St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-07-10
"CHRISTIANZING' The
YELLOW DEVIL.
4 MIsslen Worksr Of Experience Tells Of
Pitfalls and Misery Of Chinatown, where
WHITE WOMEN ARE VICTIMS.
Eured Tato Gimp suey Restaurants, and In.
duGsd to Sm3ks Opium, and Thus Be-
comes Slaves 10 willy Cinnamon.

New York July 5-Mrs. Mary Alber-
ton who. for the pats seven years,
has been a mission worker in China
town, said today:
There are only about twelve Chinese
women in Chinatown. Ordinarily
there are about 300 or 400 white
women here. In the seven weeks
that Captain Calvin has been in
charge of this precinct, he has done
more to clear it out and clean it up
than has been done in all of the seven
years that | have been here. Never
were there SO few girls in Chinatown
as now. But no one knows how
many there are, for when a girl once
comes here, she generally just ceases
to exist for the remainder Of the
world. She drops out Of sight.
There are women here who have
not been outside of their own doors
for years-who will never go out
again until they are carried in their
collins. They hit the pipe and spend
their days in a semi-conscious state,
drunk on opium, too languid to move
or even to think, with no desire left
in them but the ~ceaseless craving for.
opium, and more opium. Almost
all Of these women, strange as it
seems, are from the better grades Of
society. Many are very well educa-
ted, and several that ] know are
graduates Of Vasser and Wellesley
and several of them were convent
bred.
THE lives these women lead are
the strangest in the world. They
literally live on opium. They eat
scarcely anything, because opium dulls
the appetite, and SO they mostly sub
sist on fruit and coffee. They do
not visit. They do not shop. They
do not attempt to amuse themselves
in any way. Everything is swallowed
up by the pipe. If they have remorse
of conscience, if they have shame for
the present, if they have fear for the
future, it is all lost in the fumes that
deaden every sence and leaves them
inert Jumps of flesh mindless, purpose
less, lolling against their silken cush-
ions, scarcely clothed at all, a prey
to their Chinese masters.
SUnder this FIRE q Woman's youth
and beauty withers like a flower in
the hot simeon. Ten years at most
is the span Of a woman's life down
here. Then she disappears.
How do the girls happen TO come
here? For many reasons. For one
thing it is the end of the toboggan
slide. Chinatown is the terminal
station of q wasted life. There is
no depth beyond it. The dereIicts
of fate floats in here, outcast from
everywhere else.
Many women come here, allured
by the luxurious surroundings and
the fine clothes and the easy money
Others come here to conceal their
shame-girls who have made a false
step and in their frenzy of despera.
tion they want to hide where there Is
no possibility Of their ever being
found again.
The chop suey restaurants are re.
sponsible for bringing many more
i young women, who come out of mere
curiosity to see what Chinatown was
like, and who get fascinated with til
life. Girls get into the way of com.
ing to a restaurant, they get init
conversation with q Chinaman, per.
) haps be makes them a few presents
and they accept his invitation to sec
an opium joint. They try the pipe
They marvel at the smell of the burn,
. ing opium that is the most delicious
; perfume on earth, and before they
; know it, they have the habit. The
remainder follows as inevitably al
: the night the day.
, "0r perhaps an American brings
girl down into Chinatown on a lark
She is taken to an opium joint, anc
out of sheer daredeyiItry tries The
: pipe. It is always the pipe. She il
! not used to it, and she drifts off OF
rosy dreams and into Inconsistencies
) and when she wakes the American is
3 gone and a yellow face is bending
) over her and a Chinese voice is tell.
Ring her how beautiful she is, and thai
s - $500 &# mi =& IT, 80 No.