Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1903-09-19

ment among the populace as did
the announcement early Wednesday
morning that a mob of men the night
previous had invaded Chinatown,
which occupies the west corner Of
the city, and commanded the Chinks
at the point of guns to leave town
instanter and never return. All
kinds OF rumors were a1oat-that
the men, after ordering the China
men TO go, had accompanied them to
the outskirts of the town, had robbed
and maltreated them, and to make
the affair more gruesome, two of the
Mongolians were said to have been
murdered and their bodies thrown in
shafts or hidden in the brush west of
town.
Rumor after rumor was chased
down, and it was well on to noon
before any tangible story Of the affair
could be obtained, and then it was
only through the most searching
methods that anything like the truth
could be secured, and even then the
truth or falsity of the report that
men had been murdered could not be
verified, as the searching parties
which had been sent out had found no
bodies. Later on it developed that
only one Chinaman was missing, and
Thursday l"orning-nearly thirty-six
hours after the occurrence of the
affair-his body was found in the brush
three miles west of town.
When this news was brought to
town excitement increased to fever
heat, and the full realization OF the
enormity Of the crime presented Itself
in narrowing form, and had there
been no doubt as to the identity OF
the perpetrators OF the dastardlv
deed, there is no telling what meas
ures might have been taken.
Tue particulars of the affair, as
CLEANED by the BONANZA representa-
tive and subsequently verified by the
witnesses at the coroner's inquest,
are about as follows:
Tuesday night, shortly after 3
o'clock, a crowd of men, numbering
from thirty to fifty men, met in the
lower end Of town, and from there
marched in a body TO Chinatown.
Arriving there they entered first one
Chinese house and then another,
alarming the occupants in some in
stances, choking them in others, and
commanding them forthwith to leave
town, under penalty of being hanged
the following day II they failed to
comply with the orders.
The noise made by the crowd at
tracted the attention of James Giles,
who lived q short distance off, and
hurrying to the scene he noticed the
men haranguing with the Cinnamon,
and heard the order issued for them
to depart the following day, but it
was so dark he failed to positively
recognize any of the crowd. Night
Waterman Booth was also a witness
Of the first assault, but saw no damage
done. After the rounds OF the Chinese
houses had been made the crowd dis
appeared, almost as quickly as they
had come, and the Chinese, left to
themselves, and believing that the
orders that they had received were
the result Of meeting Of the citizens
Of the town, began to hold council
and arrange for departure the fol-
lowing day. This they did quietly
and except in one or two cases with
out notifying any of their white friends
OF their intentions.
The second call was made on the
Chinese sometime after IL o'clock.
This time the crowd had decreased
considerably in numbers, the highest
estimate putting the number at IF
teen. In smaller bodies than that
they entered the different Chinese
houses, and with oaths, and drawn
guns pointed at the heads OF the
Chinks they commanded them to
leave town at once. The first house
entered was that of Sam Kee, on
Central street. Here they aroused
the occupants, and jerking them
around as though they were brutes,
told them to go at once, barely CIV
ing time to those who were undressed
to put on their clothes, and if they
were slow about this they were
kicked and cuffed and hit over the
head and body with guns. All the
houses in the vicinity were visited,
and finally, when enough had been
secured, six members of the mob,
each of them leading a Chinese,
started for the Sodaville road. Mean
while scene more brutal and tragic
was being enacted in the Wing Sing