The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-20
HE SOLD HIS DAUGHTERS
CHIN1M1N NAILED HIS TWO LIT
TIE GIRLS INBOXES.
And Then Shipped Thorn Like So Much
Freight-They Were Sold Into Slav-
ery-The Affair Happened On a Britt
ish Columbia Settlement,

ish Columbia Settlement.
An atrocious case of the selling of two
chinese girls as slaves has just star
tied the people of British Columbia.
Two little girls of tender years were
sold by their father with no more con-
sideration than if they had been hogs
carcasses Packed in narrow boxes,
they were delivered like live stock to
their destinations. The fact that for
years Chinese women have been sold as
slaves is well known, but the difficulty
has always been in fixing the crime
The two girls We're the pride of min
ing camp where women were few. An
old Chimaman, whose family name was
two girls, and it was he who protited by
their sale into slavery.
Twenty years ago Quong was among
the first Of the Chinese gold hunters who
went to the rich Cariboo fields, and
there he has lived ever since. For three
or four years he was prosperous
miner among his countrymen. During
that time he managed to save enough
money from his gold digging operations
to bring out his wife from Chica. But
before this he had taken another wo-
man in with him on a sort of common
law partnership.
Before wife o. 1 arrived from China
Quong married this second woman I'M
der the Canadian law. Hers were the
children whom he sold into slavery.
| When Quong's wife arrived from her
home in China, Quong made thel two
women wash gold in his placer claim
during the day, and what few hours
they could steal from the night he COM
PEELED them to wash the miners clothes.
Between them they did the laundry
work for the camp and Quong pocketed
the pay.
During these years Quong has appa-
| rently taken a good deal Of interest in
his two little girls. Every miner in the
camp knew the children. Pele, the
| younger girl, was thirteen years old at
the first of the year. and her sister is
| only about two years older, although
| she looks nearer twenty.
Three months ago Quong, the father,
sold the elder girl to another Chinaman
at Soda Creek, about one hundred miles
from her home in Quesnelle. He got
two hundred and fifty dollars cash.
From the Chinese standpoint of value
she was not nearly SO pretty and shape
ly as Pele, the younger sister. Her
father, therefore, let her go at reduced
rates.
1t was in the coolest part of winter
that the girl was sold into slavery. The
two white men who hauled and deliv-
cred her like so much goods were, of
course, fearful of detection, and in or
der to insure safe delivery they as
sumed a C. O. d. sort of air and nailed
the girl up in box just large enough
to contain her. Holes were bored
through the top to admit air The pris-
oner was helpless and could only live In
pain and anxiety until delivered to the
destination marked on the box.
The thermometer was below zero,
when the boxed girl, late at night, was
loaded on very heavy sleigh and
started away in the hands of her drivers.
They drove all that night and the best
part of the next day, the girl being new
er once freed from the box that jolted
along in the sled through the snow.
No wonder that when she arrived at
Sam Lees house, at Soda Creek, she was
unconscious and nearly dead.
Sam Lee is another rich Chinaman |
who has made his money in mining. and
the fact that he had another wife al
ready did not, of course, interfere with
his buying second girl to be his slave.
Pele, the younger girl, was much |
more attractive than her sister and she
brought higher price. Five hundred |
dollars was paid to her father by a Chi |
naman who lived near the one hundred |
and fifty mile house, one of the stop
ping places on the Carboo road She
was actually spoken for year ago, and
during that period her feet had been
pressed into small enough shape to suit
the purchasers taste Pele was deliv-
cred by the same two white men about
three weeks after the sale of her sister.
1t was due to the curiosity of propri-
etress of one of the stopping places that
Pele's awful plight was discovered.
The weather was still very cold when
the little Chinese girl was being deliv-
cred. in precisely the same boxed-up
fashion as her sister.
The men arrived at Mrs. Langdale's
house about eleven o'clock at night, and
left the box in the sleigh out in the
yard Mrs. Langdale happened to walk
the yard and heard moaning
sound coming from the box. The girl
was in Mysteries.
Mrs. Langdale promptly endeavored |
to release her, but the stout boards Of
the box were nailed down too tight and
resisted her efforts. She went in to the
men and demanded that the boxed-up
be released.
They laughed brutally, and said that
thew had been paid one hundred and
thirty-five dollars for doing their part of
The work, and as long as they delivered
the box they did not care whether the
girl was dead or not.
Mrs. Langdale was alone. Neither
threats nor entreaties could effect the
-elease of the hysteric girl, and she re-
NAMED nailed up in the box out in the
winter snow all that night
The men drove away with her early
n the morning. 1t was late the next
hight before the journey was completed
md Pele was still nailed up and almost
lead from exhaustion, close confinement
md lack of nourishment.
I'll. Il ansaf A.nHH J