A large number of the men died of lung-related diseases such as tuberculosis, but a couple committed suicide or were murdered. The articles and obituaries below provide a fascinating account of life and conditions in Washington's "Chinatown" of the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as the funeral traditions of the time.

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES

It is the custom each year for the Chinamen to gather at this period. Tales are related of the dead brother, amid merry-making, and sometimes the feasting continues for a week at a stretch.

The native of the flowery kingdom is a regular night owl, and for this reason much of the celebration takes place in the early hours of the morning. It is in the larger cities, where there are large numbers of the Chinamen, that the memorial exercises, on Chinese Decoration day, will be observed to the greatest extent. They march to the cemeteries, where their dead rest, materials for the feast having been sent ahead of them. The food, consisting generally of roasted pig, chicken and cake, is placed on the graves, while quantities of gold paper, prepared for the occasion is burned. Prayers and genuflections are part of the ceremony and when the paper is consumed the march homeward is accomplished. The lesser edibles are left on the graves, while the more substantial are taken away.

If Washingtonians have cause to complain for the next few days that their laundry is not finished at the time promised the reason can be explained when it is known that the "washees" are celebrating Decoration day.

The Evening Star, June 7, 1901
Desecration of Graves Alleged
Nelson H. Adams of 737 7th street northeast has written to the District Commissioners calling attention to the alleged desecration of Chinese graves in Congressional cemetery. He says: "My attention has been called by Chinese friends to the desecration of the graves and tombstones of their deceased countrymen in their purchased lot in the Congressional cemetery, which a recent visit by my wife to the cemetery proved to be more than fully verified. It was found that the tombstones were dabbed with axle grease or similar substance and that the graves were desecrated in a most indecent manner. The Chinese people have a fervent veneration for their dead, and are unable to account for such dastardly and sacrilegious acts in a land of boasted Christianity, civilization and enlightenment. I ask that the matter be investigated.

The Evening Star, August 22, 1906, p. 15
Food For The Dead
Ceremony by Chinamen at Congressional Cemetery
A large portion of the population of Chinatown, on Pennsylvania avenue, proceeded to Congressional cemetery last Monday afternoon to celebrate the feat of feeding the dead. The ceremony is considered a very important one by the Celestials.

The ceremony at the cemetery began at 2 p.m., the start having been made about an hour earlier. The preparations for the event were made several days in advance. Many of the Chinamen prepared tempting delicacies intended to appease the hunger of their deceased comrades journeying to the far-away land.

When the start was made it looked as though the party was off for a picnic rather than to engage in a solemn ceremony. The members were dressed in their best costumes, and in a carriage were baskets, boxes and bottles, the supplies including chicken, rice in large quantities, oranges, bananas, a peculiar brand of Chinese wine and other things.

On their arrival at the cemetery the food was carefully placed on the various graves of Chinamen. Small cups were filled with wine, and plates well laden with chicken and rice and fruit set on each grave.

Punk was lighted over each grave and burned. Moy Gim conducted formal rites over each grave. A bonfire of paper of peculiar texture was lighted.

INTERRED IN CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY

The Evening Star, December 4, 1938, p. B1
On Leong Ton Head, Charles L. Soo, Dies
Charles Lee Soo, 69, president of the local On Leon Tong Chinese merchants organization, and president of the corporation which runs the Guysum Restaurant at 610 H street N.W., died yesterday in Sibley Hospital after an illness of about a month.

A native of China, Mr. Soo had been a resident of this city for many years and was widely known. He was a member of the Lee Company, a Chinese club, all of whose members are said to be related - some through distant ancestors.

The body was scheduled to be taken today to lie in state in a building at 607 H street N.W., where it may be viewed by Mr. Soo’s many friends. The body is to remain there until shortly before the funeral, scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday in Cavalry Baptist Church. The Rev. Dr. William S. Abernethy, pastor, and the Rev. Dr. C.C. Hung, pastor of the Chinese Community Church, will officiate. Burial will be in Congressional Cemetery. Although not a member of Cavalry Church, Mr. Soo was a Christian.

