Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1907-08-15
Imported From China to This Coun-
try by Scores for
IMMORAL PURPOSES,
san Francisco to Fight Sin That Is
Her Greatest Curse-Mere Chill.
dren Imprisoned i'm Low Oriental
Dives to Die of Brutal Treatment
Interpreters and Some Lawyers I'm
League With Smupplers

interpreters and Some Lawyers In
League With Smugglers.
| one or the most terrible curses
that ever blighted city is the slave
trafic among the Chinese of Sam
| francisco and other ports of the pa.
cihc coast. Helpless young Chinese
girls, ignorant of the ways of the
world and unable to speak any other
language save the dialects of the in
terror or China, are brought to this
country through the unscroupulous
agencies which deal in human flesh
san francisco is the center of these
evil operations for the West. and 81
Louis for the East. Chinese girls are
being smuggled into this country Inv
the hundreds and, after they get here
are thrown into vile dens where they
are subjected to the most brutal and
degrading treatment on the part of
their masters and the other Chinese
and low whites who frequent the
dives.
A duel In the street of Chinatown.
recently following the attempted as
sassinatfon of a slave importer by a
slave agent who demanded money
due him for bringing a fresh victim
to this country, revealed anew to the
authorities the horrows of the prac-
tice and the extent to which it has
expanded. The whole system is a
network of exil practices, wheels
within wheels, by means of which the
girls when once caught have little or
no hope OF escape. When existence
in their tiny cells in the low Chinese
dives becomes too unbearable, they
take their own lives. Sometimes they
manage to escape by the aid of
friends who appeal to the missionar-
les, who are working night and day
to save them and who are doing won
derful work against such discourag-
ing odds.
Chinese slave importers of San
francisco employ many agents who
are sent to the old country to get the
girls, picked out before hand by other
agents working constantly on the 9th.
| er side. When an agent goes to get a
girl he tells her parents that he wants
her for his wife. According to the
Chinese custom he pays a generous
sum for her and she is his. The girl
| may be anywhere from the age of ! 8
to 20 years, the younger the better
as the Chinese think a woman aged
when she has gone beyond her TWEEN
tieth year. The innocent little girl is
taken by her husband" on board
| ship where she travels as first class
passenger. He buys her costly clothes
and jewels and the poses as au
American born Chinese who has be-
come prosperous in this country, and
who is bringing a bride from his
| fathers country. This he may dc
under the immigration laws.
He is provided with marriage pa
pers, which by the way, wore made
out for him by unscroupulous Ameri
can lawyers in league with the slave
dealers. The little girl never suspects
that she is geing victimiZed and does
| Just as her husband coaches her tC
do. The immigration officer coLverses
with her through a Chinese interpret
er, usually in league with the slave
dealers. If the girl does suspect any
| thing, the agent makes 1t worth the
interpreters while to misconstrue hel
words. Once she is safely past thi:
barrier she Is as good as doomed, fol
rarely is she rescued on her way tC
| the den.
| She is taken to a house in the foul
| est of the Chinese quarters OF Sar
| Francisco and placed in tiny room
| alone. If she submits quietly to {
| life of shame 1t Is not likely that he
master will beat her. If she not no
she is cruelty mistreated until he
spirit Is broken. Then she will eithe
do one or two things. She will go OF
living in the little room with one breatl
of fresh air a week. submitting her
self to her masters wishes, or sh'
will end her life. II she follows th'
first she eventually becomes thin ant
pale, her beauty fades, and she Il
thrown aside to become a servant TO
the next slave