The Reverend and the Geary Act
A Chinese missionary is apprehended in Chicago to face charges in Tacoma regarding immigration law violations.
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.
Thomas Sing, the Chinese missionary indicted at Tacoma for violation of the Geary law, was brought before a United States commissioner today and held in $5,000 bail. No bondsmen appeared. The United States court will be asked for an order to transfer Sing to the Pacific coast. Sing had given bail for his appearance in the United States district court at Tacoma, but failed to appear when called. A bench warrant was issued and he was apprehended and arrested in Chicago yesterday. Sing is charged in the indictment with making false representations by which the entry of thirty-two Chinese from the steamships Empress of China and Mogul was secured last spring. The men were represented to be actors for the World's Fair theater, which was never completed.
“Sing is charged in the indictment with making false representations by which the entry of thirty-two Chinese from the steamships Empress of China and Mogul was secured last spring.”
The Geary Act, which required Chinese residents to carry certificates of residence, was a focal point of exclusionary policy in the 1890s. This story documents how the legal machinery of that era was used to track down and prosecute individuals across the country for navigating or challenging these racist restrictions.
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