Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-15
EXHUMING CHINESE DEAD
Weird Rites in the Cemeteries When the
Graves Are Opened.
Over sixty BODIES Returned From
Chicago to China to Rest
in Peace There.
From the Chicago Chronicle.

From the tLlcdgo Nhf"hfic'
Six Cinnamon slept in Graceland-as well
as Cinnamon could sleep SO far away from
the land of flowers and beetles. to say
nothing Of dragons and josses. Many others
have found temporary sleeping spots out in
Rosehil1, but they, too, Will be taken up
all that remains of them-and the frag-
ments cased in devil-proof boxes to be sent
home to friends and relatives that the
wrath of the chief joss may be appeased.
But it is of those In Graceland that this
story has to tell These are the six whose
bones have been taken out and duly
scraped for transportation: Tong You, died
December 10, 1891; Lee Hong, died Febru-
airy 2, 1890; Wah Lee, died January IL,
1899; Lee Dong, died April %, 1888; Lee
Took died February a. 1880.
Now, your Chinaman has very ardent
sense of the power of the foul fiend. His
is an ever-present and most persistent dew
il. So whenever child of the fiowery
kingdom ceases to breathe then the gongs
beat, the tapers send forth their fumes and
sanctifed slips of paper are scattered along
the route to the place of deposit of the
BODY These tend to discomfort and dis
perse his satanic majesty and his mnions.
preventing a seizure Of the spirit, which
will only rest when covered by earth The
smoking tapers send the spirit into the
deep sleep of the poppy, thus preventing 1t
from making any rash and premature eff
forts to enter heaven, so far away from
America.
The scattered pieces Of papers, covered
with holy writ taken from the books OF
Confucius, disconcert the devils camping
on the trail of the deceased and cause a
woeful falling off as the procession moves
noisily along. No procession devised by a
Chinaman can. will or shall be silent Noise
and plenty of it is a prime essential. 1t
must be admitted that II virtue lies in
noise weird and persistent, no devil has
any chance to sneak away the soul of a
dead Chinaman.
But the spirit having been sent to sleep,
remains in slumber until the earth has rob-
bed it of its tenement, leaving but the bare
and CHASTITY bones to recall the face and
form of the one who once held high place
in the hearts of his fellow eXiles. So that
when the spirits wall about the joss house,
clamoring for succor, every celestial feels
SILVER of fear because he Is neglecting
to complete the duty commenced may be
years before Hence it becomes necessary
to wake up the sleepers in their graves.
dig out and clean their bones and send all
back over the big ocean.
The fumes of the sleeping tapers We're
potent in the cases of the six 1t will be
observed. They were even more potent in
the cases Of the larger band lying in Rose
hill. But all devices of man are limited,
and the walls have risen with the signing
of the winds until rest Is none in China
town for those yet on earth. Therefore up
rose Sam Moy and besought the health Off
GERS for permission to dig up the bones of
the six. This was granted, and permits to
complete the collection will be given as
soon as demanded
Armed with the permits. the chief man.
DARN repaired to the temple, there to pre-
pare for the strange ceremony. Huge bas-
kets, duly sanctifed. were procured and
filled with articles needed in the exhuma-
ton ceremonies. In the basket were sharp
knives deadly looking affairs. seemingly
destined to slit the throat of any unwary
devil who should attempt to sweep into an
opened tomb Yet they We're not to be so
used for even a Chinaman does not expect
to have visible knowledge of the devil him
self in the flesh. They were destined to
| scrape and clean the bones, that no vestige
| of the flesh might remain thereon, or else
| the whole ceremony would fail.
| One basket was filled with gods Of all