Mr. Soo lived at 400 B street N.W. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Nora C. Soo; fours sons, Raymond C., Bernard C., Charles W. and Edward Soo, and a daughter, Mrs. Margaret Mack, all of this city. He also leaves seven grandchildren.

The Evening Star, December 6, 1938, p. A4
On Leong Ton Members To Attend Soo Rites
Fellow Chinese, including many members of the On Leon Tong, tomorrow will pay tribute to Charles Lee Soo, 69, president of the local On Leong Tong, Chinese merchant organization, who died Saturday in Sibley Hospital.Funeral services for Mr. Soo will be held a 2 p.m., tomorrow in Calvary Baptist Church, with the Rev. Dr. William S. Abernethy, pastor, and the Rev. Dr. C.C. Hung, pastor of the Chinese Community Church officiating. Burial will be in Congressional Cemetery. In the funeral procession from the church to the cemetery will be several bands, some playing Chinese and others American music. Members of the On Leong Tong from other cities are expected to march in the funeral procession.Mr. Soo’s body is lying in state in a building at 607 H street N.W, where it is to remain until shortly before the funeral.

Mr. Soo was known as the original mayor of Washington’s Chinatown. He was head of the corporation which runs the Guysum Restaurant at 610 H street N.W. and his home was at 400 B street N.E. He had been a resident of this city for many years. Although he was not a member of the Calvary Church, he was a Christian.

The Evening Star, Thursday, December 8, 1938, p. 3
Impressive Rites Attend Funeral of Charles Lee Soo
Four Bands Play During Solemn March to Burial Service
Charles Lee Soo, 69-year-old original "Mayor" of Washington's Chinatown, was buried in Congressional Cemetery yesterday following an impressive funeral procession from the Calvary Baptist Church, where services were conducted by the Rev. William S. Abernathy, pastor, assisted by the Rev. C.C. Hung, pastor of the Chinese Community Church.The Chinese merchant, who was president of the On Leong Tong, died Saturday in Sibley Hospital.More than 100 automobiles were in the funeral procession, which was headed by a band. Hundreds of mourners on foot followed an open car loaded with wreaths and a number of young Chinese carried wreaths and banners inscribed with Chinese characters. Traffic in the heart of Chinatown was blocked for nearly an hour while the procession passed.

A group of local tong members, carrying tall shafts decorated with flowers, preceded the hearse and members of On Leong Tong from other cities were in the procession. Two Chinese and two American bands played Chinese and American music at the funeral.

Mr. Soo was head of the corporation operating the Guysum Restaurant at 610 H street N.W.

REMOVED TO CHINA, FEBRUARY 1, 1909

In front of them bent half a dozen gravediggers engaged in disinterring the remains of twenty-two Celestials, the last of whom had been buried at least five years, for shipment to their native soil-for a Chinese may not lie forever under foreign soil if he would enjoy perpetual happiness in paradise. Around them, silent and ghostly, arise the headstones that mark the resting places of dozens of other Chinese.

Twenty-Two Bodies Exhumed
Throughout the morning the gravediggers worked diligently. By noon they had exhumed all the bodies designated by the Chinese committee which had the affair in charge. The remains removed from the eart were those of Lee Gong, Moi Won Shan, Lee Look, Moy Guan Kee, Ching Win, Moy Lung Tung, Lee Gong Moon, Moy Dan, Moy Sing, Lee You, Lee Gim, Moy Goon, Moy Gif Nie, Lee Fin Wing, Lee Mon Sock, Loy Gam, Moy Wah, Goon Tong, Moy Hong, Moi Mi Gaf and Yeun Hing.

Permits for the disinterment were issued to relatives of the deceased during the past few days by the health officer.

The greatest secrecy was observed by the Chinese concerning the disinterment. When the digging was begun a party of Chinese was on hand. They watched everything until the last body was exhumed. When all but one left. He, a stout, heavy-checked man of middle age remained to keep a guard while the most grisly part of the ceremony was performed. That was the boiling of the corpses, which occupied the entire afternoon.

