Tragedy for Passengers Aboard the SS Ching Wo
Poor conditions and winter weather claim the lives of laborers aboard a ship preparing to depart for the Orient.
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.
Two more of the Chinese passengers died last night on board the steamship Ching Wo, now loading at the Puget Sound flouring mill for the Orient. This makes three deaths among the passengers on the boat since the ship has been in port. The majority of the 350 passengers are old men, and they are unable to withstand the chill of the winter weather here and, confined as they are down between the decks, they sicken and die very easily. It is probable that not a few more will drop off before China is reached. The Ching Wo on leaving here will go across by the southern route in order to take advantage of warmer weather. She will get away in a few days.
“The majority of the 350 passengers are old men and they are unable to withstand the chill of the winter weather here and, confined as they are down between the decks, they sicken and die very easily.”
This chilling account documents the brutal reality for laborers working under the 'Coolie' system, where human life was treated as secondary to cargo and schedules. The casual, dehumanizing tone of the reporting illustrates the deep-seated anti-Asian sentiment prevalent in Pacific Northwest newspapers of the time.
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