Los Angeles Chinese massacre of 1871

The Los Angeles Chinese Massacre of 1871 was an act of mob brutality that resulted in the murder of eighteen Chinese residents.[5] The Massacre's immediate cause emanates from a conflict between rival huiguan, the Nin Yung, and Hong Chow. [6]

The day before the massacre, Won Choy attempted to kill Yo Hing for the abduction of his sister, Yut Ho. The following day, another skirmish occurred, this time, Won Choy received a fatal gunshot wound to the neck.[6] Officer Jesus Bilderain responded to the scene and was shot inside the Coronel building while attempting to arrest one of the gunmen.[7] Several civilians assisted the police, including a farmer named Robert Thompson who was shot in the chest.[8] Soon after, the Sheriff arrived and deputized a group of men with instructions to guard the Coronel building and prevent any occupants from escaping.[9][10]  Thompson was taken to an apothecary on Main street where he died two hours later.[8] Following the news of Thompson's death, residents of Los Angeles started to congregate around the Coronel Adobe.[11] Members of the crowd shot at the doors and windows of the building. At nine o'clock p.m., a door was battered-down and the occupants dragged outside and towards makeshift gallows.[8] According to reports, some in the crowd tried to calm the group and preclude the slayings including Robert M. Widney who would go on to become the district judge presiding over the subsequent trials.[12][9] The massacre ended around 9:30 pm, when the Sheriff "called for twenty-five armed volunteers on the side of law and order to preserve the peace and guard the building until this morning."[8]

The Coroner's inquest resulted in forty-nine indictments, containing the names of one hundred and fifty individuals.[13] Seven men were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to imprisonment in the State penitentiary.[14] However, an appeal to the California Supreme Court reversed the convictions and remitted the cases back to Widney's court. District Attorney Cameron E. Thom decided against retrying the cases and freed the accused in the spring of 1873.[15]

Discrimination had been rising against the increasing number of Chinese immigrants living in California. It has been described as a root cause of the massacre.[16] White residents of Los Angeles resented the expansion of the Chinese population, considering them an alien group. In 1863 the state legislature had passed a law that Asians (defined as Chinese, Mongolian, Indian, etc.) could not testify in court against whites, making them vulnerable to abuse and injustice, and putting them beyond reach of the law.[17] In 1868 the United States had signed the Burlingame Treaty with the Chinese Empire, setting conditions for immigration.[17] In this period, most Chinese workers who immigrated to the United States were men, intending to stay only temporarily. The small Chinese community in Los Angeles numbered fewer than 200, and 80% were men.[17]

Another factor was the rough frontier nature of Los Angeles, which in the 1850s had a disproportionately high number of lynchings for its size, and an attachment to "popular justice" (this was also a period of violence across the country).[18] It attracted transients from across the country, and alcohol use was high among the predominately male population.

In Los Angeles in the few days preceding the riot, two Chinese Tong factions, known as the Hong Chow and Nin Yung companies, had started a confrontation from a feud over the alleged abduction of a Chinese woman named Yut Ho (also documented as Ya Hit), who was announced in the paper as having married. Due to a lack of women in the Chinese community, most women in the community served as prostitutes and had essentially been sold into sexual slavery. Previously the police department had assisted the Tongs in keeping their confrontations over the women internal to the community, and sometimes capturing and returning women who had escaped, in exchange for payment by the Tongs, but in this case, things got out of hand. Two Chinese men were arrested for shooting at each other, and were released on bail, but the police kept watch on the Old Chinatown neighborhood. It had developed along Calle de los Negros, which was named in the colonial period.[17][19]

Calle de los Negros

1888 map. Calle de los Negros had just been renamed Los Angeles Street. On either side, the buildings are marked "Chinatown". Coronel Adobe at the corner of Arcadia St., on Broad Place. Old Chinatown continued northeast across Alameda St., to what is now the Union Station complex.

