The Chinese Doctor’s Radical Revival
A Seattle man, presumed dead after two weeks of typhoid fever, was brought back to life by a doctor’s unconventional intervention.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
One day last week a Chinaman named Ah Och, who had been sick with typhoid fever for two weeks past, suddenly to all appearances died. The company to which he belonged sent a man to his residence on Jackson street, and he on his return received a permit to make a coffin for the dead man. He was to receive $35 for his trouble. Some of the deceased man’s friends, however, not thinking he was really dead, sent for a Chinese doctor. The medical man soon came, and in accordance with the custom of his country, heated an iron poker to a white heat and burned the supposed dead man on the forehead and eyebrows; he also stabbed him in various portions of his body. This had the effect of arousing the sick man who had only been in a trance.
“This had the effect of arousing the sick man who had only been in a trance.”
While the sensationalized tone of the 1872 reporting reflects the era's prejudice, this incident highlights the presence and community support systems of Seattle's early Chinese immigrant population. Today, the Jackson Street area remains a cultural heart of the International District, still defined by the resilience of communities once dismissed by the mainstream press.
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