This was necessary because only the bones are to be sent to China. The bones will be put into metal boxes for shipment. When they reach China they will be cremated and their ashes placed in urns.

Chinaman on Guard
The gravediggers attend to this gruesome work. But ever at their elbows was the watchful Chinaman, and no stranger was allowed to come near. Several tried to do so-persons who were at the cemetery for one reason or another and who, from idle curiosity, sought to find out what was going on within the shed-but they would be met by one of the gravediggers, who told them they could not approach.

To the inquisitive the stolid Chinese guardian would give black looks. He was far from prepossessing with his heavy overcoat and thick cap, the flaps of which were pulled over its owner's ears to protect from the biting cold.

To Leave New York Thursday
Arrangements have been made by the Chinese to have the bones of their friends taken home on a ship which sails from New York Thursday. The disinterment was put off until the last possible day and was kept quiet. But for the necessity of obtaining permits for the disinterment of the bodies it would probably have been accomplished without anything being known about it.

Of the bodies that were disinterred yesterday none was buried later than 1903. Several were buried in 1896. Usually the remains are allowed to remain in the earth for five years, but sometimes the relations of the dead are unable, for one reason or another, to attend to their removal when the five-year limit is up, and so let them lie until the proper arrangements can be made. The twenty-two sets of bones will probably be sent Tuesday from Washington to New York, whence they will start on the long sea journey home.

Most of the deaths of Chinese in Washington are due to lung diseases, consumption and pneumonia being the most frequent causes. The close quarters in which the Chinese live and their use of opium and other drugs hasten their end when they are attacked by such diseases.

Feeding the Dead
Interesting to an American is the Chinese custom of feeding the dead. This occurs four or five times a year, and those in charge of Congressional cemetery never know of it until they see the Chinese drive into the grounds. It is the Chinese belief that while the bodies lie buried they must be cared for in a substantial way. Cooked food, usually rice, pork, roast chicken and wine, compose the feasts. They are taken from the stove and placed in a carriage and carried in a hurry to the cemetery and placed on the graves with ceremony. The wine is placed in small cups and set with the food. Incense is burned and bundles of imitation paper money are placed by the headstones. Real money is never left there.

A few years ago Chinese funerals at Congressional cemetery attracted hundreds of persons, but the Chinese became tired of this, so that now when one dies his friends have the undertaker notify the superintendent of the cemetery only an hour or two before the time set fore the burial. In that manner they avoid much publicity.

Eight Chinamen in two carriages accompanied the remains to the cemetery, three riding inside of each carriage and one with each driver. Those outside scattered bits of red, white and green paper, inscribed with charms, to drive away the devils in the air, which are supposed to be ever seeking to catch souls of the departed and carry them off to torment. At the grave punk sticks were lighted, and while they were burning one of the Chinamen threw twenty-one grains of rice in the open grave. When the grave was filled two roasted chickens, a package of tea, three jars of preserves and a bag of rice were placed on it, in order that Moy should not go hungry on his journey. A small pot of tea was poured upon the grave, and then the pot and several small cups were placed by the food.

Moy Ni Goo was a member of a family which consists, possibly of three hundred souls. He was a laundryman, and had lived two years in this city. He was 56 years old. Moy had a desire to return to the flowery kingdom, and it is said he had accumulated considerable money, which he had saved for this trip. But he was taken sick and two days ago he was stricken with paralysis.

His death occurred at No. 104 4-1/2 street, where is located the Chinese joss house. Undertaker Lee prepared the body for burial, and the dead man's relatives participated in the ceremonies at the grave.

On the way from the undertaker's to the grave a brother of the deceased sat on the hearse and scattered perforated bits of paper along the street. At the cemetery a little group of celestials from Chinatown had assembled to meet the funeral party and assist in lowering the body into the grave.

Two roast chickens, cups of tea and wine, and two bowls, each containing rice and a hard boiled egg, were placed near the head of the grave. Bunches of punk and incense were burned, and a large box, filled with articles which had belonged to the dead man, was burned over the grave.

