Office of the Historian

Mr. Yang Yü to Mr. Adee.

Chinese Legation,
Washington, September 27, 1893. (Received Sept. 28.)

Sir: I have the honor to ask your especial attention to the facts related in a telegram just received from the Chinese consul-general at San Francisco, bearing date the 26th instant, which is inclosed. Under all the circumstances it appears that the arrest from day to day of respectable Chinese laborers and their incarceration in the jails of California is not only useless, but the procedure in the cases very unusual, and results only in cruelty to such Chinese subjects and in the loss and destruction of their property. The denial of bail in the habeas corpus cases which have been appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States is unprecedented, and no such cruel treatment or denial of justice in cases of this class is even contemplated in the drastic provisions of the so-called Geary law. No crime has been committed by these persons, yet they are treated as though they are guilty of the highest offenses known to the law, and held in custody while their property and effects are wasted or destroyed.

I desire to suggest that the attention of the Attorney-General of the United States may be directed to the existing state of affairs, with the hope that he may be able by some method of his own to obtain, through the action of the United States district attorneys who have charge of [Page 259] these eases, bail for these Chinese persons, who may be protected thereby from such cruel persecution and their property saved from such loss and destruction.

I am, etc.,

Yang Yü.
[Inclosure.]

Mr. Li Yung Yew to Mr. Yang Yü.

San Francisco, Cal., September 26.

There are now 64 men in the various jails for not registering—17 in San Francisco, 23 in Oakland, and 24 in Los Angeles—and more arrests are being made each day. All of the cases have been appealed to the United States Supreme Court, but it is uncertain when these cases will be heard. They may not be heard for several months. In the meantime the parties are incarcerated in jail among felons and other criminals, and have been denied bail by the courts, notwithstanding the fact that they have not committed any crime and that the courts have decided that a failure to register is not a crime. People charged with any crime under the law except murder are entitled to bail; yet these people who have committed no crime are denied the right of bail pending their appeal, and their property and other effects in the meantime are being irretrievably lost. The people who are being arrested are of the better class of Chinese laborers, and are people who have money and are invaluable to their positions. If something can not be done to check these arrests or to allow these people bail pending the hearing of their appeal, the Chinese on this coast will be irretrievably ruined.

Please remonstrate to the President.

Li Yung Yew,
Chang Teng Chip.