The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-06-13
CHINAMEN NO SABEF
None in Salt Lake Knows What
a Boxer" Is.
FONG GEE ON HISTORY
TOM SING HAS 1T IN FOR Ii
HU7TG CHANG.

who knows the meaning of Boxer, f"
/ that awful name found daily in the
press reports from the orient A re-
porter started out yesterday afternoon
to canvas Plum alley for information
on the causes of the trouble down
there, it is surprising how little
1 these Il Celestials seem to know
| about thS situation. They get China
newspapers from San Francisco almost
every day, and they show a great in
terest in the reports from there, but
the fact remains that very few of them
understand what is goiLg on.
That term Boxer" simply flabber-
casts therI. Ask a Salt Lake Chinaman
what it means, and he will answer
ME no sabee"; suggest that a Boxer"
is blacksmith, and he mods an affirm
alive; or jump at the conclusion that it
means horse and buggy and he is just
as ready to agree with you.
In nearly all the houses on Plum
alley, seated around the low stools or
stretched out in hunks, there are audi
enceS Of heathenS listening attentiYely
TO the reading of the latest news chron-
icled by the Hongkong ~BazoO and its
contemporaries, and the American feels
just as much at home in this gathering
as he would at political convention
in South Africa.
When the lately arrived journals from
the coast are exhausted, the local pa
pers are picked up and the Interpreter
after a few moments study makes a
declaration. In just three seconds there
is discussion in progress that would
drive Twentieth century stock broker
to drink, or make Ii Hung Chang
change the text of his last Grafton,
probably both. This lasts until late into
the night, until the tapers burn low
and the residents Of the classic pre-
c1nct seek comfort in the pipe.
History by Fong Gee.
One old fellow was discovered at the
head of the alley, named Fong Gee,
and what Fong Gee doesn't know about
the history Of China and its people-alI
except the "BoxerS''-is hardly worth
knowing. But unfortunately Fong was
born Chinese and his education, in
the pronunciation of English, has been
sadly neglected. From his story, that
is, every fifteenth word of his story,
that being as much as could be COM
pretended clearly, it was gathered that
about 262 years ago a fellow by the name
of Mon GuOn, from whence sprung the
name Monaghan, came down from a
country north of China and organized
a gang through whose efforts the king
dom was overthrow, Mon Guon sue
ceeding to the throne. The circumstance
was extremely worrying to the former
and one day he hung himself
with the girdIe upon his royal robes, /
some of which he had managed to save. !
The people were almost panic-strick- :
en- at the turn things had taken, Fong
says, but they worried along for sew
eral thousand years, their deliverer (
coming on the scene at the end of this /
he 41,.4 ~.
immortal Mon Guon was through all /
these years treating his subjects with (
The utmost cruelty and oppression. The /
people We"e burdened with taxes, cen (
sus takers, and other things and it is /
even stated that Mr.. Guon insisted /
upon being the first to kiss the bride /
at several June weddings.
Was an Uprising.
For almost $500 years the people
stood for this sort OF thing from Guon,
and then there was a terrible uprising,
ed by one Sam Tita, whom Fong class
IS as q right good fellow.
China boy sclap light away" con-
-inued Fong. He been fifteenth of !
August one night. Moon out allie same
City cleek canyon. Ev'ly China boy
sabee he. Light on mountain. ALE off.
Xillee soldiers. Country ale shot to
pieces. Tita takee ieins of government
All same night, but China boy been
iclapping allie time since him. No Iikee
lespot. He been tylant"
When 1t was suggested that the pow
srs might make the Tita incident look
ike a two spot, FOng said Maybe 50, /
rep, China boy he no fiXem now: byem-
I'VE get country back"
But Fong isn't the only reliable his
OTian on the alley A little fellow who
el!s hop down at Ock KEGS knows a
sreat deal about China, his speciality
,eing Boxers" He says there are
so, 000, coo Boxers in the northern end
# China and every eight years they
Chinese mazs by burning the
impress dOwager to the stake, and
otherwise conducting themselves dis
toward her majesty.
Has an AK Out For Ii.
Tom Sing, the West Temple street
when approached, was
ather reluctant about having his name
n the public prints, but when he start
owerful propensity to knock" Ii
lung Chang.
Him beenee out for dough-" says
ON. "Givee Japan two war ships, now
avee trouble, Japan no helpee. Lii
lung Chang damn foolee." ii
Tom says Boxer" is what the Chi {
csc call a Ming" and that they live
I the north of China, depending upon
Orse-trading and the sale of hot to-
lales for a livelihood. Tom does not
retend to give any Lessons" why the i
Iings should get into a Vough house
-ith the empress, but he is reasonably
ertain that such is the case He says
here will be a new king by and by
no will get EN- back Chinatown" and
] the meanwhile he is not losing any
eep. =
CLASH OF AUTHORITY.