Main article: Calle de los Negros

Calle de los Negros was situated immediately northeast of Los Angeles's principal business district, running 500 feet (150 m) from the intersection of Arcadia Street to the plaza. The unpaved street was named by Spanish colonists for Californios (pre-annexation, Spanish-speaking Californians) of darker complexion (most likely of multiracial ancestry: Spanish, Native American, and African) who had originally lived there.[20] The neighborhood had deteriorated into a slum by the time the first Chinatown of Los Angeles developed there in the 1860s.[17]

Early 20th-century Los Angeles merchant Harris Newmark recalled in his memoir that Calle de los Negros was "as tough a neighborhood, in fact, as could be found anywhere."[21] Los Angeles historian Morrow Mayo described it in 1933 as:

a dreadful thoroughfare, forty feet wide, running one whole block, filled entirely with saloons, gambling-houses, dance-halls, and cribs. It was crowded night and day with people of many races, male and female, all rushing and crowding along from one joint to another, from bar to bar, from table to table. There was a band in every joint, with harps, guitars, and other stringed instruments predominating.[22]

The first victim of the mob was Ah Wing. The crowd captured Ah Wing, who appeared to have come from Beaudry's building. Marshal Baker searched him and found a "four barreled sharp-shooter, with one load out". Baker confiscated the gun and released him.[55]

Ah Wing was captured again a short while later, this time armed with a hatchet. Constable Emil Harris took charge of Ah Wing. Harris and Charles Avery escorted Ah Wing towards the jail. A crowd of approximately 100 men followed them up Arcadia and Main street. Then, at the intersection of Main and Spring, Avery was hit from behind, the crowd took Ah Wing and held Harris. Ah Wing was led up to Tomlinson's Corral and there hanged from the cross beam of the gate.[55] This was the same gate where Michel Lachenais was hanged less than a year before.[8] Harris then returned to the Coronel Building.

Agustus Cates was standing guard on Arcadia street in front of the Coronel Adobe. The door started to open. Cates told the occupants to close the door, but they did not. So a police man ordered one of the guards to fire his Derringer at it. The door was closed and Cates and the others moved away from it. Later, when they had their back to the door, watching the other side of the street, the door opened and three shots were fired. Cates turned around just in time to see the door close again.[9]

Later, another door opened, this time facing on Negro Alley. A Chinese man came rushing out, thirty or forty shots were fired. He made it less than ten feet before he fell. C. Dennuke stated during the Coroner's inquest that this man was Ah Cut. Another man inside the house, standing at a large window, drew a curtain aside, and several parties came up and fired into the window with shotguns and pistols.[10][9]

According to Henry Hazard, there was considerable shooting at the building. Shortly afterward men started to scale the building with a ladder.[56] He recognized Charles Austin as being the first to mount the building.[57] At one point, Sheriff Burns counted 11 men on the roof.[10] Various witnesses also identified Rufugio Botello,[10] Jesus Martinez,[58] J. C. Cox,[59] Sam Carson,[10] and "Curly" Crenshaw[56] being on the roof. Men on the roof shot at the Chinese in the backyard of the building. Then someone passed up axes and the men started cutting holes in the roof.[56] It was reported that ten holes had been cut.[9] Men started firing through the ceiling into one of the rooms, causing the occupants to run out of the house.[59]

J. C. Cox testified, one man ran out of the house, the mob on the street started firing. Cox saw him crawl back, and volunteered to go in and get the man out. He obtained a ball dipped in alcohol, lit it, and threw it into the room. He then went in, found the wounded man and carried him out and across the street.[10] The crowd then mustered the courage to enter the building, found two Chinese men in that room and pulled them out. Hazard testified that at this point the crowd started breaking in the doors and removing the occupants; working their way towards the corner.[56] The Daily Star reported the first door was battered down at approximately 8:45 pm.[8]

Groups of men started leading the Chinese away from Negro Alley.[56] Marshal Baker,[55] Sheriff Burns,[55] officers Hester[12] and Harris[55] individually gave parties instructions to take the Chinese to jail for safety. Harris' impression was that the groups proceeded to the jail, even though he was likely aware Ah Wing had been hanged.[55] Some of the groups did in fact lead their captives safely to the county jail. But other groups led men to either Tomlinson's corral or John Goller's wagon shop to be hanged. Henry Hazard and General John Baldwin remonstrated with the lynching parties to no avail; Hazard at Goller's shop,[57] and Baldwin at Tomlinson's corral.[58] One group of men, consisting of Walter White, John Lazzarovich, and brothers Robert and Walter Widney, managed to rescue four Chinese from the mob near Tomlinson's.[12] Constable Billy Sands managed to rescue four; one from Antione Silva near Goller's shop.[10] At about 9:20 pm, Sheriff Burns addressed the crowd, and requested 25 volunteers to help preserve the peace and guard the building until the morning.[8]

Rioters climbed to the rooftops of buildings where Chinese immigrants resided, used pickaxes to puncture holes in the roofs, and shot at the people inside.[4] Those who fled outside were shot at by gunmen on the roofs.[4] Many were also beaten and tortured.[4]

