The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-01
Notorious Procuress
Allowed to Escape.
CHINESE BUREAU TO BLAME
THEY FILED NO COMPLAINT
TO DETAIN HER.
Failed to Notify the United States
Attorney or the Court That a
Serious Charge Was
Pending.

The notorious procuress, Fong Suey,
dealer in Chinese girl slaves, made her
escape yesterday by reason of incompe-
tency or worse in the management of the
Chinese Bureau.
1t Is a clear cut case, and Chief Mere
dith is unable to. give anything like a
satisfactory or even plausible explana-
ton for his conduct In the matter
The woman was captured in the raid by
Federal officers last Tuesday under the
direction of Special Agents Moore and
Putnam. When the captives were taken
to the Presbyterian and Methodist mis-
sions Miss Cameron identified Fong Suey
as the wife of Kwan Leung, former part
ner of Little Pete in the slave trade.
Several Chinese girl inmates of the mis-
sion also identified the woman as the one
who had brought them from China and
sold them to the keepers of bagnios IN
this city
When these facts became known to the
Federal officials they refused to release
the woman upon the production of her
certificate of registration and ordered her
to be held in custody for prosecution on
the charge of being a procuress, the pen
atty for which offense is Imprisonment in
the penitentiary for five years. The evil
dence was taken at the home by members
of the bureau, but, strange and inexpli-
cable as. it may appear, the chief of the
bureau neglected to inform the District
Attorneys office that he intended to pros
ecute the prisoner for that otfenSe. He
said not word TO the United States Mar
shall, not a word to Commissioner Hea-
cock. In fact, he left every door open by
which the woman might escape. The orig
inal warrant for being in the country
without a registration certificate was the
only paper that held her in custody, and
the bureau chief knew that the Droduc-
ton by her of her certificate of registra-
ton would be all that was necessary to
procure her release.
Yesterday morning Fong Suey and
Leung. Tsoy Wan were brought before
49, fe~e-tr, 1lr ~
United States Marshal. No one
appeared from the Chinese Bureau or
from the District Attorneys office to
the certificates of the two women and had
the original certificate of the procuress
brought from the Internal Revenue Office.
The Commissioner at once said that he
would recommend their discharge.
The prisoners were taken to the Mar
shaPs office and there kept until o'clock
in the afternoon, awaiting the opening of
Judge de Ravens court, and the bureau
on. At the hour named the report OF
Commissioner Heacock was handed to
Judge de Haven and the women were i'm
mediately released.
Of the treasury, who had planned the re-
cent raid, heard what had happened he
was furious and spoke his mind regarding
the action of Chief Meredith, whose con-
duct Of the bureau has given rise to much
severe criticism and suspicious of wrong
doing somewhere within its sacred por-
tails.
Officers were at once dispatched into
release of the woman, but she had too
good start, and they were obliged to
return empty handed. She is expected to
be in court this morning.
1t is expected that Major Moore will file
charges in Washington against Meredith
for criminal negligence.