The Paper Daughters of Chinatown - Heather B. Moore Page 0,148
locked in a room to die alone” (Yung, Unbound Feet, 29).
Chapter Seventeen
Epigraph citation: Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 65 (quoted from California Historical Society with Donaldina Cameron House, 1931).
Dolly was called Mama by many of the Chinese girls in the mission home. The scene in this chapter where Dolly is questioned by another woman on the ferry truly happened. Part of the conversation was documented by author Mildred Martin. Dolly later said of the incident, “I hope my Creator will forgive me. But I told the legal truth, you know. Can’t you imagine the head shaking that went on when those easterners took home their tale about cosmopolitan San Francisco?” (Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 60).
Chapter Eighteen
Epigraph citation: Asbury, Barbary Coast, 179.
Herbert Asbury informs us that the two types of brothels in San Francisco’s Chinatown included the parlor house and the crib. The parlor houses were upscale and limited in number. They attracted wealthier patrons and were furnished in relative luxury. The women dressed in expensive and alluring clothing. Cribs littered the streets of Chinatown, sometimes lining both sides of an alley. The crib was meagerly furnished and consisted of a “small, one-storey shack some twelve feet wide and fourteen feet deep, divided into two rooms by heavy curtains of coarse material” (Barbary Coast, 175–76).
Chapter Nineteen
Epigraph citation: Donaldina Cameron, quoting the Apostle Paul, Philippians 4:13 (cited by Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 26).
When President William McKinley visited the mission home late one night, he brought his wife, Ida, with him. Ida had been ill, and so their trip had been delayed. In Mildred Martin’s book, she lists the president as President Theodore Roosevelt (Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 62–63). But Julia Siler corrects the information in her publication, The White Devil’s Daughters (167–68).
Several interpreters assisted at the mission home over the years. Yuen Qui had a close bond with Tien, and when Yuen Qui died, everyone grieved. When Tien saw how much Donaldina grieved, it put the director in a more human light, and Tien’s heart began to soften (Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 66–67).
Chapter Twenty
Epigraph citation: Annual Reports of the Mission Home.
Women working in brothels did not get to keep their babies. Frequently, the babies were stolen so that they could become part of a human trafficking ring. Other times, the poor health of the mother prevented a live birth. Babies were left on the doorstep of the mission home because the mothers knew it was a safe place. Babies were also kidnapped in China and brought over to San Francisco, as was the case with an elderly woman who purchased a baby in Hong Kong for ten dollars, then tried to pass it off as a grandchild. Donaldina was called by Colonel Jackson to come take that baby (Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 30). Another tragic case centered on Yoke Wan, who had her baby snatched away from her and sold to a woman slaver. Despite Donaldina and her legal team helping Yoke Wan in a total of forty-seven court appearances, spanning a year and a half, Yoke Wan was never granted parental rights (Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 50–52).
Chapter Twenty-One
Epigraph citation: Annual Reports of the Mission Home.
Although not highlighted much in this book, Donaldina’s siblings were a great support to her, writing letters and exchanging visits. When she met and fell in love with Charles, it was her siblings’ hope that she had fully recovered from the heartbreak of her first broken engagement. Author Mildred Martin shares the sweetness of the courtship between Donaldina and Charles in Chinatown’s Angry Angel (72–76).
Chapter Twenty-Two
Epigraph citation: Nee and de Bary, Longtime Californ’, 83–90.
In this chapter, Donaldina shares with Charles the success story of Yute Ying’s courageous testimony in front of the grand jury. But not every court appearance had a favorable outcome. Yoke Hay was rescued from being sold to a brothel, and as Donaldina and her rescue team drove Yoke Hay to court, she told them how her owners were not her parents, as they claimed to be. But when she stood before the judge, her angry master and his group of Chinese friends intimidated her, so she refused to tell the true story. The judge ruled that Yoke Hay had to return to her “father” (Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 31).
Chapter Twenty-Three
Epigraph citation: Annual Reports of the Mission Home.
In one of Donaldina’s darkest moments, she wrote: “The Chinese themselves will never abolish the hateful practice of buying and selling their women like so much merchandise. . . . Enactment by law does not reach this evil as it is impossible to get