Evening star., 1903-07-21
TRICKS OF CHINATOWN
SIGHTS TO BE SEEN BY VISITORS
TO NEW YORK.
Opium Smoking and Gambling-Sui-
eide for the Benefit of
Spectators.


| By far the most interesting part of New
| York city in the eyes of visitors from out
of town Is Chinatown. which is invaded by
| thousands Of sightseers every year. Ninety
per cent of them go at night and are bent
| on seeing all the dreadful things which
| Cinnamon and their Caucasian associates
| are popularly supposed to do. AS result
| of this curiosity, a custom Of working off
| frauds the visitors has grown up In
| Chinatown. and 1t has proved to be a ghly
| profitable business all around.
Almost everything that visitors to China
| town see nowadays is more or less fraudu-
| lent. Whether the visitors come by night
| or by day, the greater part of the enter
| tainment provided by their guides is fraud
| ulent. although they never know 1t and go
away satisfied that they have seen the real
| thing
The Cinnamon who live In Chinatown
| are not fools. neither are the white women
who associate with them nor the white men
who pick up living in more or less ques-
tionable ways in the quarter. None of
the Cinnamon. and certainly very few OF
| the women could be induced to make pub
| lie display of their private lives for money,
but they are not at all averSe to arranging
| little exhibitions for the edification of vis-
| itors, who pay well. thinking they are see
Ing the real thing.
The Guides
There are fully a score of of the
Chuck Connors type who call themselves
Chinatown guides. They have lived in the
quarter for years. know every man and
woman in it. know the gambling dens. the
joss houses the opium joints: In fact. are
part of the quarter and well qualified to
show people about.
The minute a visiting party strikes Chi
| natown it is taken in tow by one OF these
guides. Sometimes the guide meets the
party by appointment. for many of them
have connections with hotel clerks uptown
who tout for them but Oftener the party
wanders about until guide picks 1t up
and makes a bargain to show it China
town.
OF course, the party wants to opium
smoking. a game of fantan In operation
the quarters of white women who live with
Cinnamon and all the other things that
are part of the quarter. The guide leads
them up dark alleyways. through winding
Railways where they cannot see ther
hands before their faces. and finally into
| little box-like rooms where white women
and Cinnamon smoke what is supposed to
be opium for their amusement. All con-
versation is carried on in whispers. good
deal is said about the police and other dan
gers of the expedition. and the visitors are
worked up to a proper state of excitement.
Not Opium.
What the Cinnamon and women smoke is
not opium at all. Generally small piece
of wax Is cooked over the lamp and in
serted over the pin-hole of the pipe bowl.
A convenient cigarette in the end of the
pipes broad stem supplies the smoke
A few puffs and the smoker rolls over in
what appears to be deep Slumber The
guide leads the shivering party out. and
warns all hands to keep the matter very
quiet.
Next he finds a Chinese gambling den In
full operation. Fantan. Chinese dominOeS
and games with the long strip of card
board covered with Chinese characters are
being played The table is covered with
| money. the banker hauls his coins from
| the center of the table with his sharp
pointed stick and the players suck away
at their gurgling water pipes. A carefully
arranged protest Is made when the visitors
enter. but the guide arranges matters and
| the play is resumed. This is just COM
plete fake the opium smoking. The
supposed gamblers are just play-acting for
the benefit OF the visitors. but they do 1t
very well. and the visitors, especially the
women-fOr there are women in all of
these parueS-gO away properly awed. Visits
to joss houses. restaurants and alleged dens
are made. fake fights occur. dramatic
scenes enacted. and by the time the
trip is over the visitors have seen about all
they can stand.
''Suicide" to Order.
For long time there was a Chinatown
woman who used to commit suicide every
night for the benefit OF visitors. She was
good-looking girl and had a room at the
top Of Doyers street tenement.
For a long while the fake opium smoking
took place in her room. A romantic and
touching tale of this girls downfall used
to be told condentially to visitors by the
guides. SO that she was an object of special
interest. At certain stage of the exhibit
tion each night she would startle the visit
ors by tossing her pipe aside. crying out.
II am tired Of all this and then. taking a
hasty swallow from bottle labeled car
bolic acid she would fall groaning to the
floor. and the guide would hustle the Wis
itors away so they wouldn't be arrested as
witnesses.
The fake suicide was bowling success
and a great money-maker for the woman
who did it. The wardman from the Eliza
beth street station put the performance
under the ban. however and the guides
had to cut it out of their repertoire The
program described is gone through as
many as a dozen times some nights and
the stfange thing is that visitors never
seem to detect the imposition. They swal-
low it all with perfect confidence. and pay
as much S a head sometimes for the
evenings entertainment.