The Brutal Assault on a Young Chambermaid
A playful attempt to clean a hotel floor escalated into a vicious act of anti-Chinese violence in the heart of downtown Seattle.
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.
This afternoon, about 2 o'clock, the waiters at the American House turned a stream of water on the floor of the office, intending to have a general clean-up. While engaged in this sanitary occupation, a young Chinaman employed in the hotel as a chambermaid came downstairs. As he entered the office, one of the waiters playfully turned the hose upon him, duling him with water. We all know the Chinese have no reason, and for this playful trick of the waiter, John became indignant and struck him with a blocking brush which he held in his hand. This aroused the bile of the waiter, who at once seized the hose and struck John several heavy blows on the side of the head, causing the claret to flow quite freely. The Chinaman ran out and rushed up the street, taking good care to catch the blood in his hand and rub it over his face as he ran, so that when he reached Occidental Square, he was an object frightful to behold. Here he met Marshal Thorndyke, who at once proceeded with him to the hotel and arrested the offending waiter.
“We all know the Chinese have no reason, and for this playful trick of the waiter, John became indignant and struck him.”
This incident exposes the casual, systemic brutality directed at Chinese workers in 19th-century Seattle. While the specific hotel is long gone, the struggle for equitable treatment and the safety of immigrant workers remains a hauntingly familiar theme in the city's labor and social history.
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