Yellow Peril

One of them was Jesus Bilderrain, known for being racist and rapacious. There have been several complaints against him for stealing and gambling. Together with his brother Ignacio, he had controlled and organized -on behalf of the, then conservative, Democratic Party- several election blocks against Los Angeles’ Latin Community. Precluding, on purpose, the minority from voting.

Judge, Jury, and Press considered such a man a key witness.

He stated that, late on the 24th of October, he had gone to Negro Alley because he had heard gunshots. Later, he entered a backstreet. Wounded, he called for Officer Thompson. Who was then killed by Yuen. That cold-blooded murder was the drop that made Whites riot. Soon, it turned into lynching. Although atrocious, the Press talked about it in terms of common madness generated by a climate of discontent against Chinese and dismissed it. Not without a plethora of Fake News to condone every All-American Americans’ action. No matter how cruel and inhuman.

Figure 9 - An Opium Den, 1890. Opium, In China, was Used For Therapeutic And Religious Purposes. It Was Only After The Fall Of The Qing Empire And The Anglo-Chinese Wars That It Was Deliberately Distributed By English Among Chinese. The Reason was, Mainly, To Increase The Monopoly. Field Were Needed For It, Field That Were Used For Agricolture And Sustainment. China, Of Course, Tried To Stop This Madness. To No Avail. Such Vice And The Trade That Followed Were Approved -And Managed- By Both The Triad And The US Government.

Apparently, Chinese plunged the city into depravity. They did it oh-so terribly, that even fantastic figures stepped into the scene. The Mandarin himself requested all that hidden money, in order to take over California. Legit.

It was, somehow, the very same hoax used at the Gold Rush time. A Let-Them-Eat-Cake kind of situation. Better known as, One-That-Never-Happened. Unfortunately, no Chinese could testify in a trial against a White person. No wonder it ended very quickly.

H.M. Mitchell, reporter of LA Star, absolved the whole city as, “ Victim of a horrendous trade and the climate of violence perpetrated by Chinese Mob.”

There is no doubt that various Political Powers influenced and determined the dismissal. The same ones that later used the bloodbath to impose the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act, approved in 1882.

The truth, as usual, is much bitterer. Even trivial, if compared to such slaughter. Scraping deep into the narrow-minded racist soul of that time false moralists, there is only greedy larceny and nothing more. The outrage that followed it highlighted how cruel the instigators were. The evidence proved the frequent sharing of favours between Hing, the Mobs, and the local Police. Immediately afterwards, oddly, all the documentation was archived and the whole affair swept under the carpet. They would only come out many years later, thanks to the strenuous research of historians and some favourable condition known as, China-Is-Now-A-Great-Economic-Power-And-We-Gotta-Behave. But that is another story and shall be told another time.

Figure 10 - Back Of A Store In Chinatown, 1880. American Police Has Always Had Close And Ambiguous Liasons With The Triad. An Exclusive Control Was Exercised Not Only On Opium And Spices, But Also On Labourers And Commodities (Both Official And Illegal) That Were Imported At Very Low Cost. It Obviously Affected The Economy, Which Collapsed Soon After. Entrepreneurs, Especially Those Who Dealt Whith Railroads That Received Huge Government Subsidies, Were Deeply Interested. Chinese Were Preferred To Americans And Europeans Because Of Their Low Cost -Of Course- And Worked Twice As Hard. During The Era Of The First Trade Unions, Chinese Were Used As Strikebreakers By The Very Same Employers To Block The Claims Of The Working Class. Such Smear Campaign Ruined Chinese Reputation With Disastrous Consequences.

No need to clarify, Bilderrain went to Negro Alley to steal the gold. It was an errand requested by Hing himself, in order to retaliate for Yuen’s hostilities. Hing alliance and protection, however, were not enough to save him from the gunfire of the other one’s henchmen. Bilderrain was, in fact, not a certified Sheriff. He was a Vigilante , authorized by Police itself to maintain order in the Ghetto. That explains why they ignored the private agreements between them and Chinese Mob, while encouraging illegal traffics and assassinations. On the other hand, Law Enforcement perceived a large part of every income. They controlled all the events, due to a large network of informers, knowing everything in advance. Including what was about to happen that night. Their only task was to observe, let them act and -if necessary- clear the field of possible obstacles. The same Marshal Frances Baker, chief of Police, dealt regularly with the Mob. His specialty was to retrieve Chinese slaves who managed to escape and embark illegally to Europe. The motivation? Mere greed. The one driving force who tied every Crooked Cop to a gang or the other. Usually, the one who paid the most.

According to Yuen’s statements, Bilderrain and Hing were together in that alley. The two factions headed for a reckoning. Remain neutral was everything officers had to do.

