The times., 1899-07-17
SLAVERY AMONG chinese
The Traffic in Women Carried on
in San Francisco.
Rich Dealers Aided by White Lnw-
yers Defy Efforts TO Abolish the
in Procuring Girls From China
Murder Sometimes Resorted To.

Murder Sometimes Resorted To.
San Francisco. July 16.-"The Thirteenth
Amendment to the Constitution has been a
dead letter in California and the Coast
States for twenty years and is today. .
said a man who has made close study
of the Chinese. Women and children are
sold at the block as in ante-bellum days.
They are not sold publicly. but so far as
the Chinese community is concerned the
sale is open enough, and influential COM
panies are formed and exist for this pur-
pose. Efforts have been made to crush the
traffic. and, strange to say, when We are
defeated, it is by INSCRIPTIONS white law
gers.
There is regular business of import
ing women, though it is not carried on
now with tenth of the boldness of a de-
cade ago. when women were put up in the
Queens Room in San Francisco which
was nothing more nor less than an auction
room, and knocked down to the highest
bidder. The business as it is carried on
now requires some skill and more capital,
and by the time a girl is landed she has
value of from $500 to perhaps So, 500, the
latter sum having been paid in several in
stances in San Francisco. The scheme
works in the following way: We Will as
sumo, and l Will give you an actual case.
Withholding the name, that in a little
town outside of Canton lived a woman
named Kan Koo. She was hard working
women, respected but very poor She had
daughter who was noted for her beauty
and various domestic virtues.
One day an old woman stopped at the
house when the mother was away and had
a talk with the girl, praised her beauty,
and soon made herself so interesting 10 ,ts
young girl that she was asked to come
again. The invitation was accepted when
the mother was again away and the
woman began 10 fill the girls mind W. til
stories of wealth and splendor, comparing
her present condition with that of others
who were not half so richly endowed by
nature. Finally the girl expressed wish
TO possess some of these riches and the
woman Immediately asked her why she did
not marry, adding that she had a friend in
America who was a merchant prince and
~Eo desired to marry and that she could
arrange 1t; but the girls mother must
know nothing about it. To shorten the
story. the girl was captivated with the
prospect of rich husband, and agreed To
run away and be married in America: then
she could return. So one day when the
mother came home her daughter was
gone, and the only information she could
gain concerning her was that an old
woman had been seen visiting the house
Now to follow the victim The old wo
man was the Canton agent of a San Fran
cisco women importing company, a wheel
In the machinery. She took the girl to
Canton, gave her rich clothes, which she
said were presents from her husband to
be, and finally handed her over to another
agent, who was TO accompany her to San
Francisco. Once aboard the steamer the
girl met a number of others, some OF
whom were there under the same convic-
tions, others thinking that they were
merely going TO another part of China
The transportation agent now had about
three weeks in which to educate his yari-
Gus charges up to standard whereby they
would be able to pass the officials at San
Francisco. The girls were told that the
Americans were doing their best to prevent
Chinese girls and women from obtaining
husbands. and that IL they made a mis-
take they would be thrown into jail: SO
they must answer as directed. Thus Kan
she was the wife OF Zoon Kay; that she
was married at No. - Sunshine Street,
in April, 1888, and that she had been on a
visit to her parents and was now re-
turning to her husband. The girl was
drilled over and over again until she knew
perfectly what she was to say and was
thoroughly terrified at the prospect OF
making a mistake. Other girls who have
been trapped and discover It are intimi-
tod hNr x,R .ls
whom they will be cast on arriving in
America if they make any mistake in their
lesson, and tears and bewailing have no
effect.
Finally the vessel arrives and the most
careful examination is made by the agents
OF the law. The women pass muster and
are handed over to another agent, who, the
transportation man says, is friend of the
coming husband. The girl is now in the
hands Of the direct agent of the society.
He takes her TO boarding house and pro-
vides her with fine clothes and endeavors
TO familiarize her with a life OF ease and
semi-dissipation. The husband is a long
time in appearing the agent is doing his
best to find a buyer who is willing to in
vest $4,000. The girl is finally told that
her husband is going TO meet her at
certain place, and, making an elaborate
toilet, she goes forth. A few years ago
All SuGH SlIlS were Ldhtu 10 Nudl was
called the Queens Room where they
were knocked down to the highest bidder
with little ceremony. Through police in
teryention things are now carried on quiet
ly; but the girl finds herself in a room
surrounded by men-friends of her hus-
band, as the ruse is still kept up. Finally
she is sold to a Chinaman. who announces
that he is her husband, and in this way the
girl is deluded until the man places her in
some resort and she learns when too late
that she is entangled in a web that binds
her. body and soul.
Hundreds of girls have been entrapped
continued outcry, and are rescued after
great difficulty by the agents of the various
American missionaries who are engaged in
the work. The struggles TO rescue the girls
from their owners would not be believed
perhaps, were it not for the proof found
on the pages OF the court records and the
books OF the Baptist, Methodist and Pres
byterian missions OF California The diff
ficulty in stopping the traffic has been the
complete organization OF the slave COM
panies. and when a woman is rescued she
Is sometimes taken back and several per-
sons killed before the AFFAIR is settled. One
of the most recent cases, illustrating the
fact that the parents of girls sell them,
ese slavery. An old fellow named Qu Ig
had made some money in the mines in the
early days. and sent TO China for his wife.
In the mean time he had formed another
alliance, and when wife number one came