Evening star., 1898-12-10
WO AhANA WAS SHREWO

| o-hN - IS tilSlE oUStiHSCy, RhG
MS mild, bland. non-vociferous fashion l
believe the average celestial ia a whole 10,
more pig-headed than the most stubborn
| Nniifgan that ever came out OF the Emer-
AID Isle, said one OF the members of the
California delegation in the lower house.
| Moreover anybody who takes the ordi-
| nary, everyday Chinaman for an also ram
| when 1t comes to business shrewdness. Is
| Que 10 nave rude awakening If he acts
| upon that erroneous presumption The
| Shit amen out on the coast are rightly ac-
counted by the old-timers among Califor-
! uians VINO nave studied the Mongolians and
,f .heif ways as the very hardest possible
klhd OF propositions in business deals and
they never look to get even a one-tenth of
one J er cent edge on a sant-eye in driving
q psrsaln A peculiar feature about the
San francisco Cinnamon Is that, with most
OF tnem, their accumulat ton of riches rare
~ makes any difference in their outward
inode OF life. OF course, there are grandees
ana nlgh-liVing hot members among the
wealthy Chtnks in San Francisco's China
Town, put the very great majority of the
thlnese men who pick UP wealth in five or
sven SIX fsures go on living in precisely
!he iasnion they followed when they were
just landed, struggling coolies
happened to be an inside observer of
battle that went on between a Chinaman
named Wo Ahana and an Irishman named
fat Mcte eeney for a couple of months and
Il "a
1ore lett San Francisco for Washington.
FOR many years past Wo Ahana has been
running Chinese grocery store on cor
iier that stands on TIE outskirts of China
,oWn. Ills shop is the corner store in a
big Irish, German, Scandinavian and gen
erally cosmopolitan tenement house and
No Ahana has been the literal as well as
lhe fsurative bait of all hands in the tene-
iiieht mouse men and women and children,
ever since he began business. THEY'VE en-
gagged III such frequent little pleasantries
as throwing bricks TIN Iough his windows
Jun uull1ihs ms vegetables and truck all over
ttte front sidewalk, and, in general. they've
trled to make life unbearable for Wo Aha
ma. But he has pursued the even tenor OF
ms way, getting most of the patronage OF
me hundrfdS and thousands of Cinnamon
III the ADJOINING squares and, in quite an
uLassuming way, acquiring riches in con-
lnudf substantial hunks
A bit more than two months ago an
irishman from New York named Pat Nc
eeheS as aforesaid, opened a gin mill next
door to Wo Ahana'S corner grocery Me
feeney didn't ike the juxtaposition, as it
We're, of the Chinarnan, and moreover his
business grew az such rate that he
VhouSht ned like to acquire Ahaua's cor
her IN order to amplify his saloon. So he
went to the owner Of the tenement proper
" ana asked him what rent Wo Ahana was
paying Tor the corner. Upon getting this
information, he offered to pay one-fourth
more rent than Ahana did il the proprietor
OF the property would chase Wo Ahana ont
of the corner store
" I'd like to accommodate YOU was-the
owners reply, but Wo Ahana has got a
couple of years yet remaining on his ten
year lease of the corner. and l can't put
him out
"McFeeney was very much perturbed
over this information, but there was moth
ing to be done. SO he thought he'd try the
btuH game on the Chinaman. He went to
NO Ahana and told him that If he didn't
move away f. ON that corner he'd burn him
bf NJ n f}S-,o., ,,o5t ,l,,
a whole lot of other things equally terrible
No Ahana just regarded the Irishman with
an amused smile, while he listened to all
of these dire threats, and, when McFeeney
rad 1niShed, the Chinaman told him. in ad-
mirable English, that he could go to the
devil by the shortest route-that he was
on that corner to stay, and that all the
lrishmen from San Francisco to Connemara
couldn't drive HIM out. The 1rishman had
to abandon these tactics, but about a
month ago he mad fixed Up what looked like
a genuine lease, which he said he had Sc
cured on the corner store. and flashed the
same on Wo Ahana out of pure deYilment
The Chinaman looked ii over, and then
said:
You wait
Two DAYS later Wo AhaDa walked into
McFeeneyS saloon.
y on got no lease on your saloon, hey"
said Wo Ahana 10 Pat McFeeney.
And phWats thot to yeez, ye pg-tailed
divi,?' inquired McFeeney, politely.
Gou no got lease, heyT persisted Wo
Ahana.
VIII seeins it's none O. yeez's domned
business answered the Irishman, 'phwat's
it to yeeZ an If Oi haven't? Oi'H hev tn
lease on tn shop o yeez bechunst now an
th mkt fortnit.'
You move out here tomorrow said Wo
Ahana, quietly. L want room. Going to
rent to other man-Chinaman. You move
out here tomorrow
We'll, McF'eeney just looked at the Chi
naman as il he thought the slant eye had
gone daft.
Me move out O. me own place. is it?'
he shouted at the Chinaman. WILL of all
tn - an phwat fur. /. savin' yer pris-
ince yeez squint-oiyed haythen?'
Because replied Wo Ahana, deliberate
ly, and looking the Irishman square in the
eye, this my building now and l don't want
you in my building. You move tomorrow
Then Wo Ahana walked out. McFeeney
rushed 10 the man from whom he had rent
ed his saloon, and of course, he found that
No Ahana's tale was precisely true-for,
contrary to the general impression, China
men rarely lie with reference to business
matters.
Yes said the former owner of the ten
enent property, the Chinaman came to me
yesterday and asked me if 1 wanted 10 sell
The property as it stood. did want to get
rid of the property. but / didn't let on TO
Wo Ahana that | did. So ne named me a
fgure-a good figure-and | transferred the
tenement to him by legal process today. /
haven't yet had time TO notify the tenants
including yourself, that hereafter Wo
Ahana will be their landlord, but | shall do
so within a day OF So
''Of course, McFeeney was almost crazy
al the ide2 of having a Chinaman for a
landlord, but it couldn't be helped. He
wouldn't pipe down however, and he tried
to thrash Wo Ahana when the latter in
sisted that McFeeney would have to move
out of his saloon on the morrow. Just
he was about to pounce on his new land
lCrd, however a half dozen Cinnamon with
long knives n their hands hDtIDdinS
out of the back of Wo Ahana's store and
McFeeney retreated. McFeeney went to law
few days before / came east and secured
an extension of a month, in order to permit
him to look around for another place of
business. but when his months up hen
have to move out of Wo Ahana's building
or Wo Ahana will set him in the street.
And this all came about because the Irish
man, who wasn't used to the ways of Cali
fornia Chinks, failed to count on the stub
hornness Of the first one of the species he
got up against"