A Bloody Reckoning at the Custom House
A violent confrontation between Chinese immigrants and customs officials over thousands of dollars leaves three people severely wounded and a search for truth.
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.
Ah How, Ah Yune and Ah How's wife, the Mongolians who were dangerously wounded Saturday afternoon at 512 Washington street, during a fight with customs officers, are still at Grace hospital unable to move. Ah How has twelve wounds, eleven of them being in the head, and it is not yet known how seriously his skull is fractured. The woman is also suffering from a fractured skull. Ah Yune has six deep scalp wounds, but there is no doubt of his speedy recovery. A guard is placed over them and as soon as possible the prisoners will be removed to the county jail. Ah How is still very weak from the great quantity of blood which he lost, but is very much worried over the printed reports of the fight which he declares are incorrect. He says that he was 'standing in' with the customs officers and that he intended turning Inspector McBride, whom he believed to be a smuggler, over to Deputy Collector McKenzie. He says that McBride and his 'stool pigeon' robbed him of $5,000. He says it was his money he was fighting for and not the opium.
“He says that it was his money he was fighting for and not the opium.”
This violent incident at 512 Washington Street captures the volatile intersection of federal enforcement, corruption, and the local Chinese community during the height of the Chinese Exclusion era. It highlights the dangerous reality for immigrants who were often treated as targets for extortion rather than citizens seeking protection from the law.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.