Lee Fun Wing was popular in the Chinese colony, and he had a much larger funeral than most Chinamen have had in this city. While Undertaker J. Wm. Lee was the one who furnished the casket and arranged for the carriages, the celestials made all their own arrangements and notified the undertaker of the time of the funeral only a short time before they were ready to start.

Several of his brethren, including his two brothers, who are in the laundry business, and Philip, the fat Chinaman who presides over the Chinese restaurant on Pennsylvania avenue, gathered at Lee's undertaking establishment, where the body was removed from the deadroom of the Emergency Hospital, about 3 o'clock. The body was borne to a hearse in the street and about fifteen Chinamen were bundled into three carriages and the procession moved directly to the Congressional Cemetery. No time was lost en route, and when the procession reached the part of the city adjacent to the cemetery it was evident that the children and curious persons of the neighborhood had heard of its approach, for hundreds of them were waiting on the sidewalks and started on a run after the procession and followed it to the cemetery. A great many were admitted to the cemetery, but the very small children had to content themselves with standing at the gate and peeping in.

Many Mysterious Packages
A space around the grave had been shut off by ropes, and around this was gathered a large crowd of men, women, and children, anxious to see the peculiar rites which are performed at the grave of a Chinaman. They were very orderly throughout the ceremony, but could not refrain from making inquiries of their neighbors about the meaning of certain ceremonies. The body was borne to the grave by four Celestials and placed on supports directly above the opening. It was in a plain casket and the top was tightly screwed on and never opened at the grave. The Chinamen then gathered at the foot of the casket and began to unwrap some of the many packages they carried. Moy's two brothers and Philip, who had prepared the delicacies for the nourishment of the deceased on his journey, officiated, and the others stood by watching and occasionally offering a suggestion or making a correction.

It was evident that there were certain differences between them regarding the right and proper course to pursue in the ceremonies, and when one of the managers would go wrong a Chinaman would step out from the bunch and perform the ceremony himself. One of Moy's brothers is a confirmed cigarette fiend, and had a lighted cigarette in his mouth during the entire ceremonies, and when it went out once or twice he would light it again from the sticks of incense burning at the foot of the grave.

The first bundle that was unwrapped contained two capons on separate dishes, baked and browned to a turn by the masterful Philip. The giblets were arranged around the chickens, and these were placed side by side at the foot of the grave. Then came two heaping bowls of rice, with a hard boiled egg on top of each. Then five chop-sticks were laid in a row at the foot of the grave and between each chop-stick was placed a little dish that resembled a butterdish. Then two little teapots filled with oil were produced and the little dishes filled with oil.

Poured Oil on the Flames
After the many bundles of incense, some that looked like firecrackers, were unwrapped and the firecracker-looking ones were lit from a fire that had been kindled from a bit of the oil poured over some paper and laid at the foot of the grave. The other sticks of incense were stuck upright in bunches in the ground that had been previously prepared by pouring the oil from one of the little dishes upon it. As fast as the dishes were emptied of theire contents they were refilled out of the little teapots. Finally all of the incense was burning merrily and one of Moy's brothers made a circle about the fire, from which it had been lighted with oil from the pots, and another fire was kindled of the wrappings that had come around the incense. This was also twice circled with the oil and every scrap of paper that had contained anything used at the burial, and even the market basket in which the stuff was brought, was burned in this fire with the single exception of a single sheet of wrapping paper, which was dropped into the open grave.Word was then given that the body was ready for burial, and after it was lowered into the grave a bundle composed of the deceased's clothes, his beloved pipe and all other things he was fond of, including cigarettes, were thrown upon the top of the coffin. A brother then threw in a few clods of earth, and as the grave was being filled, the food dishes, pots of oil and all were dropped into it and the Chinamen then got into the carriages and were driven back to the city. Not a word was spoken except the directions to one another, but after all the articles had been thrown into the grave, one of the Chinamen opened a bag of Chinese candy, half sugar and half salt, and passed it around. This meant that they were having a good time.