For that to happen, Emil Harris and George Garde were the experts on field. They had already distinguished themselves in difficult actions during many Mexican riots, such as the capture and killing of Tiburzio Vasquez. Their orders were to stick around without getting involved, no matter what. In front of the angry crowd, they not only did not lift a finger but also threatened those who tried to prevent any lynching. They never appeared in court. On the other hand, they got a promotion. Seems fair, right?

As stated, it was officially a spontaneous event. But the astonishing extreme speed at which all those people randomly organized themselves -five hundred moved as one man, each with a specific task, with the common climax of killing- had premeditated tattooed all over it

And many admitted it. For instance, the already mentioned H.M. Mitchell. Reporter of the Star, former County Sheriff, part of the wealthy Glassel family, future Mayor, he was leader of the -as stated, then conservative- Democratic Party. All mainly due to his notorious article about the massacre. And he never bothered to deny any discriminatory feeling.

Next, the rich merchant J.H. Weldon. After the lynching, blood stained from head to toe, he went for a drink. Once there, he bragged, “ I am satisfied now. I have killed three Chinamen.”

What about one of LA most successful businessperson, Harris Newmark? He said that he saw Thompson on the floor and went home to celebrate. It is unknown what, exactly. However, the man had close relationships with officers Celis and Kerren. Both of them suspected of shooting their colleague and abandoning him in the alley where several Mobsters holed up.

Police Chief Francis Baker stated that, after the fires in the building, where those thugs hid, he decided to leave the city at the mercy of the crowd and simply went to bed.

Like nothing happened.

All that knowledge -the lynching, the sham trial, the Police involvement- is thanks to the painstaking work of John Johnson Jr. more than a century after the massacre, he managed to gain access to the Huntington Library archives. The records unequivocally show that Politics, Institutions, and Private Interests were the core of the economic crisis and general desperation that threw Los Angeles into chaos.

Constitutional Racism deprived Chinese people of any human rights. Accusing them to be the Devil Incarnate, in order to manipulate the General Public, was a very easy step.

Figure 11 - The Chinese Massacre, 1871. There Were Nineteen -Official- Victims. The Entire Area Was Looted And Burned. The Injured Were Countless.

The truth about the massacre

Antecedents

It all began in 1869.

Flagship of a giant reconstruction was the First Transcontinental Railroad. Planned to boost American economy after the Civil War disaster, embodied hopes and dreams of Uncle Sam himself.

Pacific Railroad meant trade. Trade meant expansion. Expansion meant wealth. Especially when railways were shyly beginning to spread in Europe. United States, always competitively Avant-Garde, engineered the scheme that it would become model for nowadays Capitalism.

Such gargantuan deal required an equal amount of money. In order to create prosperity, the US Government doubled the Public Debt. Bold move, but not like the idea of covering all the expenses with the New York Gold Exchange. That system task was not only to favour the Market but also to maintain stable the price of gold.

It was not long, before speculators gathered up. Among them, James Fisk and Jay Gould. Nonchalantly tinkered around the then President of the United States, Ulysses Grant, they wanted him to buy and sell the metal to one of their associates -one General Daniel Butterfield- who would became USA Treasurer. He managed to convince Grant that it was necessary to buy gold, in order to keep the economy steady. However, Butterfield did not sell it. He bought it in Gould and Fisk's name, causing a sharp rise of prices and a dangerous inflation.

Realizing the fraud, the Government sold $4 million of gold in the next 24 hours. Consequently, its value plummeted. That outrageous mechanism generated a tremendous economic crisis, aggravated by scandal. Speculation on State Aid, inflating budget and reports, shutting out the State. Everything, rather than fair competition.

The crisis forced thousands of companies to close down. California, which had just finished its railroad and increased the ranks of unemployed souls, was one of the worst affected. The majority of the workers were Chinese, hired en masse to work on the railways and dismissed like broken dolls once they finished the job. Pour into Chinatown was the next obvious and single move. There, almost everyone was a foreigner. Almost. The very few White businesses, however, did not last long. Working fifteen hours per day and paid only few pennies, Chinese -once again- were the only ones who not only survived but thrived. ...

( About the Pacific Railroad: Was A Joint Venture, Involving Two Major Companies Created With That Sole Purpose -Union Pacific And Central Pacific- Also Involving The United States Government. Its Construction Connected Two Strategic Points For American Economy -The East Coast And The West Coast- And Represented The Beginning Of A New Era For Both USA And The Rest Of The World. That Railroad System Was A Colossal Quest, But Budget Scandals, Huge Subsidies, And The Involvement Of POTUS Ulysses Grant Almost Crashed The Country).

