The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1900-07-14
RICHEST CHINESE ON
THE AMERICAN SOIL.
Chin Tan Sun and the
Millions He Has
Acquired.
THIS BIG JIM ( SELf-Hl0E MAN.
HIS START IL LIFE Is MADE
as A COOK WITH A SCAM
pIHAvIAN WIFE.
Re Nov o.gns Lotteries. canneries
Towns. Ranches. Gold Mines.
stores and 4 Finely AP
pointed Haien

most TFts3 hIufe MiiiiofalTF IN tdif'
fornia Is a Chinaman His name i.
chin Tan Sun and be l. the richest
Chiuaman in America
Miilionsires are not necessarily in
teresting. But here IS a novelty in the
shepherd class. Where else on
American soil may be found a million
aire with . queue. who thinks nothing
n all OF owning whole towns: who en-
ploys hundreds OF white men and wo-
men in bis factories and canneries;
who pays taxes on ranches. city real
estate. gold mines aud diamonds who
runs lottery games upsets a city char
ter when be wants 10: imports contract
laborers by hundreds from China: is
power in a hlghbinder tong, conducts
"a real estate business in Hongkong and
several merchandise stores in San
Francisco. and Is a genuine Monte
Christie in his business methods?
Chin Tan Sun does all these things.
and more. He Is a sclf-m made man. He
is wider awake when ne is asleep than
many OF the persons with whom he
comes IN contact during business hours.
Some thirty years ago n long-legged
lad from the Orient came across the
seas To this coast In the steerage OF a
steamer. He had first opened his al
mond eyes in the province of Sun Ming.
IA farming district Farmers in China
DO not 1--we on the land they cultivate.
Space Is too precious They bunch their
families into compact little houses
separated by alleys, and go daily forth \
% their filling Of the soil. In Califor- |
MIA. where ranches cover thousands Of 1
acres, a farmer turns colt to pasture
In a ten-aere lot. In China a man who
owns ten acres il considered wealthy. /
The boy farmer had heard fabulous
tales OF the New World They lured |
him from the raising OF vegetables He
left his ancestral home and travelled
TO Ogden. Utah. There he went to work
in somebody's kitchen as n cook
But Chin Tan Sun. amid his new
thought OF other things |
than bread making and stove polish
ing and dish washing He dreamed |.
of wealth and power. though none
would have guessed that he was other |
than an excellent household machine, |
content 10 20 no further afleld than |
the slip-slap sandaled feet on kitchen
floor would carry him. until he could
save enough from his wages to insure
the sending Of his bones back to China
should he die In the land of the white |
devils
A girl or Scandinavian parentage,
good looking aud Industrious was EN-
ployed as domestic in neighhoring
family. Chin Tan Sun eourted and |
married her They came to San Fran |
,isco and commenced housekeeping on
Jackson street in Chinatown with the
dollars that had been earned in the og-
Zen kitchen. Chin Tan Sun. keenly on
he alert for an opportunity to begin
he amasslng of fortune. conceived
lever idea This idea was originating |
,f the little lottery" scheme There |
we're AT this time fifteen Chinese lot 1
cries running In Chinatown Each | !
conducted two drawings daily. Chin / I
,ut his idea into immediate practice. | |
md brilliant success followed. He I
lpened what he called the American ! !
.ottery Company. selling tickets with ! /
duplicating those OF the hf- $
cen gambling concerns. He sought o
american patronage and white people
'eEan TO play the Chinese lottery. He n
said with instant promptneSs all win
ling claims, and in year became a i
rich man. :
Chin Tan Sun developed marvellous | |
asiness sagaeity. HE bought a small | k
interest In numerous stores. He learned | G.
D speak English tluently. His dealings b
ere invariably on q cash basis. no al
latter how large the sum involved. He a:
peaed up n dozen gambling houses IN tx
akland. whose show windows dis "
layed fans and punk sticks and ha- e
aar articles IN general as a blind to c;
onceal the unlawful operations in the | a
lcked rooms back OF them. lie kept l
he police busy raidsng his gambling
hints and himself lfasy Juggling coin u
ito court with which 10 deposit cash p
all for his employees who had eeen n
altered in by the blue-coated arm II
le law. Fines he paid with stoical In ;.
florence.
One dag an Oakland Judge imposed u
ne ten times the usual amount in his 81
10 teach Chin 4 lessou.. q;
hen Chin showed fight. Through his 70
orney he had the municipal records al
arched. and the result turned Oak a
nd upside down. for. to relate briefly. 70
was discovered that the charter was al
valid: that the court In which Chin's &C
.ent had been convicted was not even %
de facto court: nor would Chin con- hs
Mt 10 have his man set free. though 60
q Superior Court itself. sitting an III
ne on the case-aE event that had 10
'yer occurred there before-wanted
dismiss the troublesome matter. &c
"a so Oakland had 10 provide itself as
ia a brand new charter. while the ~
rewdest Chinese that the law had "a II
al with laughed In his flowing blouse pe
.eve: laughed and went on piling mp "a
.aith that could buy every little gar or
n patch in his native provinces, and OF
II have enough 20 burn out all the NJ
nix sticks that Chinatown could i'm gr
r. tn
During these years the influence OK 10
In Tan Sun had been increasing un- IA
il made itself felt with respect and so
II. not only in the Aslatie quarter. tn
I beyond its limits He was a MEM ms
OF the Chinese six Companies. He ar
i one OF a trio al the touch Of whose ioi
low fingers the fortunes Of their pc