[PREV - CHINESE_RED_SPACE]    [TOP]

CHINATOWN_BLINDFOLDED

                                             July 22, 2015

                                             A version of this was
                                             published here:

                                               http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/07/26/1405780/-Chinatown-Tour

That "sinister, evil and mysterious Chinese of one-time
popular imagination" that Burke refers to has many           CHINESE_RED
examples in popular fiction--

I found a relatively early one recently
in the novel "Blindfolded" from 1907,
written by Earle Ashley Walcott, and set     It must've been written before
in pre-Earthquake San Francisco and it's     the 1906 quake and been published
environs.                                    just afterwards.  One wonders how
                                             Walcott felt about his setting
                                             suddenly becoming dated.
                                                               
                                                                 NILES


"Blindfolded" is available on-line at the gutenberg project site:

    https://archive.org/details/blindfolded07788gut

and there's also a librivox audio version:

    https://archive.org/details/blindfolded_1002_librivox


At one point in the story, the main characters all
go off slumming on a tour of-- Chinatown!

    'Oh, isn't it sweet! So charming!' cried Mrs. Bowser, as we
    came into full view of the scene and crossed the invisible
    line that carries one from modern San Francisco into the
    ancient oriental city, instinct with foreign life, that goes
    by the name of Chinatown. Sordid and foul as it appears by
    daylight, there was a charm and romance to it under the
    lantern-lights that softened the darkness. Windows and doors
    were illuminated. Brown, flat-nosed men in loose clothing
    gathered in groups and discussed their affairs in a strange
    singsong tongue and high-pitched voices. Here, was the sound
    of the picking of the Chinese banjo-fiddle; there, we heard a
    cracked voice singing a melancholy song in the confusion of
    minor keys that may pass for music among the brown men; there,
    again, a gong with tin-pan accompaniment assisted to reconcile
    the Chinese to the long intervals between holidays. Crowds
    hurried along the streets, loitered at corners, gathered about
    points of interest, but it seemed as though it was all one man
    repeated over and over.

    'Why, they're all alike!' exclaimed Mrs. Bowser. 'How do they
    ever tell each other apart?'


Things suddenly turn sinister and hero and heroine find
themselves isolated, trapped in the rats-warren of
Chinatown, fighting off an evil yellow horde, evidentally
hired by some mysterious agency:

   The rest of his sentence was lost in a suppressed scream
   from Luella.  I turned and darted before her, just in time
   to face three Chinese ruffians who were hastening down the
   passage. The nearest of the trio, a tall dark savage with a
   deep scar across his cheek, was just reaching out his hand
   to seize Luella when I sprang forward and planted a blow
   square upon his chin. He fell back heavily, lifted almost
   off his feet by my impact, and lay like a log on the floor.

   The other two ruffians halted irresolute for an instant,
   and I drew my revolver. In the faint light of the passage I
   could scarcely see their villainous faces. The countenance
   of the coolie is not expressive at best, but I could feel,
   rather than see, the stolid rascality of their
   appearance. Their wish seemed to be to take me alive if
   possible. After a moment of hesitation there was a muttered
   exclamation and one of the desperadoes drew his hand from
   his blouse.

   'Oh!' cried Luella. 'He's got a knife!'

   Before he could make another movement I fired once, twice,
   three times. [...]

   'Have you killed them?' she asked quietly.

   'I hope so,' I replied [...]



                                      CHINATOWN


--------
[NEXT - SAX_ROHMER]