A Night of Revelry at the Cannery
While anti-Chinese sentiment was rampant in Seattle, workers at the Myers cannery held a joyous, boisterous celebration for their cultural labor holiday.
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.
The jolliest crowd in the city last night was the Chinamen at Myers’ cannery. It was the celebration of the Chinese Labor day—that is, the day on which the laboring people of China celebrate some event in the history of the country, and the Chinamen employed in the cannery had a great feast last night. The menu consisted of chicken and duck cooked in Chinese style, Chinese fish, rice, wine, and the Lord knows what not. After eating, the Chinamen engaged in their usual game that no one but themselves seems to fully understand. The principle of it appears to be that two of the Chinamen keep rapidly repeating some sentences in concert, gesticulating with one hand at the same time, and the one who makes the first mistake, in either language or gesture, loses and has to take a drink of wine. All through the large mess house were Chinamen engaged by pairs at this game, yelling at the highest pitch, so they could be heard a block away. In another apartment were Ah Sung, the foreman, his wife and child; Ah Vote, another foreman; William Stewart, the superintendent, and Bookkeeper Scott, all seated at a table eating and joking. Ah Sung and Yote have worked for Myers every season for fifteen years past and all the white men employed around the cannery have the highest regard for them, as have their fellow Chinese laborers. Another prominent figure about the cannery every year is King Sing, who does most of the boat building for the cannery. He is a good carpenter and Mr. Myers thinks a great deal of him. Sing was formerly married to a 'klootchman' and he is a great 'tillacum' with the Siwash. He is considerable of a genius and for last night’s festivities he made a large cylinder, covered with Chinese tissue paper, in the top of which were cut fans like a windmill, so that the hot air from a large lamp placed inside caused the cylinder to revolve. On the outside of the cylinder he had images of men and animals, making a miniature panorama as it turned around. Mr. Stewart says that no matter how much they feast or drink they are all sure to be on deck when the time for work comes in the morning.
“All through the large mess house were Chinamen engaged by pairs at this game, yelling at the highest pitch, so they could be heard a block away.”
This account captures a rare, humanizing moment of Chinese immigrant life in 1890s Seattle, a period marred by the brutal expulsion riots of 1886. While the reporter relies on the period's reductive tropes, the story highlights the deep-seated professional respect and social integration of these laborers within the cannery walls.
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