Willmar tribune., 1909-10-20

A MOTHER civilization, g2EBed
~ BY other moral standards,
restrained, or unrestr4tned.
of other laws and codes, has
4 u for many years existed In
New York under the eyes
and noses Of that city's people and
their o1defals. In this sphere men and
women have moved like the ffotsam
N an eddy, against the stream OF the
world without. The secret rules Of
the order provided the only known es-
cape from the arm Of tie nations
law; they made men secure. in the
commissions ot atrocities and veiled
the existence Of q set Of moral condi-
tlons almost beyond comprehension;
certainly past momentary tolerance.
Over the whole was hectic f,ia-
ment of romance and morbid; interest
which appeared to the chance, passer
o: the sightseer to, make the place a
curiously fascinating corner trans.
planted from another worldi-far too
original and; allhrinE to- be: removed.
They called it Chinatown: 1t is* nu
place; 1t is mo- street in: particular,
though it has it's center and its: boun'
dar1es. It is rather Z: degenerate state
Of the senses.
New Workers know of; it,. of. course;
In dim sort Of way; Now and then
there was brawl, a. killing. Of some
Oriental or an opium dem raid. These
were matters of course: No. one, gave
them more than passing: attention.
To-day, however, New York knows
Chinatown in its true perspective. The
Elsie Sigel murder was: the first. rift
IN the cloud that obscured4 the fact,
Now the mist itself is dissipated. New
York knows that Chinatown-the
spirit. not the place-is one of its
cruel. almost unthinkable problems.
The latest outrage in Chinatown
place that brews outrages faster than
. quagmtre matches mosquttoes-isthe
abduction Of pretty mill girl OF
Weehawken and her imprisonment in
. Chinese den. where she was sub
jected to horrifying cruelties.
This most recent unfortunate ID
Christina Braun. Is years old, blue
eyed and inclined to be just a little
wild" Christmas case differs from
that Of hundreds Of other girls who
have fallen victim to the lures Of Chi
natown only in the fact that she had
the good fortune to escape before she
became slave to opium-the su
preme evil Of this most vicious; hole IL
all the vast metropolis:
The girl went to Coney island with
some friends on Sunday: She, lost
her companions in the crowd, and
finally, after wandering, about for q
time. went into a chop suey "joint"' tc
get bite to eat. There she wa,
drugged, and the next thing: she re
members she was, being, carried
through the labyrinthal hallway to q
Chinatown den.
The girl fought desperately to, eet
away from two Chinese, who. were
dragging her along the floor of the
dark hall. but she was beaten. into, in
sensibility. When she next recov
cred consciousness, she was In O. dim
ly lighted room and a, hideous; China
man was leaning over her; leering intn
her face.
Again the girl screamed and tough,
to get out Of the, place, but was
knocked senseless. Between baatinsx
she was, made to- understand that she
was the slave of her captor and tina.
the best thing she could do, would be
to remain quiet. But devious, dark and
dirty as Chtntomn is, news will trave
THERE and the girl had not been in th<
den mere than "a hours before &
'lobbygoW'- Chfnaman who acts 4.
stool pigeon and informer for tie DO
lbee-told two Mulberry street detee
tfves that there WAS white girl mi,
ooer somewhere in the colony.
The men set watch and, after ,
time, succeeded in starving out apd
capturing Joe Wong, an Americanf1ei
Chinese gambler. The girl was founi
in Wong's room. her face so bruiset
that her friends had difficulty in rec
ognizing her when they visited her q,
the headquarters Of the Gerry society
Wong was locked up in the Tombs