Pacific Railroad 1869

It was not all hunky-dory, though. Three fires surrounded them. The United States, China, and the Triad. Together working as one to exploit them. The prosperity of Chinatown's shops was often fictitious. Very few of them made an actual profit. The incomes from gambling, Opium houses, and liquor went directly into the hands of the Mobsters, who dispensed a good amount into local authorities.

The US flourished with the trade of Chinese products -included fruit, vegetables, fish, and necessities acquired overseas at very low cost- and local businesses went bankrupt, because they could not compete with such low prices.

By 1880, the entire national economy depended entirely on import-export with China. The Empire, on the other hand, imposed a Commission to verify the conditions of its subjects in that foreign country. Consequently, the Triad had complete control of Chinese immigration in the US. Keeping Uncle Sam in a sort of hidden subjugation. But hidden does not mean unknown. Hence, the scandalous Racial Laws and an overabundance of Fake News regarding the Yellow Peril were promulgated and spread on a massive scale .

Figure 13 – Thomas Nast’s Illustration “Go West – Go East” Exposing Jim Crow Laws. The Father Of The American Cartoon Openly Criticized American Political System In The Magazine, Harper’s Weekly.

Trusting in the innate racism of Americans, the Government described Chinese as undesirable . Therefore, it deprived them of any legal personality. Every time they suffered an injustice at the hands of someone White, full immunity was granted to that individual. And every time Chinese -allegedly- broke the rules, an example was made out of them. In short, every Yankee felt legitimated to take matters into their own hands .

The Los Angeles Massacre was a direct consequence of that perverse mechanism. As usual, in order to justify the crisis and its own flaws, the Government creates a perfect scapegoat.

Figure 14 – John Chapin’s Great Chicago Fire. $222 Million, 17.500 Buildings Destroyed, 300 Deaths.

The fire in Chicago on the 8 th of October, 1871, was the final act. It registered three hundred victims, one hundred and ten thousand homeless people, and eighteen thousand houses destroyed by the fire. One single wall survived. The ensuing investigation determined that it was a nefarious event, unleashed - wait for it- by the wrath of God. Such anger, according to rumours, occurred when an Irish cow – Irish, hence, foreigner- kicked a lamp and set the whole city on fire. It was but so absurd that nobody believed it. Rightly so.

Anyway, the case was closed in less than a minute.

In reality, many whispered that the culprit was not Destiny nor God. The hand that killed was very much human. The reasons? Money, power, glory.

Many things did not add up, about that event. First, the Chicago Fire Department was an example of unity and awareness. It was committed to defend a city, entirely made of wood, by fires that spread twice a day. It was, accordingly, very well armed and active. Eleven complete trucks, two manual fire-extinguishing systems, thirteen hoses, a forklift truck with a ladder, one hundred and twenty firefighters, one hundred and twenty-five volunteers and fifty-three horses. By 1871, it was also equipped with the unique Knocke-Pattent Hose Elevator, a water tower capable of generating and directing a high-pressure water jet.

How is it possible that such team found itself to quell the flames on the night of the 8 th of October? Easy. The Department made two unforgivable mistakes.

The first one concerns the First Aid. The responders would eventually show up, but only hours later and simply because they were submerged by calls.

The Department’s excuse was, “ We thought that the reported smoke belonged to another fire, one extinguished in the same area the day before.”

Almost grotesque, for expert firefighters. Furthermore, there is no mention in the yearbooks of that other fire. Maybe, just maybe, because there was none.

The subsequent mistake is, if possible, even more ludicrous. Once acknowledge that there was a fire, the Department sent the trucks. Only, in the opposite direction. The word miscommunication was overused and unacceptable. Especially by professionals accustomed to exchange information quickly and accurately. Moreover, all morning the firefighters had intervened to control four small arson fires in the same area. How could they ignore the fact that another one might have spread there as well?

Anyway, these mistakes were fatal. Despite the efforts and cooperation from nearby towns, the fury of the flames destroyed everything. At that point, if that was really arson, who did it? Most importantly, why?

The vast majority of the buildings in the heart of old Chicago were crumbling and illegally occupied by the Dregs Of Society, poor unfortunate souls of different ethnicities who found refuge there. Mobs, vice, and prostitution prospered.

Figure 15 - Chicago Fire Department, 1871. Although Equipped With Very Modern And Advanced Machineries, Bizarre And Deadly Mistakes Were Made During That Infamous Event.

Someone said that even Frederick Law Olmsted despised Chicago, particularly its immigrants and ugly buildings. Furthermore, in comparison to the rest of the United States, the city was far behind in terms of industrialization.

Emperor Nero used fire as a weapon to cleanse everything undesirable and corrupt about Rome. The flames that burned Chicago to the ground had the same purpose. The economic support from the State rebuilt the city in a way that was unthinkable. The very first Architecture School saw the light during the same year. While the Home Insurance Building, first skyscraper of the country, opened its door in 1885.

