The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-12-16
HORROR HOLE ON
MANCHURIA FOUND
Fifteen Chinese Men and Women
StoWaWayS Are Sufferers
Investigation.

| SAN FRANCISCO, December T.
| From the lips of the seven Chinese
| girls who were caught Sunday night,
after being Struggled from the steam
| ship Manchuria, Assistant Commissioner
of immigration Harry Edsell yesterday
heard a tale of horror which, he says,
I shows the inner workings of a plot more
despicable than any similar crime he
has had occasion to investigate during
| his work with the service
Talking directly to the little Chinese
| girls in their own language, Edsell was
] able to secure from them a complete
story of the smuggling plot so far as
their knowledge goes. While he has not
yet examined any of the eight Chinese
men taken at the same time as the
girls, he has already much information
| concerning the workings of the SNUG
Cling ring, and information that is be-
| ing carefully guarded by the immigra
| ton officers
| to land fifteen Chinese-seven women
| and eight men-at the China basin late
Sunday night, a series of investigations
| have been started that federal officials
| declare will serve to probe to the bot
tom the existence of an organized SNUG
| Cling ring. That employees of the Gus
toms service will be involved in the
scandal before the Investigations are
completed is the belief freely expressed
| by officials in the customs service yes
terday.
| Prisoners During Voyage.
Huddled together in room aboard
the Manchuria, fourteen feet square and
with a low ceiling, the seven girls and
eight men made the trip across the
| Pacific Ocean from Hongkong. For
twenty-five days they remained within
those four walls, sleeping upon the
| floor or upon coils of rope in the little
compartment. No one on board the ship
appeared inside the room during that
time. The door was locked and there
was no means of exit. Fearful of being
caught, the stowaways made no cutlery
| Inside the room, when they entered.
was supply Of water, cold tea, crack
ers and dried fruit. Upon that fare
the fifteen subsisted until they reached
| San Francisco.
! When the stOwaways were taken into
the little room on board the great liner,
they found besides the little supply of
food and drink, male attire for the
women and an extra supply of clothing
While the gay crowds aboard the Pa
cific Mail liner made merry upon the
| decks of the big vessel during those
| twenty-five days, the fifteen Chinese
were spending days and nights of
horror in that foul hole below Little
did NicePresident and General Mana
| ger r 2 Schwerin of the steamship com
pany, who was a passenger on the yes
sci realize the plight of the fifteen
whose names failed to appear on the
passenger list.
Tell of Their Hardships.
Their confidence won over by the man
to whom they could talk in their own
| language, the Chinese girls told Assist
ant Commissioner of immigration Harry
Edsell yesterday the details of that trip.
: They told of having to sleep upon the
! hard floor of the steamship upon coils
of rope, being unable even to wash
| their hands or faces because every drop
| Of the water that had been furnished
must be saved for drinking purposes.
They told of the last few days of the
| trip, when the room was reeking with
filth; how they huddled together in a
corner, possibly a bit cleaner than the
others, and wished that the boat would
sink and thus end their misery.
The Chinese girls questioned at An
gel Island yesterday range in age from
IA to 20 years. They are orphans and
were picked up in Hongkong by an
agent of the smuggling ring That the
|agent is a white man is generally be
llieved, but the immigration officials re-
fuse to say whether he is a white man
or a Chinese.
Some of the girls We're told glowing
! tales of life in America, where rich hus-
bands were awaiting them, in a land of
freedom where there would be only
happiness for them. Their expenses
were prepaid. They were merely to meet
and marry wealthy man of their race
amply able to provide them with the
good things of life
When the Manchura arrived at San
Francisco the fifteen half-starved and
sick stowaways awaited their deliver.
ance from the wretched hole
All the girls know is that men came
ind opened the door Of their prison
Some of the girls and some of the men
hwere lowered over the side of the shiI
into a rowboat. The girls were tied to
the end of the rope securely and lei
down.
4 Those who went into the other boat
were taken through an open port hole
and handed down into a boat.
Must Not Discuss Affair.
Until the Investigation hv tha sur-