The money for Moy to pay his passage over the Styx with was in a purse in the bundle of clothes thrown into the grave and according to the best calculations he will reach the other shore in exactly six days.

Moy You had labored in this city for several years, although he had not saved much money. He had enough, however, to pay his living expenses even after he became ill of consumption. Fellow countrymen waited on him, and under their direction the doctor's directions were carried but to the very letter. But two days ago he breathed his last. Undertaker J. William Lee prepared the body for burial.

It was not until a few minutes before the procession started for the cemetery that the undertaker was directed to have the hearse and carriages on hand at 2 o'clock. Six carriages followed the hearse, and on the latter vehicle sat a Chinaman, a near relative of the decesed. He dropped on the street small slips of paper in which nine perforations had been made. These slips represented money and were thrown away in order that the evil spirits might be tempted and would lose sight of the departed spirit while gathering in the cash. Following behind the funeral procession were a number of small barefooted boys and they were the "demons" who collected the money. They followed the body to the grave and stood there to see the burning of the candies and sticks of incense, and afterward had a share of some Chinese candy that was passed around.

The Food Supply
Upon the arrival of the funeral party at the cemetery the casket was placed on the skids besided the open grave and there it rested while friends of the deceased prepared the spread, consisting of chilcken that had been cooked in oil; some rice, tea, and a fancy cake. Two sets of china were spsread on the ground and tea was poured into small cups. The Chinamen, n turn, picked up the cups of tea and motioned with them about the body, but did not touch the beverage. While this was being done the candies and incense were burning, and when the body had been lowered, the eatables, beverage and sets of china were placed on the cover of the box. Then began the work of filling the grave, and while this was being done, those who stood about the grave indulged in candy and distributed coins of small denomination wrapped in red paper.

The Price of Ferriage
It ws explained that this part of the ceremony was done for the purpose of paying the way of the departed spirit across the river. A bunch of handsome white roses rested on the casket. On the card attached to the flowers was written: "For Mr. You." In a short time friends of the departed will visit the grave and leave eatables for the deceased.

It is expected that the bodies of the Chinamen in Congressional cemetery will be disinterred and taken to China this year.

REMOVED TO CHINA, MARCH 28, 1918

Lee was a son of Lee Hin Nine, a merchant in China. Two brothers in this city, Lee Bin Doo and Lee Hung Dee, both of whom conduct small stores, also survive him. The deceased has a wife and child in China. He came to America about twenty-five years ago, and after working here a short time engaged in business. A year later he returned to China and was married. He remained there two years, and then came here again. He visited his family every year, as his wife refused to come to this country.

As is the custom, Lee's friends assembled his effects, including silk blouses, sandals, colored handkerchiefs, etc., which they say contain evil spirits and should be destroyed.

John Brown, colored, appeared on the scene, however, and upon being informed that the goods were to be destroyed, asked for them, and they were handed over to him. Brown promptly started for a second-hand store for the purpose of disposing of the goods, but a citizen noticing the bundle, informed police headquarters and a detective was soon questioning Brown as to his possession of the articles. The man explained satisfactorily and was allowed to depart.

Whatever his name may have been he is dead, and brothers and cousins by the score, are left to mourn his loss. There is nothing in the conduct of some of them to indicate mourning, however, but they are displaying some anxiety about his $600 bank account."We can't bury him till we get the money," one of them said to a Star reporter today, "but Lawyer Ambrose will get it for us and we will send what is left to Mrs. Wing and her four children in China."

Moy belonged to the local Chinese lodge of Freemasons. He did not attend any Sunday school in this city, but professed to be a Christian when he lived in Chicago. He was about 55 years old, and had been in this country nearly thirty years, during which time he paid two visits to China to see his wife and children. Fifteen years of this time he spent in this city. Had he lived until next year it was his intention to have returned to his native country for the last time. He had symptoms of tuberculosis, and although nearly dead he remained at his work in his laundry and sent to their owners the clothes he had handled.