Figure 16 - Home Insurance Building,1888. Designed By William LeBaron Jenney, In 1884, It Is Often Considered The First Skyscraper, Symbol Of American Power.

A series of ominous events created a favourable substratum for the tragedy of the 24 th of October in Calle De Los Negros. Especially since more than half of the city already discontent with Chinese and their success.

Beyond the statements of the witnesses who retracted their versions countless times, the truth is one and only one. Bilderrain, fully armed, sneaked into Negro Alley. Together with other Vigilantes, he headed towards Yuen's house and shop. Some mentioned even the presence of Hing himself. Bilderrain's plan was to steal the well-known gold hidden in the trunk, which everyone had only learned of in the morning. Obviously, the Tongs disagreed. It was no coincidence that the Vigilantes organised that attack at half past nine sharp. In the trial, however, half past nine turned into six o’clock and even four o’clock. Details. The Ghetto had its own rules, including a curfew. After eight o’clock, everything had to close. And Chinese followed these regulations by the book.

Bilderrain, badly wounded and on his knees, cried for help. The rest of the group backtracked. Even for highly trained men it was not wise to come face to face with any Tong warrior, especially in their own turf. -That was the official version brought to the trial, and the only one to which the Judges gave credit, although many witnesses -all respectable citizens- have repeatedly disavowed it.

However, he claimed that Thompson played the hero. Holding his gun, he marched bravely into the alley. All by himself. Then, he opened the door and almost immediately got shot in the chest. Two hours later, he was dead.

After, officers Celis and Kerren pulled Thompson's lifeless body out of the alley and tried to tend to him. The news of his death made the crowd even madder. The rest is well known.

Horace Bell, reporter and lawyer, almost instantly gave his testimony about it. And it was rejected. He did not surrender and wrote several articles, supporting his version. He focused especially on the relationship between Baker and the Triad, exposing the Law Enforcement rotten core. Only more than a century later, all the documentation finally confirmed his evidence.

The Official Reports conveniently excused the fishy work of the Police, and the murderous behaviour of the crowd, under the chilling discharge of Collective-Madness-And-Let’s-Be-Honest-Chinese-Had-It-Coming-With-All-Their-Smug.

More than a century to prove something that it was easy to verify instants after it occurred.

Figure 17 - Horace Bell, 1880. Such An Interesting Character, It Would Need A Book On Its Own.

First, the witnesses. Absolute protagonist and public hero was Bilderrain, who declared he saw Thompson bullet riddled. False. He was at the entrance of the alley when he called for help, while Yuen's house -where the fight happened- was right inside Negro Alley. More precisely, in an area not visible from the street. Not only because of the walls but also because of the lack of electricity. Officers - real ones - when and if intervened, they did it equipped with lights.

The most bizarre scenario, however, was the one involved Celis and Deck. They had been ordered to not leave Coronel Building. Sure, they excused a breach of orders with the heart-breaking motivation of saving a friend . The smallest violins all over Negro Alley were playing just for the two of them. It was, actually, common routine to abandon wounded officers on the ground. Moreover, Thompson was not one of them. He was a Vigilante and there has always been bad blood between Law Enforcement and wannabes. It is preposterous to think that two legit cops would risk their lives to save a scoundrel. The logic explanation is that they were the ones who killed him. Or that they pushed him into the tiger’s den and shot first, just to provoke the wanted reaction. Some witnesses also mentioned a third cop, one Richard Kerren, who was lurking in the alley in front of Yuen's shop. Later -when the trial was over- many others remembered seeing him jump out of there, after the first blast. “ They killed Thompson!” he yelled. A few moments later, Celis and Deck appeared carrying a wounded man. The two were already in Negro Alley. They did not rush in after, as they stated. Besides, in the area there were also two other officers -Harris and Gard- who were in charge of the building. How is it possible that five of them were unable to defend Thompson, who was shot twice and at point-blank range?

Everything suggests that his murder was a pretentious event to validate a planned and organized massacre. It involved a crowd, who acted under the conscious eyes of Almighty Police. All for a grudge against foreigners who had it better than them.

It is estimated that about five hundred people took part in the lynching. The 1% of the entire city. They were not exalted citizens with pitchforks. It was a conscious organized execution. And, contrary to what Commander Baker stated during the trial, it could be easily sedated by the forces of law and order.

Immediately after the death of Thompson -who was not rescued- a squad breached into Negro Alley, shooting to get the attention of the Mobsters. At a safe distance. That allowed others to climb onto the roof of Coronel Building and open fire directly at the people inside. It lasted about ten minutes. Someone yelled, “ That's it, we're going in!” And that was all it took, for the crowd to start the bloodbath.