Horace Bell
On the Old West Coast: Being Further Reminiscences of a Ranger
1930
Horace Bell was a Ranger who lived in Los Angeles since 1852. He was present during the October 31, 1870 hearing for Sing Yu, and witnessed the gun fight between constable Dye and Marshal Warren. He wrote two books recounting events in Los Angeles. While Bell was not present during the events of October 24, 1871, he was present during the Coroner’s inquest. His recollection contrasts greatly with testimonies that were published in the the local papers. Bell claims that Thompson and Bilderrain instigated the riot from within Sam Yuen’s store. According to Bell, after the hearing in Justice Gray’s Court on the morning of the 24th, Thompson was sent to arrest Sam Yuen and was subsequently killed in a scuffle inside Sam’s store:
“In the afternoon a complaint was sworn out, or pretended to be sworn out, against Sam Yung, charging him with some sort of an offense against the peace. What the charge was does not appear on the record. Now, strangely, this warrant was not placed in the hands of Constable Harris, whose regular duty it should have been to serve it, but was entrusted to a man named Thompson. ... Thompson was not an officer and had no warrant. He was accompanied by a gambler that was connected with the police department. No return on the warrant was ever made because before he could make the arrest Thompson was killed and the terrible riot followed. Afterward a Chinaman that was present at the shooting of Thompson made a statement to the following effect:
“That Thompson and his police friend came to Sam Yung's store and told him they had came to arrest him. Sam Yung objected to leaving the store unprotected and apparently was afraid to leave it long enough to call in a friend while Thompson and the policeman were there, for when they insisted that he go out with one of them he went into the rear of the store and sat down on the trunk where he kept the seven thousand dollars, obstinately refusing to move. Thompson attempted to pull him away from the trunk and in the ensuing scuffle the Chinaman shot Thompson dead. Some Chinese rushed in and barricaded the door with Bilderrain, the police attaché, still inside, and during the attack on the building by the mob Bilderrain was shot through the legs from the outside, not by the Chinese on the inside.
“This was about four o'clock in the afternoon and in less than half an hour a surging mass of humanity surrounded Chinatown and filled Los Angeles Street and the Plaza, bent on the destruction of every Chinese resident. Contemporary writers say that it was the underworld part of our population that took advantage of the situation to start indiscriminate killing and pillaging. But they do not state that the police force of the city furnished the leaders of the mob; that the Chief of Police of Los Angeles stationed his policemen and the deputies he had mustered in for the occasion, at all strategic point with orders to shoot to death any Chinese that might “stick a head out or attempt escape from the besieged buildings”; nor that one of the leading members of the City Council participated in the slaughter. But all these were facts developed at the Coroner's inquest.
“Prominent merchants in the vicinity dealt out rope to be used for hanging Chinamen and on the following day citizens, including policemen, publicly displayed their booty from Chinatown and boasted of the rewards of their valor.”
While Bell’s account does reinforce a rumor that police were involved with initiating the riot, the details do not match any accounts that were recorded. Witness testimony from multiple parties confirm that Thompson did not arrive until after Bilderrain was shot. And Thompson was seen standing at the doorway of Sam Yuen’s store when he was shot.
Bell also commits a character assassination of the Los Angeles Daily Star for publishing their initial report on the morning of the 25th. Following the initial affray, the Daily Star began setting the type for the following day’s paper. Their initial story, written before the riot, was a scathing condemnation of the Chinese, and a call to force them out of the County. Rather than discard that initial story, the Daily Star printed it with the following explanation: “After the above was written, last night, eighteen Chinamen were hanged and shot to death. The friends of the killed and wounded Americans were exasperated to such a degree that all attempts to quell the hanging and shooting were without avail, until the very horror of the scenes became sickening to the participators themselves. Comment is useless.” On the November 9th, a competing newspaper, Daily News, published a condemnation of the Daily Star and reprinted the October 25th Daily Star article, with the following prologue; “The Star complains that we misrepresented its position regarding the tragedy of October 24th, in saying that it at first pandered to the mob spirit, but discovering itself on the unpopular track, it tacked about and took another course. That paper has a conveniently short memory. We reproduce its leading article, published the morning after the Chinamen were hung:” This was followed by the Star’s article, however, the Daily News intentionally left off the final three sentences that explain the article was written before the riot. It was typical of the rhetoric the Daily News used to criticize the Daily Star. And it was also extremely disingenuous considering the vitriolic attitude the Daily News had for the Chinese population. Bell most likely recalled this article because he wrote the following:
“The leading local newspaper of the day, The Los Angeles Star, edited by one George Washington Barter, printed a two page report of the “great victory.” During the momentous war between the Northern and Southern states of our country no battle was ever pictured or painted with more exultation, with more flourish, than George Washington Barter pictured our “glorious victory” over the heathen of Negro Alley. He eulogized the leaders for their energy, bravery, determination and patriotism and raised one of them to the title of general in his newspaper columns by his praise of “a great act of bravery, daring and enterprise when General Botello surmounted the flat brea roof of the principal adobe in which the Chinese were barricaded,” cut a hole through the brea and summoning his forces, poured volley after volley into a room filled with Chinese men, women and children.
I have since searched everywhere trying to find a copy of this paper containing its account of the victory of the patriots over the heathens, but without success. That issue has disappeared, perhaps burned to destroy its awful testimony to the shame of a community.
To put this in perspective, below is the complete article in question from the Daily Star printed on October 25.
Los Angeles Daily Star, Volume 3, Number 438, 25 October 1871
THE CHINESE OUTRAGE.
The horrible assassinations which were perpetrated in our city last night by the brutal, uncivilized barbarians that infest the country, is an indication of what the consequence would be were their race transmigrated in large numbers upon the coast. Upon all the earth there does not exist a people who value life so lightly, who practice so many horrors, or are so unmerciful in their outrages. From their very mode of existence they have little regard for their own lives and none whatever for the lives of others. The shooting of our citizens upon the streets yesterday, ere daylight had gone, and the frequency of their horrible acts of a similar nature, has now, at last, set our citizens to thinking as to the best mode of ridding ourselves of such a living curse. Little doubt exists but that such measures will be immediately taken as will entirely rid the city of their accursed presence. In this matter we should little heed the opinions of those abroad who are not familiar with the Chinese nature and our circumstances. Have we not seen -- have we not sadly realized? During the excitement last night several methods were proposed, among which was one was, that a brief period of time be allowed for every Chinaman to leave the county. The most moderate course which could be pursued would be to withhold from them all business and all employment.
After the above was written, last night, eighteen Chinamen were hanged and shot to death. The friends of the killed and wounded Americans were exasperated to such a degree that all attempts to quell the hanging and shooting were without avail, until the very horror of the scenes became sickening to the participators themselves. Comment is useless.
For examples of the Daily News attitude towards Chinese, see the previous post Anti-Chinese Rhetoric
Horace Bell was present during some of the most significant and harrowing events in Los Angeles history. But his writings should be digested with a high degree of skepticism due to his excessive use of embellishments.
1886 P. S. Dorney(AKA Patrick Sarsfield De Orny)
1894 C. P. Dorland
1916 Harris Newmark
1960 Paul M. DeFalla
2011 John JohnsonJr.
2012 Scott Zesch
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