The Afternoon a Seattle Crowd Cheered the Chinaman
A boy’s taunts, a slap, and an arrest near Pike and Fourth drew a crowd—and its sympathies ran unexpectedly toward the Chinese prisoner.
The unusual occurrence of a crowd cheering a Chinaman took place yesterday afternoon in the vicinity of Pike and Fourth streets. From the stories told of the affair, a young boy named Gardner tantalized Ah Sam and threw some missile at him. The Chinaman chased the boy home and slapped his face. Mr. Gardner, not knowing what had happened to cause the trouble, ran out and grabbed the Chinaman, whom he held until the police patrol wagon arrived.
A large crowd had gathered and the report received at headquarters was to the effect that a big fight was in progress. Three detectives answered the call and took charge of the Chinaman. The crowd wanted the poor fellow released immediately, but the officers would not do it. When the patrol wagon drove away the crowd cheered the prisoner.
Several men telephoned to headquarters saying that the boy was as much if not more to blame than the prisoner, and offered to put up bail. This was not necessary, as Ah Sam’s countrymen had the cash at headquarters a few minutes after his arrival.
“When the patrol wagon drove away the crowd cheered the prisoner.”
The 1885–86 anti-Chinese expulsions had made Seattle’s Chinese residents targets of organized violence, and a Chinese man’s arrest in 1895 could easily have drawn a hostile crowd. Instead, bystanders cheered Ah Sam and offered bail—a reminder that racial politics were contested on the street, not monolithic. The episode is also a warning about how quickly a private quarrel could turn a marginalized man into a public spectacle.
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