Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-05
A RESOURCEPUL CHINEE

himseif to the accomplishment OF any task,
no matter how difiicult. he is as resourcefuI
and as doggedly determined as any man
In the world" observed George r. Cullen,
the United States immigration Inspector at
Cleveland. who Is In Washington on a few
days leave.
81 was prepared. until a couple of days
ago. to hear of a dismal tragedy in connec-
ton with the Chinese interpreter attached
to my offics In Cleveland. a bright young
celestial named Ii Him Quay. but Ii Quay
Is all right. and he did a whole lot toward
rolling the clouds away himself.
Id Quay left Cleveland April IA for San
Francisco to get married. He had never
seen his bride-to-be, who had been picked
out for him by his godmother. Miss Cam
eron or the Sacramento street Chinese mis-
sion in San Francisco. This selecting Of
the bride by the godmother was In accord
ance with an ancient Chinese custom. Ii
quay had seen the young woman's photo
graph. however. and had been In corre-
spoDdence with her for many months. Her
name was Miss Dorothy Chen, and she
had been brought up at the Chinese mis-
sion In San Francisco. She was eighteen
years old at the time Ii Quay got into
correspondence with her and appeared to
be an unusually pretty Chinese maiden.
The marriage was all fixed. the waiting
bride in San Francisco had gotten her lit
tie trousseau together. Ii Quay had fitted
up little home in Cleveland and, l.
say, he started for San Francisco Satur-
day April IA. In addition to claiming his
bride in San Francisco he had a couple
of other errands to perform. One OF them
was for me. He volunteered to carry to
some relatives of mine in San Francisco
suit case packed with little gifts, some
OF them of q breakable kind. that l was
DESTROYS Of having reach them In good
shape. The other errand was to fetch east
the wife and three children of Charlie
Way the Chinese interpreter OF the immi-
grafton Office at Toledo.
well, when the earthquake happened 1t
wasn't difficult for me to figure out that
Ii Quay had been Just about due to ar
rive In San Francisco at the time the hor-
ror was going on. l felt keenly for the
young Chinaman. He had started away in
such happy spirit and it was depressing
to think Of the tragedy in which 1t seemed
he must be involved 1t looked to me
about even thing that he had lost his
life In the cataclysm, especially when l
read Of the total destruction of Chinatown.
Then 1t was more than possible, according
to my way of figuring 1t, that his little
Chinese bride had lost out, too, In the
disaster, seeing that the Sacramento street
mission was not only located where the
gratest damage was done by the earth
quake but was in the heart OF the district
that was most quickly swept by the sue
communication with Ii Quay, although l
had little hope that his life had been
spared. OF course. 1 got no reply to my
telegraphic inquiries on account OF the ciut-
tered state Of the wires.
you may picture my surprise and pleas
ure when Ii Him Quay, accompanied py
his pretty, sedate little bride and the Wlle
and three children of Charlie Way turned
UP safe and sound In Cleveland sunday
last. Ia Quay had accomplished every end
of his mission to the Pacific coast in the
teeth of the most heartrending difficulties,
and he had done 1t In hustling, daring and
~~l4 am
plate although the modest Chinaman
wasn't in the least boastful of his achieve
ment and contented himself with bare
outline of the facts.
''IA Quay had arrived at Oakland about
four hours after the earthquake, or some
where in the neighborhood Of 8 O'Clock on
that terrible morning. He tried desperate
ly to get over the bay to San Francisco,
but there was, of course, nothing doing in
that line especially for Cinnamon. and be
waited around in Oakland until O'Clock
In the afternoon before he saw a chance
to get aboard a steam launch that was at
tempting to make a landing in San Fran
cisco at some place unguarded by the SOL
diers.
''Hc reached San Francisco all right. and
spent the remainder OF the evening and
night lodging the fire and in keeping out
of the way of the soldiers, for the bullets
We're flying pretty thick that night, and
Ii Quay knew that Cinnamon weren't
clothed with any especial immunity on the
nre-SWept streets OF san FRANCISCO on SuCQ
a frightful occasion as that was. Ii Quay
carried with him from Oakland the suit
case which 1 had charged him to deliver
to those relatives of mine In San Francisco.
The mere fact that he carried that bag
of trinkets of mine at such a time shows
how loyal and trustworthy the educa ted
Chinaman can be.
''On the following day, thirsty and unfed,
Ii Quay set out through the stricken and
still fiercely burning city to accomplish the
things he had left Cleveland to accomplish
He wound his labyrinthine way through all
of the camps in search of his little Chinese
fiancee, but with no luck at all on that first
day. Many times he was halted by the SOL
diers who suspected him of being a looter
because he carried that suit case of mine
and he had some narrow shayes from being
shot, but every time he managed to convince
the soldiers that he was all right, the badge
of the immigration bureau that he carried
helping him out in some of these encounters
with the troops.
ION the second day Of his search he
found Miss Cameron, the head of the Chi
Miss Cameron quickly conducted him to
Miss Dorothy Chen. the little woman he
was still fearing he would never see in
the flesh Miss Cameron and her charges
were suffering from hunger and thirst, and
Ii Quay got a hot American hustle on
him and fixed them out with provisions
and water. Then, having located his bride
and visited with her for a few hours IN
under such terrifying circumstances, he
set out to find my relatives in order to
deliver the suit case to them. He had
never seen them. but he had seen photo
graphs of them my desk In Cleveland
and knew their names. Late that same
night, at the very last camp he visited he
found them. after trudgIng many miles
in the quest. He handed over the suit
case, took their messages for delivery to
me and thus wound UP that end of his err
rand.
ION the following morning, after stalk
ing Miss Cameron and his bride-to-be to
some more provisions and water he went
in search of the wife and three children
of Charlie Way. with little idea whether
they were dead or alive He found 'em all
before noon that day. He had lot of luck
of course, but he found them all the same,
and that was considerable of an achieve
ment when 1t Is recalled that there were
something like 1900 Chinese men. women
and children huddled together in all of the
parks and other camping places of San
Francisco at the time. Ii Quay rounded
up the wife and children of Charlie Way
and took them to the camp where his
bride-to-be and Miss Cameron were In
stalled, where he fed them and rugged
them out with such clothes as he could
find for their journey.
ION the following morning Ii Quay and
Dorothy Chen were hastily but firmly
married, and. with the wife and children
of Charlie Way, started for Oakland.
They had a hard time getting across be-
cause folks wernt being permitted To leava