By the end of the riot:

The dead Chinese people in Los Angeles were hanging at three places near the heart of the downtown business section of the city; from the wooden awning over the sidewalk in front of a carriage shop; from the sides of two "prairie schooners" parked on the street around the corner from the carriage shop; and from the cross-beam of a wide gate leading into a lumberyard a few blocks away from the other two locations. One of the victims was hanged without his trousers and minus a finger on his left hand.[17]

Historian Paul de Falla wrote that the trousers were taken to get to his money, and his finger was cut to take a diamond ring.[17]

The mob ransacked practically every Chinese-occupied building on the block and attacked or robbed nearly every resident. A total of 19 Chinese immigrant men were killed by the mob.[4]

The inquest covered an entire four days and encompassed interviewing of various range of eyewitnesses. Disappointedly, no data from the inquest was ascertained, known hitherto, and newspaper feedbacks serving as the sole source of information. Firstly, the two interviews involving Robert Thompson, which took two hours, emerged to be broad and elaborate. Still, only a single observer, Constable Bilderrain, was examined. His description of the event was reliant on facts and was apprehensive that Thompson got shot in the process of assisting him. In the process of pursuing justice for the murdered Chinese victims, utterly innocent of the Massacre, seven men were sentenced in the law court, whether unquestionably guilt-ridden or not. The Supreme Court omitted the prosecution on Gene killings. Further, it is crystal clear that there was no basis in the High court verdict that compelled them to trust the sentenced demonstrators were blameless. The District Attorney and Judge felt in 1873 that it was becoming unrealistic and illogical to pursue new trials; the issue was called off. Since then, the Chinese community performs an exceptional prayer at the city in honor of the carnage and misfortune.

Following the coroner's inquest, Tong Yu, widow to Dr. Gene Tong, filed a complaint in the Justice Court, accusing Yo Hing, one of the tong leaders, of "inciting and participating" the Massacre that led to her husband's death. While Yo was initially held following the November 4 complaint, the Grand Jury could not link him directly with the events, and he was later released.

Four days after this complaint, "County Court Judge Ygnacio Sepulveda convened a special Grand Jury to investigate the events around to the Massacre." A jury composed of individuals of diverse backgrounds, Juan Jose (long-time resident), William Perry (building contractor), Kaspare Cohn (building contractor), William Henry (saddle maker and councilman), and Martin Sanchez (farmer), was constituted. Judge Sepulveda condemned the violence pattern in the strongest terms possible and challenged the jury to stand up to the occasion.[61] The jury's report noted forty-nine indictments for felonies and murders (almost split halfway). The report highlighted full statements of the events leading to the Massacre. Immediately after the report's publication, A.R. Thompson, Charles Austin, and Charles Crawford (official records Edmund Crawford) were held. Another set of five individuals, Louis Mendel, Jesus Martinez, Andreas Soeur, Patrick McDonald, and D.W. Moody, were arrested and held. Three Chinese people and two whites were held, but for lesser charges, an additional five unnamed individuals were held.

The most famous case was People v. Kerren, in which the defendant was accused of shooting at two Chinese women, Cha Cha and Fan Cho, with a deadly assault weapon. Kerren was released on a $1,000 bail.[62] Several other witness statements were full of objections by District Attorney Thom and defense counsels based on irrelevant leading questions. In People v. Quong Wan and Ah Yeng, Wan and Yeng were accused of being the originators of the riots and subsequently charged with the murder of Ah Coy. Coupled with these charges were rumors that the Chinese community had been on a gun-buying spree days before the Massacre and that some Chinese people were also expected in from San Francisco in readiness for a fight. In People v. Crenshaw, the case pursued the murder of Gene Tong. Later, all the cases were combined into one and attracted interest from both the public and the press.

While the convicted rioters were sentenced and taken to the San Quentin, a few other cases remained. Such cases included Fong Yen Ling, Sam Yuen, Yin Tuck, and Ah Ying v. The Mayor and Common Council of the City of Los Angeles, in which the merchants sued for damages to their stores during the Massacre. The Judge held that the city was not liable for the destruction of businesses and noted that such liability would only hold if the business owner had notified the city before the collapse. Several other cases were declined on the ground of lacking evidence. Thus, a review of the legal provisions was imperative to understand the court's decision despite the destruction of property and deaths.

