Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-09-04
Rv GEORGE MARSH

Butte is the melting pot Of the
west. Every nationality of Europe
and most Of the races of Asia are
represented In this mining metrop-
oils and its suburbs OF Silver Bow
county's Sc, 1853 inhabitants In the
census OF 1880, 1882 persons were
of foreign birth or foreign parent
age. From the peat boys of Ireland
the rice fields of China, the fac
tory towns Of the English midlands,
the snowy plains OF Finland, and
the sun-drenched shores of Italy,
they came 20 Butte via the boom
camps Of Nevada, Arizona and Cal
ifOrnia. They made Butte unique
among American cities.
Perhaps the most interesting racial
group is the Chinese. Since gold rush
days, they have contributed a note OF
color and the exotic to Butte'S daily
life. The Chinese were numerous in the
first two decades Of Butte's history
lust how numerous there are no au-
thentic figures to indicate, but early
newspaper accounts prove the preva-
Ience Of OrientalS. Thus in the Butte
Miner Of Nov. 5. 1881:
Eight sons Of the Flowery Kingdom
came over this morning from the Silver
Bow junction in the transfer wagon.
They were from California and came
current Immigration The chinese
came to Butte to work as woodchoppers,
cutting timbers for the mines; as laun-
drymen; and to wash the sands of the
mountain streams for gold.
News stories of the period show that
Butte Chinese anticipated ''racketeer-
ing" long before Al Capone; that
hatchet men and bartered brides were
not unknown in Butte's Chinatown. The
Butte Miner on Christmas, 1881, re-
ports:
"Ah Sing in municipal court said he
had been forced to pay $500 for the
privilege of opening laundry in Wal
kerville" Later the paper told OF the
blackmailing of Butte Chinese by the
powerful six Companies Of San Fran
cisco. THE following notice, posted on
several buildings in Chinatown, was
translated in municipal court: The
sign of the firm is Lun Han Tong. I
Three men in Walkerville keep wash !
house against the law, and the man
that goes and kills those three will be |
paid a reward Of $500, and you got
to kill them before you get the money /
Kim Lum, the Chinese lawyer, was put /
on the stand and testified under oath I
that the translation given was correct. I
Whether it is or not no one can tell. /
The mysterious document may be even
more diabolical than it looks"
China Contributed Story
Chinatown contributed another story
to the Butte Miner that winter. On
Nov. 4, Butte residents read under the
headline, "Bathed in Her Gore, Bloody
Tragedy in Chinatown" the following
story:
AT twenty minutes to 3, o'clock yes
terday afternoon a bleeding Chinese
rushed into the police court,
on either side by fellow
and after a five minutes
,orrent Of gibberish, gave the court to
understand that she had been chopped :
n the back with Ratchet by one Gong !
Sing, her former owner.
Gong Sing had sold her for 81 200 I
10 another Acknowledged Celestial, and {
instead of delivering the goods demand I
d more money. When this was refused, {
lie seized a Ratchet, and as the fair
You Kim sat in front of him, chopped {
Ter deliberately in the back about one [
nch TO the right of the spine, at about {
he point where President Garfield was Y
hotP
You Kim evidently recovered as the /
liner carried a report of her wedding y
0 one Jim Hong shortly after the
tack. I
Tong wars in San Francisco have +
had reverberations in Butte. @
n 1927, a Chinese was killed in China !;
Hey as a result of an outbreak be- t
ween the Bing Kong and Hip Sing
ongs.
More than any other nationality, the il
'utte Jugo Slav colony has preserved Z
s native customs. Its great annual eel n
bration is the pre-Lenten fete of the n
Iesopust which is staged three days b
efore Ash Wednesday and ends on the Z
vening of Shrove Tuesday in February.
is a counterpart of the French Mardi t.
iras which is celebrated in New Or Il
,ans during the same days. The Mes n
pust, which means literally leave out Il
heat" has been celebrated in Butte Z
Dr. SO years. The first two days of the n
sstival are private and semi-religious
! character and members Of the colony [
re serenaded in their homes by ma n
we orchestra; on the third night the n
ublic festivities are held. a
The Mesopust opens with speeches by Il
lty and county officials; after this the s.
rites begin. The feature L
( the celebration is the trial Of the
ummy "Slarko Veljacic" who repre- W
ents the bad luck and misfortunes Of Il
he past year. MiSfortuneS are read Ct
rom Jugo Slavian newspapers as the b
and defending attorneys n
rgue for and against the defendant IL
he audience is the jury but the dummy e.
lways loses and is condemned to death. D
lie is stabbed by the dancers, carried c.
round the hall, and finally burned at N
be stake. In recent years, an American il
ouch has been added by labelling the g