The toes were perfectly formed, rosy and square like a child’s, and the foot, from the edge of the voluminous silken trousers, which ended at the ankle, to the tip of the toes, was fit for a model. They had never been deformed by binding, so she could not have been a high caste girl, but they had evidently never been in a shoe. Her slippers had fallen from her feet, which were as pretty as a baby’s. Her clothing was all silk, richly embroidered. Her features, whiie Mongolian, had some points which indicated mixed blood, and she was much taller than most of her race. On a divan was a beautiful girl, who ap peared to be a mestizo. The decorations and carvings were all beautiful. “Here is a place,” he said, “that white people are neverĪdmitted to,” and pulling aside a silken curtain he entered a room exquisitely furnished in Chinese style. Maybe worth $2000 maybe more.“Īgain the officer led the way through iron doors, up and down little stairways, and making a quick jump for a door entered just in time to prevent it being locked in his face. How much was she worth now? “ Oh, heap lot! She very young. She had cost a thousand dollars in China. She was bright, and pathetic ally pretty, and had not been in her present quarters long enough to have lost the gayety natural to children. The old woman admitted that the girl was “ all same like me” and the little thing had evidently not the slightest conception of the horrors of the life before her. She was frightened at first, but with the simplicity of a child, which she really was, soon lost her timidity. She had cost $650, she said, “long time ago.” As she was talking the officer heard a rustle in the next little room, and on investigating found a remarkably pretty little Chinese girl, not more than 14 or 15 years old. The next place visited was inhabited by a woman about 40 years old. Woman run away she get killed.” She was perfectly frank about the matter, and seemed to think it natural that she should be a man’s property. Her first “ husband” she said, paid the woman who owned her $800 she was not worth that much now because she was getting old. She had lived here twenty years, and was a “ lillel girl” when she first came. Officer Bevan, who could talk good pigeon English, talked with her, and the statement was elicited that her name was Hoy. A woman of about 30 years of age sat on the edge of the bed. The room was about 6xl0 feet, and was decorated with great quantities of tinsel and China ornaments. Turning around the corner of the Pico house and diving into several narrow hallways, the officer pulled aside a curtain and entered a room, the reporter close at his heels. The police officer gave an air of authority to the expedition which had its effect in giving the reporter access to places he could not otherwise have entered and in inducing the inmates to talk.

Last night a Herald reporter under the guidance of Police Officer Bevan, who is an authority on, and in Chinatown, made a thorough inspection of the place, with a view to obtaining some information about this traffic in human flesh which is being conducted in a land of liberty.

Their owners hold bills of sale of their bodies, and transfer them as horses and cattle are sold. Most of them lead a luxurious life, living on the choicest food, wearing the most costly clothes, and leading a most lazy existence, but still they are slaves. These slaves do not hoe cotton, or make bricks, or build pyramids, or labor in the sun and out in the field. Women Who Cost from Eight Hundred to Three Thousand Dollars-Child Slaves. What a “Herald” Reporter Aided by the Police Has Ascertained. Chinese Women Bought and Sold Like Animals. To my eyes, it appears these ladies, although they were interviewed in “good pigeon English” by a white cop, were talking in a style closer to standard English than your typical CPE.

Here, from the early post-frontier era in California, we have quotations. …But it turns out that women are documented speaking CPE too. The West Coast variety of Chinese Pidgin English was only spoken by men, you’d think from the gender ratio you’ve been seeing on this site…

Chinese pidgin english