There were two newspapers in Los Angeles in 1870; the Los Angeles Daily Star and the Los Angeles Daily News. Both papers ridicule the Chinese for their accents, appearances, and customs. The Chinese are referred to by such terms as celestial, heathen, pagan, and John Chinaman. And there are multiple occasions where Chinese names are mocked such as “Shu Fli” as-in the contemporaneous song “Shoo fly don’t bother me”. The Daily News is the more politically charged of the two papers. The Daily News condemns Chinese immigration and calls for political action to limit their numbers. But it’s their critical commentaries that give us keen insight into the behavior and methods of the three leading Chinese men: Sing Lee, Sam Yuen, and Yo Hing. Below are four articles concerning prostitution. The first two are related to Sing Yu.
Los Angeles Daily News, Volume 2, Number 245, 16 October 1870
THAT TRUANT GIRL.
The China girl, about which the representatives of the Flowery Kingdom were in a state of excitement some time ago, she having mysteriously disappeared, taking with her valuable jewelry, disappeared again Friday night, taking with her sixty dollars in coin and jewelry to the amount of one hundred and fifty dollars, for which a complaint has been made against her for grand larceny, and a warrant issued for her arrest by Justice Gray. Her departure, as on the former occasion, created considerable excitement among the celestials, who are making extraordinary exertions for her recovery. It is plain, however, that it is the girl they require and not the money and jewelry, and the application for the warrant for her arrest is but another instance of the manner in which these traffickers in human flesh and human sins avail themselves of the law to recover possession of a woman of their race, who, under customs and laws of their own, and in defiance of law, civilization, and decency, they hold as a slave of prostitution. They import their women for base purposes, and hold them by a system of slavery known only to themselves, and pollute the atmosphere in which they are permitted to live, and when one of their unfortunate victims essays to escape from their dens, the jewelry and trinkets with which they adorn her person as a necessary adjunct of the purposes for which she was imported, is made to serve as a means of again placing her in their power through the aid of the law.
Los Angeles Daily News, Volume 2, Number 304, 24 December 1870
THE "HEATHEN CHINEE."
On Thursday evening the streets of this city were the scene of one of those disgraceful "emeutes" that too frequently result from the peculiar civilization of the "heathen Chinee." An officer of the law from the county of Santa Barbara, armed with a warrant for the arrest of a Chinese woman for grand larceny, and assisted by the officers of this city, proceeded to "Negro Alley" where they found and arrested the woman, who was by them placed in a carriage and started for Santa Barbara county. The Chinese mob, however, determined to liberate the prisoner, and for that purpose pursued the officers who resolutely beat them back until they reached Main street near the Bella Union hotel, where the mob fired four shots into the carriage containing the officers and prisoners, who fortunately escaped without injury, and the "emeute" was quickly suppressed by officer Dunlap and others. Bad as the affair was, the riot is not the most disgraceful and immoral part connected with it. The woman is a prostitute, imported from her native country by the Chinese companies who deal in human depravity and prostitution, and who avail themselves of the laws intended for the suppression of crimes to obtain possession and control of their some times unwilling subjects. When a rival company in their accursed profession wish to secure the control of a woman owned by, or in the employ of another, they do not hesitate to make a charge of grand larceny under oath, secure the arrest of their victim, provide a bond for her and secure her release and possession, which is the object of the proceeding. Having accomplished this they refuse to appear in Court as witnesses in support of the charge upon which their victim was arrested, and by means of which they secured the control of her person for the purposes of prostitution. The woman arrested in this city on Thursday evening, has been several times arrested in a similar manner, and her possession as often changed from one company to that of another, through the instrumentality of the law. Under all circumstances, the presence of the Chinese is curse to our country, and a foul blot upon our civilization, but to permit them to use the machinery of the law for the furtherance of their infamous traffic, is a mockery of justice, as degrading to law and decency, as it is vile and immoral in its practice and influence.
Los Angeles Daily News, Volume 3, Number 68, 22 March 1871
NOT ON THE LIST. -- Among the consignments brought to this city from the California yesterday, was an invoice of Chinese womanhood, to a prominent "merchant." It was omitted in the freight list, but the names of the chattels will probably appear in Court reports, when the vested rights of the dealers require the protection of American law.
Los Angeles Daily News, Volume 3, Number 169, 19 July 1871
A "Merchant" in Trouble.
Sing Lee, the boss Chinaman here of one of the companies, lately got himself into serious trouble. Sing is a merchant, and deals extensively in human flesh. As the subjects of his merchandise are not negroes it is all right; there is no "relic of barbarism" about it, and the nefarious traffic goes on unchecked. He recently sold a woman for five hundred dollars; the purpose and object of the purchaser can readily be imagined. The poor creature thus summarily disposed of refused to ratify the bargain, and received a severe beating from her master, and might have been still more cruelly treated had she not fled from him. The police arrested the "merchant," and he remained in jail all night, not withstanding his blandishments and offers of coin. Yesterday our august Mayor fined him the enormous amount of ten dollars. The poor woman refuses to leave the jail, but remains there for protection, alleging that if she goes back to the Chinese quarter she will be killed. Something must be done to maintain the right of Mongolian dealers to dispose of their wares or the example would be damaging to their interests. Mr. Carpenter has been solicited by Chinamen to drive the woman away, but there is no danger of his doing so. Cannot some philanthropist of a missionary disposition and interested in the welfare of the heathen abroad, take this case in hand? If the woman falls again into possession of the Chinese - outraged at the treatment, on her account, of their leading man - she will very probably be put to death with such torture as may be a warning to any disobedient chattels disposed to follow her example. We live in the United States, in the Nineteenth Century and under a beneficent government. Human rights are cared for, after a fashion. Let this case be thoroughly investigated, and not passed over lightly. The Chinese have no business here, and never can form part of our people; but being here, they must not be suffered to carry out their heathenish customs. This affair but forms one of many beautiful illustrations of the policy of encouraging the immigration of Asiatics, adopted and fostered by the present party in power. The circumstances related above are derived from a reliable source, the officers who made the arrest. Messrs. Gard and Harris, and Mr. Carpenter, the jailer. The officers deserve credit for their course in leaving nothing undone to ferret out the real state of the case.
All articles Courtesy California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.
Sing Yu
Marshal William Warren
The Torture of Sing Yu
The Carriage Event
False Accusations
The Abduction of Yut Ho
Commentaries on Chinese Prostitution
The Anatomy of Los Angeles in 1871
The Affray
The Chinese Massacre of 1871
The Aftermath
Analysis
Anti-Chinese Rhetoric
Anti-Chinese Violence
Anti-Chinese Sentiment In Advertising
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