The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-11-20

Miss Toma Uyeki. ono OF the gcisha
girls ordered dsported. has written a fare
well letter TO The Republic, in which she
recites the privations of the girls during
their Imprisonment under the orders of the
Immigration Inspector of st. Louis. and
appeals 10 the American principals of
liberty and justice to aid the girls in their
predicament.
She declares the girls came to this
country with a view of introducing their
f, profession to the American and European
| countries, and states that. had the Japa-
nese Commissioners granted their wish to
remain a short time longer in the country
the geishas would AVE been willing to
return to their country, ever dear and
sweet"
Miss Toma Uyeki IS the girl who fought
the deputies and police when they took
her away.
The letter was placed in the hands of
Mr.. Nakagawa as the girls were being
taken into the cars. Thursday night, at
the Wabash station, through the courtesy
Of n OF the immigration Inspectors. the
girls were permitted TO say farewell to
their friends at the depot
Miss Uyeki seized the opportunity of slip
ping the letter into Mr.. N~akagawa's
hands. He had it translated yesterday fer
Tho Republic, to which it was addressed.
1t is the first statement made by one Of
the girls, giving their side of the in
teresting struggle to force the deportation
Of tie geishas.
It contains the announcement that two
Americans. in order to make the girls dis
trustful of Mr.. N~akagawa- their au-
thorized manager. stated that it was pro-
posed to place them in a disorderly house
In Chicago. The suggestion augered the
fair Prisoners. and caused several of them
to express their desire to return home.
The sccl-ce of the information was traced
and fouI.d to be ~untruthful, the letter
states.
HER LETTER TRANSLATED.
The letter, translated almost literally,
follows:
To the Editor OF Tho Republic
Permit me to appeal to the public
through your valuable and reputed paper,
as we never can bear the present state
without being heard. an appeal to the
public through this medium might be un-
derstood regarding some of the false and
base statements on the part of those in
terested in our deportation, in regard to
our profession and purposes in this coun-
try . usu rna.-,,.
ters, our profession ia simply ~geishas,
meaning professional actresses.
We have been performing at Fair
Japan all summer with @ view of intro
ducing our profession to American and
European audiences. Unfortunately our
representative and manager. Mr.. Naka-
sawa. who has been about to contract
for our performances In other places. has
been unsuccessful at Fair Japan The
Japanese Comm. sstoner thereupon issued
a demand Of return to us within an hour
on the morning OF October 8.
Had only the Commissioner permitted
our wish to remain in this country but a
short time, we would have been perfectly
willing TO return to our homes.
But we were threatened with arrest,
and there WIS only one way to resist such
aggressive and ~unreasoning demands on
US, who had been guilty of no wrong. We
had a clear right to enjoy our liberty and
freedom as lonE as We had been peaceful
and not guilty. Of evil. We declared our
right to remain in this country st our
own pleasure.
Strangely enough. we were handed over