Prepared His Noon Meal
Yesterday morning he ironed clothes until about 11 o'clock, and then he prepared his dinner. When his noon meal had been eaten a customer called and Moy found himself too weak to make change. He was in the act of opening the money drawer when he fell against the counter and expired. His death was due to heart failure, and a certificate to this effect was given. Coroner Nevitt says the man's condition indicated that he also had consumption. The coroner's attention was called to the habit many Chinamen have of taking a mouthful of water and sprinkling their laundry with it. Such a practice on the part of a Chinaman suffering from consumption, the coroner stated, would undoubtedly infect the garments. It is a matter, he thought, which might easily be remedied by the authorities. The practice, he stated, is a dangerous one, and ought to be stopped.

Known as a "Good Man"
In "Chinatown" Moy was looked upon as a "good man," and those who knew him well say he was never known to sit at a fan-tan table or participate in gambling games of any kind. A cousin of the deceased, who related the circumstances of his death, seemed to regard the life and demise of Moy as a huge joke.

"He was a good man," the cousin said, "but he was stingy. He would rather work than eat, 'cause he get money for his family when he worked and was paying it out when he eat."

"Yesterday," he said, showing more amusement as he proceeded, "Moy worked, and it was Sunday. He didn't care about Sunday just so he was making money. Then he went in the back room and cooked his own dinner. He eat dinner, smoke pipe and die."He was so much amused by the time he reached the end of his short account of his friend's life that he could hardly finish it for laughing.

Moy will be giiven a typical Chinese funeral. His casket will probably be a plain and inexpensive one. Chinamen do not believe in spending much money in this way. They will pay for all the carriages that are necessary to transport the numerous relatives to the cemetery and will spend money for what is wanted for the comfort of the spirits that are expected to hover about the grave, and do not mind buying fine garments to robe the body.

Until the day the body is interred it will rest in the undertaking establishment, and everything will be done by the Chinamen to prevent the assembling of a crowd of curious people at the grave. When they conclude to inter the body the undertaker will be notified and the carriages summoned at short notice. Then the solemn procession will start toward the cemetery. Imitation money will be scattered along the route of the procession to tempt the evil spirits and keep them so busy that they will forget the departed spirit.

The Washington Herald, April 14, 1904
Funeral of Chinaman
Moy Chun Laid to Rest With Appropriate Oriental Ritual
The funeral of Moy Chun, the laundryman who died April 10, occurred yesterday afternoon. The interment was made in Congressional cemetery. The remains had been embalmed and retained at Lee’s undertaking establishment until his estate could be levied on to pay in cash the funeral expenses.There were no ceremonies before the departure of the cortege for the cemetery. The body was clothed in silk raiment and enclosed in a casket of conventional pattern.

On the seat of the first carriage following the hearse sat a Chinese youth, who from time to time threw out small slips of manila paper, folded and having several perforations in irregular order. This paper represented money, which it was believed would delay and propitiate the evil spirits who followed the dead until the body was safe in a final resting place.

Awaiting the funeral party at the cemetery was a large crowd of curious people, mostly women.

The funeral party consisted of about seven Chinamen, who gathered at the edge of the grave as the casket was lowered into it. Two of these had brought baskets containing edibles, to be deposited in the grave for the pacification of attendant spirits. As the first clod of earth fell upon the coffin a bunch of joss sticks were stuck in the earth at the head of the grave and ignited. As their perfumed smoke floated about a Chinaman prepared a pot of tea, which, together with a bowl of rice, a broiled chicken and other components of an appetizing meal, were placed in the grave for the departing spirit to regale himself and new acquaintances in the next world. A diversion was created for the crowd when a cloud of smoke rose from the ground a short distance from the grave. The occasion of this was the burning of the dead man’s personal effects. These included his clothing and all his private papers.

When the grave was refilled the funeral party entered their carriages without further ceremony were driven to their homes.