In People v. Sam Yuen, Yuen was charged for shooting Jesus Bilderrain before Justice Trafford. The constable charged Yuen with “willfully, deliberately, feloniously and of malice aforethought, aiding, abetting, assisting, counseling and encouraging a Chinaman, identified as John Doe, to kill and murder". While an arrest warrant was issued for Bilderrain, Yuen could not be traced. When he returned in 1872, no warrant was served.

Complications further arose when a second warrant was issued.[63] However, reports indicated that a post-Massacre addition to the force, Constable Frank Hurtley, arrested Yuen. Adolfo Celis testified that he had seen Yuen running behind another Chinese man as both entered the Coronel Block at the time of the violence.[64] He narrated details that placed Yuen at the scene of the Massacre and confirmed his playing an active role. The Massacre brought to fore the protection of the minority through the laws of Los Angeles. At the same time, there was open prejudice against minorities. The judicial process, such as in the case of Sam Yuen, went on smoothly. A jury that determined its case based on race would have found Yuen liable. However, the court followed all the due process of the law, relied on witness testimonies, including the reversal of misleading accounts by Jesus Bilderrain. It can thus be concluded that due process of the law was followed.

There is, however, no clarity on whether the Massacre led to any positive advancements towards the fight against crime. Anti-Chinese hate flared in the weeks that followed. Overt anti-Chinese violence died naturally after the proceedings. This notwithstanding, however, anti-Chinese feelings persisted and were expressed more subtly.

Following the verdicts in the case of People v. Mendel et al, Refugio Botello was released on bail of $5,000. Botello would remain free, pending the outcome of his appeal to the California Supreme Court.[14] On May 21, 1873, the California Supreme Court overturned the convictions in People v. Mendel and People v. Crenshaw.[15] The decision said that "the indictment on which Lewis Mendel, A. R. Johnson, Charles Austin, P. M. McDonald, Jesus Martinez, and Estevan A. Alvarado, were tried and convicted was fatally defective in that it failed to allege that Chee Long Tong was murdered."[15] This flaw in the indictment had been debated during a pre-trial demurrer, where Judge Robert Widney concluded  "... the words used, construed in the usual acceptance in common language, sufficiently state that Gene Tong is dead. In addition to the above, and under the same rule, the word murder, in its legal definition, shows the death of Gene Tong."[65] The Los Angeles Daily News wrote, "The convicted parties escape full punishment for their crimes by a quibble, justice is complacent, and the eagle roosts high. Thus it goes."[15]

Authorities arrested and prosecuted ten rioters. Eight were convicted of manslaughter at trial and sentenced to prison terms at San Quentin. Their convictions were overturned on appeal due to a legal technicality. The eight men convicted were:[66]

• Alvarado, Esteban
• Austin, Charles
• Botello, Refugio
• Crenshaw, L. F.
• Johnson, A. R.
• Martinez, Jesus
• McDonald, Patrick M.
• Mendel, Louis

The event was well-reported on the East Coast, and newspapers there described Los Angeles as a "blood stained Eden" after the riots.[67] A growing movement of anti-Chinese discrimination in California climaxed in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.[68]

Calle de los Negros was renamed as part of Los Angeles Street in 1877 and obliterated in its previous form in 1888 as Los Angeles Street was widened and extended to the Plaza. The Coronel Adobe where the Chinese massacre occurred was torn down in the late 1880s. As of 2021, the former site of the Coronel Adobe is approximately in the middle of North Los Angeles street, immediately east of the Garnier Building located at 419 North Los Angeles Street.

L. P. Leung wrote about a main character involved with the 1871 massacre in The Jade Pendant (2013).[69] This has been adapted as a Chinese-produced film by the same name, which was released in 2017 in North America.[70]

• "How Los Angeles Covered Up the Massacre of 17 Chinese", LA Weekly, 10 March 2011
• Lesson plan and readings for Chinese Massacre of 1871, University of Southern California
• Newmark, Harris "First Person Narrative of Massacre", Library of Congress
• Statement of Remembrance, Chinese American Museum
• Heritage Parkscape
• PBS History of the West
• "The Chinese in California 1850–1925", Library of Congress
• "Chinese Massacre of 1871", USC Los Angeles History Project
• Lou, Raymond. The Chinese American Community in Los Angeles: A Case of Resistance, Organization, and Participation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Irvine, 1982.
• East West Discovery
• "Buried History: Retracing the Chinese Massacre of 1871", A documentary film, Chinese American Museum
• "The Chinese Los Angeles Massacre of 1871", KPFA, 27 October 2021

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