Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-14
man creature was sinking down into
the darkness of oblivion.

man creature was sinking down into
the darkness Of oblivion.
Here Abide Living Dead
A knock at the gate brought no re-
sponse, for it was the city of the dead.
A loud call and more knocking only
served to send a swarm of green flies
buzzing and droning from their bask-
ing places.
The visitors hesitated no longer but
pushed open the gate and walked in.
The yard might be said to be clean.
A stack of kindling, cut from cast-off
barrel slaves and broken boxes was
piled on one side of the yard. Va
rious odds and ends and an unhealthy
odor filled up the other voids in yard
and air and the place looked as though
no one had been there for some time.
No dog barked a welcome; no cat, the
common friend of the lonesome celes-
tial, stretched itself lazily in the sun;
no duck or goose waddled about in the
shade. The place was dead, just as
dead as though hundreds of miles
away from nowhere.
Some have called the place the Chi
nese hospital, but that is incorrect; it
| is no hospital When &C celestial is
stricken his friends examine him and
! If he has chance he is sent to the
county hospital generally to spend the
remainder of his life there, for pa
ralySlS is the common disease of the
yellow man. "
When lnsidious Flower Kills
But when the grip of the poppy
poison had sucked the last drop of
healthy blood from the veins of its
victim when the bony hands grasp in
vain weakness to lift the guttering pipe
once more to the thin, purple lips and
fail, then 1t is that the bones of the
death devil rattle horribly behind the
furniture and the victim, be he brother,
! father, cousin or friend is dragged off
to die in the city of the dead.
1t is an old tradition and superstition
among the yellow men that if man
dies in a house that house is accursed.
/ Instances have been known even in Los
Angeles where a dying celestial has
been dragged from store or dwelling
! by his heels to the gutter to die there
in peace and save the house from the
4 presence of devils.
! These are the poor emaciated crea-
i lures carried in the darkness Of night
from the opium 'tiensto the death house.
Many enter there, but none ever leHve
except in coarse pine box.
Chinese own the place, but some of
\ the owners say they have never seen
inside the shack. All the inmates, and
! there are now seven. are stricken with
| incurable diseases of the most horrible
nature, and it is rare that any one is
seen within 100 yards of the place.
Death Hovers DER Portal
| Yesterday as the visitors entered the
yard an old man turned from a scrap
heap of cast off clothing and looked at
them with expressionless gaze, then
| turned back to his work. He was
| clothed in dirty overalls which scarcely
covered his nakedness, his hair, gray
/ -. - IL
| he had not the energy to push it from
his eyes. Sores dark purple splotches
| from head to foot, told of some dread
oriental malady which was sucking the
| life from his veins.
The old man had to be coaxed to show
the visitors about. He waved to them
that they might enter, but he was
| loath to move, and finally did so only
| with great pain and effort. They do
not fear thieves in that city of the
dead, for human souls, seven in num-
ber are all that are left, and they are
guarded jealousy by the angel of
Death.
A step over tiny threshold gave full
view to the utter depths of filth and
degradation of the death house. There
were four dirty hunks stretched around
the walls of the main room; four hard
wooden hunks covered with bedding so
SlIOOlH Will ages VI SIcdSC eillu ulIt dS
to resemble polished leather. The odor
was sickening. and the visitors started
back in horror at the four bundles of
bedding lying on those couches.
call failed to bring response, and
one visitor stepped forward and drew
back the covering. The sight was hor-
rible Clad in filthy shirt, a celestial
occupied the bed. His skin was so
tightly drawn over his f1eshless bones
that 1t seemed about to burst. His yell
low skull, hairless and polished from
constant contact with the greasy cover
ing, turned in listless movement and
colorless eyes gazed upward. 1t was
the poppy death, and a low cultural
moan came from the man, and the
over his head.
Opium Claims Victims
The attendant suffered out that the
man had once been a messenger of
fate, highbinder, with great influence.
But the wooing of the white lady had
broken him. The streams of soft white
vapor from the poppy pipe had claimed
him, and with fast dimming eyes he
awaited his call to the land Of his fore
fathers.
The next victim was in the last stages
OF consumption. His mind raved and
he croaked out an uncanny snatch of
chant that fairly chilled the blood.
Three others were dying of poppy
poison. Two were on a little elevation
in rear room of the shack, dying in
Continued on Page Two.)
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