Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-28
ENGLISH SECRET SERVICE
MAN TELLS EXPERIENCE
Plot Of Crafty Chinese Frustrated by
officer Who Scented His Game
and Trailed Him TO His Haunts
From = Sense Of Duty

three hours in Los Angeles was the
self-imposed task of an Engfishman
now visiting here who has had much
experience in the orient as soldier,
pirate chaser and navigator.
His story in his own words puts new
phases on the art of shadowing and
is as follows:
When going out recently for my
evening stroll 1 passed the bulletin
board of The Herald, and glancng over
It's contents read some of the ex-
posure of the horrors of the crib dis
trict, for the publication of which The
Herald is deserving of great credit.
"As / continued my walk on my way
home, pondering on the iniquties Of
the oriental when located amongst
Caucasian and other peoples, which
some twenty years of travel in
China-many spent in hunting down
the worst and most dangerous Grim
irals pirates and smugglers-madem me
only too we'll aware of, my glance fell
on a tall, gaunt Chinaman standing
in the porch of the Lyric theater, near
the corner of Third and Main streets.
From force of old habit and his
unusual appearance to me. / rapidly
made mental summary of him.
Mental Summary
ITO others he probably appeared moth
Chinaman, for all his clothing was new
and of better quality than that mostly
worn by the celestials in and about
town. To me he was much more, for
that subtle. indefinable instinct which
one acquires through intense and pro-
longed study of any subject enabled me
to summarize him as follows:
"a man of the most crafty and dan
gerous Chinese criminal class, and n
leader amongst them; one who lives
by gambling, theft. anything but work,
and hesitateS at no crime; a stranger
In this city, recent arrival evidently
highbinder from San Francisco, who
has by recent events been pressed 70
seek a new field of operations; such
operations have been profitable as
witness suit of new attire, from hat
to boots evidently has an appointment,
for he carefully consults his watch and
glances up and down the street.
The somebody Is foolish child or
young female, for neither white man
nor Chnaman would make appointment
to meet him there and at that time.
This and much more flashed in a sec
ond or two, as thought will flash,
through my mind.
Decides to Pursue
Passing on and pondering again,
with changed current of thought, re-
sulting from above incident, some
what this wise: Some poor victim
of that villain is going to be trapped
tonight; l should like, before dawn, TO
place him where I have placed so many
of his kind, in safety till the execution
| ers sword severed his head from mis-
evil body. Who would believe me were
l to tell them who and what he is?
Il would only be laughed at for my
| pains; il | save his victim tonight he
NnTf nraIN fsNa1
| for his trap, or another victim; the
! fools here who do not know the oriental
and his ways, especially those of the
| criminal sort, cannot be helped if they
| will not help themselves | Will go
home and sleep and try to forget this;
| tomorrow's engagement will drive 1t
! from my mind, and may God protect
the innocent ones whom this and other
scroundels prey upon. The Herald is
| doing good work-a day or two later
| the crib district was closed. However,
| my mind troubled me and | turned
back, now resolved to spoil the high
binders game for that night at least.
| Walking up to the Chinaman, whom
1 had now decided to shadow in such
manner that he would know 1 was
| on his trail and that | might waste ss
| little time on him as possible, 1 asked
! him in Chinese what he wanted there.
GCkS curry SUSWcT
This was to let him know that he
| was dealing with a white man at least
| Slightly cognizant with Chinese ways,
and elected, as 1 knew it would, a surly
reply in English that he did not savee.
| "Still desiring to waste as little time
as possible, / told him in English this
time that 1 knew too much about the
Chinese and their ways for the good
of his scheme and that / would keep
| my eye on him.
| II then walked on a few PAGES and
set to work at shadowing him in such
manner that he might see he was
watched and make off to his haunts.
where / proposed to leave him, as
knew full well l could not literally
| run him to earth.
| Where his final resort would be to
slip into a den giving the signal for
closing and barring the door, and &:
which signal all in the house would be
on the alert; were it possible and legal
| for me to burst in the door he would
| then be in a room with the door locked,
where the loose planks of a nova BILE
floor would be raised secret trap
door lifted, enabling him to enter q
cellar from which "a secret door would
lead to a passage giving exit in another
house by similar arrangement of
| doors and floors, his retreat being COW
cred by the closing of trapdoors and
replacing of floor by his confederate
| who would receive his pursuer in. the
blandest of manner If 1t had not been
decided to trap me and eXterminate me.
However, to return to the man whom
1 had decided to shadow to his haunt
some den of vice, and then leave him.
Not Easily Diverted
"The Chnaman. ignoring me and
still earnestly consulting his watch
and glancing up and down the street,
walked out to the edge of the curb,
glancing/ at the people alight-
ing from the electric cars.
Evidently he was not going to be
readily diverted from his purpose. and
had something of special Importance
to attend to- some crib was urgently
in want of new inmate, or a wealthy
Chinaman had given an order to be
filled.
Determined to get him started off
walked up and stood beside him,
looking him fair in the eyes. Unwilling
ly he moved off toward First street
and | followed at a little distance,
thinking what a nuisance il alT was