ore them.

They are a law unto themselves, have their own tribunals, officers,
fines and punishments and woe betide the member who doesn't submit. He
might cry out for the white man's law to protect him, but long before
his cry could reach the white man's ear it would be lost in that
lonely, secretive village and the first officer that reached the place
would be greeted by the usual stoical, "No sabe."

Police and other investigations showed that for years past the slavery
of girls and women in Chinatown was at all times deplorable and
something horrible. At an investigation, a few years ago, instituted
at the instance of the Methodist Mission, some terrible facts were
elicited, the following indicating the nature of nearly all:

The first girl examined testified that her parents sold her into
slavery while she was only fifteen years of age. The price paid was
$1,980, of which she personally saw $300 paid down as a deposit.
Before the final payment was made she escaped to the mission.

The second, an older girl, lived in a house of ill fame for several
years before she made her escape. She testified that she was sold for
$2,200 by her stepmother. The transaction occurred in this city. She
talked at length of the conditions surrounding the girls, including
the infamous rule that they must earn a certain sum each day, and the
punishments that follow failure. This girl said she knew from other
girls of her acquaintance that many white men were in the habit of
visiting the Chinese houses.

The third girl who testified said she was sold at a time when slaves
were scarcer and higher in price than they are now, and brought $2,800
at the age of fifteen. She, too, was positive that white men visited
the Chinese houses of ill fame.

One of the women of the mission showed the committee three little
girls, mere babies, who had been rescued by the mission. Two of them
were sold by their parents while they were still in arms. The first
brought $105 when three months old and another was sold at about the
same age for $150. All three were taken from the keepers of houses of
ill fame and were living regularly in the houses when rescued.

But there was also a better side to Chinatown. The joss house was an
interesting place. It was but a large room without seats. A profusion
of very costly grill work and lanterns adorned the ceilings and walls;
instruments of war were distributed around the room, and many fierce
looking josses pe