The Paper Daughters of Chinatown - Heather B. Moore Page 0,146
which included Mrs. P. D. Browne, Mrs. E. V. Robbins, Mrs. Sara B. Cooper, and Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst (Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 51).
The case of the missing apples and Tien’s tearful confession is based on an incident in the mission home that demonstrates that although the young residents had their needs provided for, they often resorted to survival tactics learned on the streets of Chinatown (Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 45–46).
With Miss Culbertson’s retirement and the changing of the guard, so to speak, Donaldina began to receive more threats and warnings than usual, and they became a constant nuisance. But Donaldina didn’t cower. She believed that if someone truly meant her violent harm, they wouldn’t send a warning in advance. Threats included the incident of finding a hanging effigy of herself in a room when she was tricked into following a note’s direction to rescue a girl (Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 53–54).
Even when Donaldina was sent directions to a rescue, others were in place to thwart her, including police officers who were bribed and watchmen and informers hired by the slave owners. The informers would warn the brothels of impending raids, and Donaldina’s team would then have to outsmart them. Another challenge came in the form of the legal system, which was faulty. Tong members paid corrupt lawyers to file false claims and obtain warrants for the slave girls’ arrests, accusing them of theft. Of course, if a girl was recovered after a raid on the mission home, the girl would be transported out of San Francisco and never seen again (Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 54).
The scripture quote from the Apostle Paul was particularly dear to Donaldina, as she relied on her religious beliefs, prayer, and scriptures to give her courage and strength (Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 26).
The record of Dong Ho and how she showed up at the mission house with her bundle of treasures is recorded in Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 53.
Chapter Seven
Epigraph citation: Asbury, Barbary Coast, 176.
Ah-Peen Oie Kum was a beautiful courtesan who began to deal opium in order to buy her freedom back. She was clever and considered the “toast of Chinatown.” She worked closely with the tong and became part owner of other girls. She became a feared leader in a system that she had once been a victim of. Her brothel was raided multiple times by Donaldina’s team, and there was no love lost between the two women (Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 238–39).
Chapter Eight
Epigraph citation: Annual Reports of the Mission Home.
Donaldina also dealt with challenges from the leadership in the mission home. Mary H. Field was not as devoted to the betterment of the Chinese women and girls. Her reading of Kipling’s new poem was only a slice of her attitude toward them. She lumped them together by claiming that “Mongolian women presented a harder problem—‘more conscienceless, more suspicious, more fiery and voluble, more utterly bereft of reason—half-devil and half-child’” (Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 17).
Jean Ying’s parents were contacted about her survival in San Francisco. They sent money for Jean Ying’s passage home, and she traveled with a group of associates connected with the mission home in order to secure her safety. Many weeks later, Donaldina received word from Canton that Jean Ying had been reunited with her overjoyed parents (Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 18–19).
Chapter Nine
Epigraph citation: Frank Moore, ed., “The Chinese to the President,” Record of the Year, Volume 1 (New York: G. W. Carleton & Co., Publishers, 1876), 601.
The character of Huan Sun is based on the true story of Sin Kee. Sin Kee fell in love with a woman he met at a brothel on Mah Fong Alley. The woman confided how she must earn enough money each month for her expenses plus pay back three hundred dollars to her owner. Sin Kee helped her escape, but then the tong captured her and demanded one thousand dollars from Sin Kee. It was then that Sin Kee went to Donaldina Cameron for help (Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 37–38).
Chapter Ten
Epigraph citation: Rev. Ira M. Condit, The Chinaman as We See Him: And Fifty Years of Work for Him (Chicago, New York, Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1900), 140–41.
Chinese slave owners, especially members of the criminal tong groups, used the legal system to fight back against Donaldina Cameron and the mission home. When the Chinese owners arrived with an accompanying police officer or lawyer, Donaldina took her time opening the many deadbolts on the mission home door. A brass gong was rung to signal that a search was