Thrown Into a Saw at Colman's Mill — and the Law Looked the Other Way

On the 15th inst., at Colman's mill, a white man by the name of Peter Feeney assaulted a Chinaman and threw him into one of the saws of the scantling machine, which resulted in cutting off his large toe and otherwise lacerating the left foot. The facts proven are these: Peter Feeney and another white man and the Chinaman were at work together on the north side of the mill; Feeney having charge of one saw, the Chinaman another, a white man being stationed between them to keep the lumber clear by passing it from one saw to the other on the rollers. For some reason this intermediate man had left his post temporarily and the lumber was accumulating at that point. Feeney left his saw and went to where the Chinaman was at work and commanded him to clear away the lumber that had thus accumulated. The Chinaman not complying as promptly as Feeney desired, he caught hold of the Chinaman and threw him down between the rollers and held him some minutes. Feeney then started back to his own post, and the Chinaman picked up an instrument used in propelling lumber upon the rollers called a pickeroon. Whether the Chinaman took up this instrument to use in clearing away the lumber or in self-defence does not clearly appear; but when Feeney saw the Chinaman have the pickeroon, he immediately returned and again assaulted him, throwing him down on the floor close to the scantling machine, and in the melee the Chinaman's foot was caught in one of the saws of the scantling machine and cut as above stated. Dr. Calhoun, the attending surgeon, testified on the examination that the large toe was entirely cut off, the bones of the next severed, and the foot otherwise badly mangled; that it would take several months, under favorable circumstances, for the Chinaman to recover, and that the injury was permanent.

The Chief of Police arrested Feeney and took him before Justice Selye for examination upon a charge of simple mayhem, under section 36 of the Criminal Code of the Territory. While the officer had Feeney in his custody he, Feeney, said "He didn't give a d—n if it had cut the Chinaman in two." The Chinaman employed private counsel, but the Prosecuting Attorney for the Territory was present during the examination, taking no part, however, in the prosecution. The evidence taken upon the examination was the testimony of the Chinaman injured and two others and several white men employed in the mill.

Upon the close of the examination the Justice announced that he should not hold the defendant to bail upon the charge of mayhem, but would send him before Justice Scott for trial for an assault and battery. The Prosecuting Attorney thereupon remarked that he had listened to the testimony and did not think there was any case against the defendant. Private counsel thereupon retired from the case and the Prosecuting Attorney dismissed the proceedings, and thus ended the farce of this examination. Had the victim been a white man, does any one suppose such a result would have followed?

If this were an isolated case of the failure of justice on account of the victim belonging to a persecuted race, the necessity of calling attention to it would not be so great. But it is not. About a year since a man by the name of Anderson attacked a Chinaman with a large knife, chasing him through the public streets with the evident purpose of killing him. Several white men saw the whole transaction and Anderson was handed over to the District Court, and yet the Grand Jury found no bill against Anderson. Whether the case was not presented to the Grand Jury or they ignored the bill, is not known to the writer.

Not long after the above occurrence one Chinaman shot another and was bound over to the District Court for assault with intent to kill, but no indictment was ever found and probably the case was never presented to the Grand Jury. Many similar instances might be cited, but it is unnecessary, for it has become almost a proverb in this community that the Chinaman, Indian and other inferior races "have no rights which a white man is bound to respect."

The writer is no admirer of any of these inferior races, and will admit that their presence among us in some respects may not be desirable. But they are here, they have a lawful right to be here, and to the full and equal protection of the laws. The inalienable right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" belong to them, and no true American can witness the prevailing and growing disposition on the part of a large class of persons claiming and exercising the rights and privileges of American citizens to ignore and invade the rights, and in many ways to oppress these inferior races, without feeling the blush of shame mantling his cheeks. "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."