The Dickinson press., 1903-03-28
right-hand corner upward toward the

right.hand corner upward toward the
left.
In our travels up and down. we saw
China'nen approach whit appeared 10
BIS solid wall bu, as they rubbed their
hands ag inst it a dour flew open and
quickly closed and re heard the bang.
bang, bang, Of the seven doors that lead
to the gambling dens. Guards permit
non blu! the elect to enter and it would
cost a white man a heavy fine if not his
life to show his face inside, even if he
could give the signal.
In the subterranean city are the hotels
or fashionable sleeping apartments.
Like those we saw when entering the
theatre, these are closets with no light or
air save the bit that comes from the mar
row passages. Aroom 8 by 10 and per-
haps 6 feet high serves as the bed cham.
Der for two wealthy Cinnamon. but the
same sized room accommodates thirty of
the poorer class. Can you imagine it?
Their beds are hunks, or shelves, cover
ed with mating and their pillow a box
in which may be stored their valuables.
The hotel we saw had a sort OF central
space in which was a large tank of hot
water but as its use cannot be for clean
illness. We called it a heating tank. Of
from this are kitchens where the men
cook~women waste too much, they say.
They use brass cooking dishes and these
are never washed. In a room near the
tank We came upon an opium den and
saw and talked with the occupant. He
has smoked about all his life and OF
course must o keep up the practice
or debut he told US it was a bad habit.
He rolled opium balls and reclining on
his bunk placed them in his long-stem-
med pipe and holding the bowl over an
alcohol lamp pulled away in supreme
content. An old cat is his constant COM
panion and she inhales the opium fumes
and sleeps beside her master to, dream
perhaps of a cat heaven, and golden
mice. Someone said this was the dread.
ful Chinaman who is responsible for all
the murders in Chinatown. When a per.
son becomes Objectionable this fend is
appealed to-. He calls others to his aid
and the deed is done and so many has.
ten to the aid of the murderer that he
successfully evades arrest. That suct
th;noc occur &c ,vall Loowo h,t e th;e
opium-6end is the instigator we canno
say.
The room we just described was occu
pied by one but in these hotels are
rooms the size Of sleeping-rooms will
shelves or hunks, each supplied with
sloping stool like a reading stand where
men and women come to smoke opium
Everybody smokes and the sickenine
fumes pervade everything.
The Chinese are expert workers in
metals and it was interesting indeed t.
watch them as they fashioned rings
bracelets and other articles for persona
adornment, by hand.
In a drug store we saw strange herb
and strange compounds, which we wer
not tempted to sample.
A few minutes were occupied in visi,
ing a lady with bound feet. She walke'
or rather hobbled for us-and got abou
more than n would suppose possibl
with feet as small as baby's. The guild
e,;J sho doas oo& e,,4or oov, h,% al III
time when the feet should have bee,
growing with the rest of her body, tn
pain was intense. Foot-binding is nc
allowed now and is not much done o
the SLY.
The Joss house, a two-story structure
is an interesting place. All the lowe
floor and up the stairs the walls are co,
cred with red papers bearing black an
gold characters. These are prayers fc
the dead, and as each paper represent
a certain value and bears the name {
the person Tor whom the prayer is offe
cd-the financial value Of the worshi
can be easily figured. Idols galore o.
cupy the upper floor with bowls Of cart
in front OF each where worshipers bur
incense. Two, the best Chinaman tn;
ever lived, and the worst, are screent
TO the former, prayers are said when
member of the family is dead and to tt
latter. who was a gambler and waste
the fortune his father left him, would-t
gamblers pray. The center is occupie
by the sacred idol which is CAREFUL
guarded every hour OF the year. Visi
ors to the Joss house are expected to bu
punk-incense-in return for which the
are to receive Chinese prayers.
We noticed tiny windows high in som
of the houses and sometimes little bale
MES, and the guide explained that trol
these slave women more favored tina
their sisters, obtained a glimpse of tn
outside (Chinatown) world. These ",
men lead a dreadful life. Until the 70
women were sold as slaves. Every ne
year all debts must be paid and if a ma
cannot meet his obligations he sends h
daughter to be the slave of the man /
owes. Such as she are the women wi
look out from the tiny windows, VIII
when the debt is paid, are no good
themselves or anybody else.
Such is Chinatown, unsanitary and vi
as the visitor sees it and ~unspeakab
worse than anybody sees or can imagin
An effort 10 heinp made IN better RI,
ditions. Electricity, street cars, gas ar
telephones have done some good ar
San Francisco's" cubic ali" ordinan'
may accomplish more, but the proper
owners who get enormous rental do n
care for better air, the Chinese do n
care, and the police are said to be i