Hide Article Text (OCR)
E ST ABLISHED1869.CHINATOWNIwithoA Gazette Correspondent Makes aVery Complete Tonr of Investigation in San Franaoroeistoolseisco.The Opium Joint, Chinese Theatre,and a Chinese Feast.After Partaking of the Latter He Thanks His Stars for Even the Remembrance of Boston BakedBeans and New England Squash Pie.On© of the Gazette staff has received a letter from Prof. Lucien I. Blake, ofthe Polytechnic Institute, who, with a party of Brolllyn friends, is spendingpit wt major on. r dies, 1 you c dress Chine Thlt;for er the aitra of how t music instri gongt for alplayethey iwere and t verse solislamlbut oand i partsscreaa sonmanthe p to lee and tThisthereapprcwoulfnameplacethatAt thdeadnothistagecharagruoiappaijabbe“hidetheirrich,their blit a I wishapsdo nctintelt;then,shoeeereshefromthe s' next often abouthe summer in Alaska. The letter was written on board the steamer Ancon while she was coaling at Departure Bay for Alaska, and is dated Nanimo, British Columbia, July 14, 1886. The description of Chinatown, San Francisco, is full of interest and is given entire;“Have you seen Chinatown in San Francisco? If so, you need not read this article for it might recall to you anything but pleasant visions of underground dens, jabbering and pigtails. Right in the heart of San Francisco lies an acreage containing some 50,000 souls, or perhaps I should say bodies, transplanted from the Celestial Empire. Here a pessimist would revel, while an optimist would need cordials for his faith. Whether you are one or the other, indulgent reader, you should by all means visit Chinatown by night. We—well— never mind who the we embraced, took a Sergeant of Police and started in. First, as a sort of appetizer for the meal to follow, just as the Swedes tuke their Sniongosbrod before their dinner,we visited the city prisons. You see we reversed the usual course of a night off. The jail it might be but not the jail as a finale.Viewed from the streets, Chinatownis simply the ordinary citjrblbdkB Slid j wooden teuementfc with a profuseness of • Chinese wares in the windows, and chines© hieroglyphics on the signs. At night, from the many colored chines© lanterns, a weird ness is shed over thesebuilding fronts and the sallow countenances of the Orientals lounging in thedoor ways. There is but little peculiar in the shops, for they display for saie the ordinary necessities of life.A BABBBB SHOPis, however, interesting. A Chinamanmust have the upper front quadrant ofhis head shaved once in two weeks hndhis quene carefully oiled and braided.During the operation he sits in astraight back chair with his long tobacco pipe in his mouth. He fills the bowl with a tiny twist of tobacoo leaf, lights it from a glowing punk in his hand,takes a long, long pull, empties the bowl,refills and repeats. Then he is shaved, no lather, two bits, (25 cents) and he is off, in all probability, to the opinm joint.Now, I wish you to accompany us in through several unlighted, narrow passage-ways and we will look into the rooms which all along opens into them.These are seldom more than 8 feet high and with corresponding other dimensions, seldom have windows, but their narrow doors have peek holes cut in them so one can see indistinctly those within. These rooms,—these are the joint house,—are shelvedthree and four tiers deep, like a pantry, and on these shelves lieTHE OPIUM SMOKERS.One can but think of a menagerie as he peers in though the dim light upon these half insensible creatures crowded together like so many beasts. Someof Cb ordin hall f were the s and i keepi abou whin comp pareicrumwithsurrccakeiwashby stcenscwere parte the , beanWeiwentbackS.1886.fLo of Sa Lone assen tions ovatiJolare already in the land of opium visionsothers are half gone, rolling over nowand then to take a few more whiffs fromtheir long pipes. Some had juct come in, and are occasionally granting at each other. We, stand the close air and opium fumes as long as possible, but we are tempted to send up a Christian prayer for poor heathen China whenonce more we draw a whiff of fresh air.These opium dens abound everywhere in Chinatown. Wherever, in attic or underground a little spaoe is avail* able, there some shelves are tucked in, fresh air spaces apparentlystopped up, and a “joint” established. Here and there, especially in the underground passages, little niches were adorned with some heathen image andan incense lamp kept burning before itChinatown seems, in fact, to be by very preference undeground. Well, we kept on through tortuous passages up and down stairways until the burly Sergeantsaid we would come outthe vMi on Ttour-AT THE THEATRE,and the way he smiled down at the young lady clinging to his arm inspired the rest of us to believe that possibly we might get there. True enough, soon we were in among the dressing rooms for we had approoahed by the stage entrance. Here the actors were dressing, painting and jabbering. Wo passedout onto the stage which extended,A Colt;Nacial frible nail c this ( prept murdleft iimaimothersaltedbee anthe d burnt pearsOnhold f whichfor joi millio:Eri counc over b the cc
Newspaper Details
Terre Haute Weekly Gazette
Terre Haute, Indiana, US
Thu, Jul 29, 1886
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 15 Nov 2018
Other Publications Near Terre Haute, Indiana
Western Register and Terre Haute Advertiser
Terre Haute Wabash Courier
Terre Haute Tribune Star
Terre Haute Tribune
Terre Haute Star
