The City of San Bernardino is sixty miles east of Los Angeles on the Old Mormon Road. There were sixteen Chinese living there in 1870, all men, the oldest being 31 years old. On Tuesday, November 8, 1870, a fifteen year old boy named George Wilshire left his house to walk into town. On his way, he crossed paths with five Chinese persons; a girl and four men. One man was holding the girl by the hair and punching her from behind. Wilshire noticed she was barefoot. The girl was Sing Yu.
When Wilshire returned home two hours later, he heard noises nearby and went to investigate. He snuck up behind a bush and could see the Chinese group about thirty or forty yards away. There was now a fifth man Wilshire recognized as “Scald Neck” or Ah Ohn. The woman was naked and tied to a walnut tree. The men took turns whipping her. They lit paper on fire and held it up the her breasts. This continued for a quarter of an hour when the men eventually untied her and put her dress on. The group remained their for a while as the girl struggled to speak. The group then started to leave, however, the girl was crying and could hardly walk. She tried to hold on to Ah Ohn, but “Charley” jerked her away and dragged her back to the Walnut tree. The men removed her dress again. Charley and another man tied her hands behind her back and then dragged her to an alder tree. They tied the rope to the tree, and tied her hair to one of the branches. After she was secure, they removed her drawers. The men then gathered brush and started a large fire. They took flaming sticks from the fire and pressed them to her body, one from the front, and one from the behind. Another man stood with his fingers in her mouth, suppressing her screams. She thrashed and kicked the whole time. Wilshire continued to watch the depravity from his secluded position, afraid to interfere, fearing that he might be murdered. After the men untied the girl a second time, Wilshire crept off and reported what he had witnessed to his employer, Mr. Kenyon, who immediately reported the event to the authorities. The men were arrested within an hour.
The following day in Los Angeles, a Chinese merchant named Yo Hing walked into Justice Trafford’s office and claimed his horse had been stolen two years earlier. He identified the thief as one Que Ma who resides in San Bernardino. Within a couple of days Constable Dye arrested Que Ma and brought him to Los Angeles to stand trial. Meanwhile, the Daily News reported attempts were made to hire counsel to defend the torture suspects in San Bernardino. One Los Angeles firm refused a fee of $100.
The next week, Sing Lee received a telegram from Petropolis (Newhall, California) informing him that three assassins were in route to Los Angeles to kill him. That same day, Constable Dye arrested a man named Ah Wau (Also Lee Fat) for threatening to kill Sing Lee.
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| Courtesy California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside. |
While Que Ma was being held in custody in Los Angeles, the five men involved in the torture of Sing Yu were tried for attempted murder. Four were found guilty of a lesser offense of assault to do great bodily injury. Ah Chu, Ah Yok, Lee Jung, and Wang Hing were each sentenced to spend two years at San Quentin. On November 29, the case against Que Ma was dropped. No witnesses appeared against him in court. During the trial, he was able to prove he had never been in Los Angeles. And on his person was found a summons from the County Court of San Bernardino requiring his presence at the torture trial that had already concluded.
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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