way ana Fourth and Fsfth avenues
soGth. From the roof could De seen small
tongues o. FIRE reaching zap into the cool,
calm niEnt air. fiekeriag, anfi teen reach
ing little higher. II was lucky that To-
I1cernan Shennsnaan vas bot panic-stFick-
On when nc first heard the racket and ran
10 the water front instead Of 20 the near
est FIRE alarm box.
EgYen after the alarm was turned N i
looked az II there was going 70
be a hot fire. Tie flames dane
al merriiy. and owing 10 the
bundles wooden buildings surrounding
che ALLEGED JOSS house. there was cause
FOR fear that q quarter OF a block would
be- swept away.
The firsgnen, however. got into the build
Ing with streams OF water. and again at
tackled Il from tho upper side. Ia Ave
minutes the flames disappeared, ana al
that could - seen vas e aat ~ ftptA VI
black smoke ascending Bne spreading out
ike biz baIloon The crowd was disap-
pointed II felt siek TO think that ali the
Excitement had died out so quickly. but
had q ffekeriag sensation Of pleasure ia
tire s!xats attending the sudden and ore
cipitoas exit Of chinamen and their De
lodgings fron tn endangered buildings.
One Of the Engiish-speaking Cinnamon
WREN asked about the ire. said that the
Free Maa0ns were getting ready 10 ceIe-
hrate and that be guessed there was too
nlHeh flrps
The FIRE was really in the roof over the
iasa room or society room, whatever II
Inay be and owing 20 the work Of the tife
men did not damage the contents y ci-
rar store IN the back part of the building
On the ground floor got considerable wa
ter hut came out clean and unchanged.
The idea Of Freemasonr3r among the
Cinnamon ia Seattle caused considerable
discussion wherever reporter spoke OF 4
YESTERDAY and finally the matter was sub
n.ltted to Or j. T.. Gardner. United states
customs house interpreter at san Frtn-
cisco. who Is now in Ss attic. Or. Gardner
esid
Have Chinese societies any connection
with Freemazonry7 They have not. The
fact that Chinese have societies that are
secret. and the fact that Masonic societies
are secret. do not make them one and the
same thing There are certain outside
symbols Of Masonry which members Of
Chinese secret societies have adopted, but
they have been copied for the purpose OF
deception and are not essential 10 the pur-
poses OF the societies.
Then what are these Chinese societies.
These societies have their origin In
China. Two hundred and hfty years ago
China was conquered by the Manchoos, "A
branch Of the great Tartar family, occu-
pylng large tracts of land east and north
81 China. At the time OF the conquest,
strange as IL may sound 20 most Ameri-
cans 90 today. who never call up In their
minds 4 Chlnamau. but hts queue Is asso-
Ciated with him the Chinese All over
China without Single exception. were
without queues. ~ thai time ne costumes
~ the Chinese and the manner Of wearing
the hair were pretty much the same as The
Japanese In their native costumes today.
The Manchoos however. had queues.
and IN order 20 make their conquest com
piste adopted the measure % requiring
the Chinese 90 do the same The Chinese
were i naughty race II took long time
90 carry that measure into effect. Many
heads went OF because the owners ~ them
would not consent that queues should 20
on More heads went OF iR the provinces
Of Quong TuuE tCautou and Foo KEN, the
capital 81 which IS Foo Chow. long noted
incvE The conquest went on until tho
eighteen province. constituting the Chi
uesc empire were conquered outwardly. az
least Freu This II Is plainly ga De- seen
that the Chinese queue. or. SIS the small
hoy calls o. the pig tail. s. q token or sub
mission cxacted by his couquer.ng race OF
the Tartars The reittive positions Of these
two nations. tb- Chinese and the Man
chons. have not been changed. The Chi
nese today arc stil under the dominion Of
tire MAuch0os AMI Incidentally. this fact
throws considerable HIGHT upon the cause
a. defeat Ga thg iate FhsueSc-JspaucSe
war.
From the moment - conquest. societies
were secretly formed with the svowed oh
1ect ~ restoring the native dynasty Iu
tho very nature of fae ease strict secrecy
was snirined amous lts members. Oaths
were taken and subscribed 20 With human
blood extracted ffow re tin OF the index
finger hy incisiou. A. the timo when this
oath Is heluE taken tine queue - uu-
braided fgnityiue tlfe desire OF She per
SEN takmE the eafh fhat the queue should
De- 3j4ra~ic8 The form ~ ostb and tho
iuanner OF taking IS remain much The same
tods..
Owing 10 TIRE natrre OF thc societies
they were ard ara totiav under THO ban
~ the Chlnese law Wherever discovered
tae socteitrS pre- pass iswu snf enc mem
hers even 5eeap.tate3 The strict hand