The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1906-05-04
DARK SECRETS
OF Chinatown Revealed by the
Late Earthquake
WAS HOME OF CRIME.
The Place Was FurroYsd With Numbers
Of Underground Tunnels. Which Had
Been Seen by Pew White Men.
Many Prisoners We're
Held or Murdered.

Not until the earthquake shook the
rickety houses to tho earth to be de
stroyed by fire did the authorities OF
San Francisco realize what manner of
place was the much. advertised China
town, the mecca Of all tourists in Cal.
ifornia, the spot In which 25 900 Chi.
nese lived like 80 many prairie dogs,
s?ys the New York Herald.
When the high winds which came
after the fire blew the ashes away, the
yawning mouths Of tunnels which the
police had long suspected, were re-
veaed. Entrances to, these passage @
was so carefully hidden that only the
leaders of the tongs, who used the
lamp dungeons for places Of meeting
or to plot the death Of 3 victim-tha
same room often acting as the execu-
ION dungeon once the market man
was taken below the level of the
street et-knew.
One Ct San FtancIsco's alert detec-
tives, said to be the best posted man
on Chinatown, stood at the corner of
BARTLETT alley and declared:
FJr years l have been trying to
reacn the tunnels, which / knew to
exist under this Chinese city. What
goes on down there one can only con
lecture, but it iS q thousand times
verse than the sins and vices which are
pract ced by these Mongolians in the
streets and gambling houses you can
see from Il ia corner. Girls In the bloom
Of youth are smuggled over the Cana
dian border, brou {ht here in the night,
and confined In dungeons, perhaps
never to lock upon the light Of the sun
again, although they may live for
years"
Very few white men have visited the
| underground passages, certainly none
OF San Franciscos police force, for
every man In the department. was wat
ched when he entered Chinatown and
the sueyeillancstdld not cease while
he remained there. Secretary Tsing,
prominent member Of the Chinese
aristocraoy, stationed for political rea-
sons in the Chinese legation at the
capital OF Peru, was a member In high
standing In q society Of considerable
political influence In China, with
powerful branch In San Francisco.
He took two white men to tho theatre
n Chinatown and boastfully declared
| that the real sc cret of Chinatown had
never heen revealed. He conducted
the men to tire rear Of the stage, slid
secret door back, and motiOned for
the men to follow him.
For one hour, STOPPING until their
backs we're strained, the men silently
followed guide, to look upon CT M.
plete new Chinatown, the tunnel lead.
ing past scores Of doors to dungeons,
against the lars Of which some unfor
tunates pressed their faces, to jump
oack from the ilare OF q 6Ickering
mir ei's light which Using carried.
U lder tnls q line 10 city were huna
dreds OF WON ,n aud c1,ldred. Tlelr
voic>s mtlkl,d in gll1 refrain or
echoed the gloomy murmers Of some
who were suffering. Huddled In group
about small fire, made from balls Of
coal dust which Oainese prepare, we're
merchants who had returned from
their shops on the street lie vel to these
holes In the wall to plot and invent
The oder OF opium was nauseating.
The revulsion OF feeling was overpow-
erlng. When the street was reached
after climbing flight Of stairs to the
Kitchen Of the chop ausy Joint" the
breath Of foul air even in this hole
was refreshing.
| Hundreds OF men went to their
deaths each year Ia Chinatown with
out an iDkllng Of the tragedies being
known to the police. 1t was easy to
bury the dead under the tunnels, 100
feet deep In Chinatown. Members OF
tongs marked for death left friends
behind, men who refused to complain
. the local authorities, but who, in
stead sought revenge themselves In
he same tiendish manner that death
had been meted out to their fellow
mem bers.
Il r years battle waged. Scores and
, scores were killed, even In the streets
. until the citizens OF San Francisco
r threatened to organize vigilance
committee a. wipe Chinatown from
q the face OF Frisco. This had It's of
: feet The war was carried below the
: streets, where dying men coul6
o scream In agony and not bo heard
s The slave trallic has enriched many
t Chinese, suave merchants who led
. simple lives above the street, but who
retired TO the subterranean passages
and their slave marts to put upon the
block the newest arrivals from thu
II slave market in Canton.
'' Gambling has always existed there
The gamblers c)np posed the bad ele
:, ment. They fought for one another
u gold, committed murder to obtail
10 means with which to enter games o
$ fantan and other Chinese devices 0
20 chance, and slept away their dayligh
~ hours In q bunk somewhere down be
~ low the street, ateepad In the lume
o Of opium, q sordid mass Of human
e ity until nature awoke the brain +
= life.
There never will be such China
town In San Francisco again. Thes
10 people will be sent TO distrlct "a
from the heart OF the new city, wher
Ia they will be under such close Burvei
os lance that practices Of the past wi
y be stopped when they begin. Pr0vi
n ion will be made to suppress the tons
TX for all time, IL this can be accomplish
m ed.
IN No one will ever know how man
G. lives we're lost In Chinatown. 1t Ia
jy moral certainty that men overcom
q, with opium, the slave women In the
dungeons and many helpless wrett