REMOVED TO CHINA, AUGUST 26, 1925

REMOVED TO CHINA, DECEMBER 1925

REMOVED TO CHINA, MARCH 15-18, 1927

The Evening Star, March 16, 1927
Bones of 66 Being Dug Up To Go Back To China
Bodies in Congressional Cemetery for Ten Years Are Being Disinterred
Follows Old Custom
The work of taking the bones of 66 Chinese from Congressional cemetery for removal to China was begun yesterday. Under supervision of L.B. Taylor, superintendent, and a corps of Chinese agents, every body that has been in the cemetery for 10 years is to be disinterred. The bones will be placed in hermetically sealed boxes about a foot long and, with the identity of the remains carefully preserved, sent to New York for return to China.

It is the periodic removal of the remains of all Chinese dead in this country under the time old custom of returning them to the homeland. About once every 10 years the Chinese boat touches at all the big ports in this country to take on its strange cargo. The remains cannot be removed under 10 years because of a Federal law.

The Chinese agents have complete charge of the preparation of the remains for shipment. After they are taken from the grave they are placed on a small charcoal stove for the removal of any flesh that may remain. And painstaking care is taken to preserve the identity of the remains.

The headstone is removed and given to the cemetery officials to make any disposition which they may see fit, but no other body is placed in the evacuated grave.

No ceremony attends the collection of the bones.

The Chinese do hold ceremonies in the cemetery; though, about twice a year. Formerly they placed food, chicken, bread and rice on the grave. Now they gather around the graves and feast themselves while their clergy delivers rites over the dead.

About a month ago the Chinaman's brother took him to the hospital and left him there to be treated for a disease from which he long had been a sufferer, it is stated, and early this month the patient displayed signs of mental trouble.

Suffered From Delusions
Hing imagined enemies were pursuing him to take his life, physicians at the hospital report, and then he seemed to fear they would not kill him. He told other patients that he was anxious to die, but never intimated that he would take his own life.

This morning about 3 o'clock a nurse and an orderly were in the ward, administering medicine and looking after the wants of the patients. They saw Hing, who was the only Chinaman in the psychopathic section, moving about the ward.

Found Hanging in Washroom
Twenty minutes later one of the patients reported that the Chinaman was hanging from the tank in the washroom. One of the orderlies went to the room and cut down the body.

In another ward of the hospital was Lee Git, a cousin of the suicide, and when told of what had happened he seemed to be sorrow-stricken and hurried to a telephone and notified other relatives. These relatives said they would take charge of his body. The deceased was married and his wife and one child, it is said, are in China.

Coroner Nevitt, after an investigation, gave a certificate showing that Ling Hing was irresponsible when he took his life.

Say He Was "Funny"
"Lee was funny," said a merchant on the lower floor of 346. "He used to hold his head up in the air, walk straight and not notice anybody. His head was not right."

Lee Chung, Lee Gong, Lee Foy and Lee Wing, cousins of the dead man, were asleep in the room on the top floor of 346 this morning when the shot was fired. On the floors below other Chinamen were sleeping and all were awakened, some by the report following the pulling of the trigger, and others by the tramping up the steps of curious persons who were anxious to learn what was going on.

Some of the Chinamen on the lower floors were startled by the tragedy and were afraid to venture up the steps. Some thought there was a fire on the top floor, while others knew there had been a shooting.

"I was afraid I would get shot," said one of those who slept on the lower floor, "and I didn't go up."

Amused by Tragedy
This Chinaman appeared greatly amused over what had happened, laughing heartily as he told of what he knew and had heard. Lee he explained, was tossing on the stretcher as he was carried from the house to the ambulance, moving his head to illustrate just how the dying man appeared."But," said the Chinaman, "he didn't have to do it, and it's all his own fault. He was tired of living."A few minutes after the shot was fired the police found it difficult to keep back the curious and excited throng. The shooting took place shortly before the Chinese restaurants were to close for the night, and many of their patrons hurried to the room in which the wounded Chinaman lay.

The Chinamen who gathered about the top floor were excitedly talking. They discussed the shooting, of course, but the police in the room knew nothing of what they were saying. The two policemen recalled the recent shooting of a Chinaman in the southeast section and thought this morning's shooting may have had some connection with that tragedy. Perhaps friends of the Chinaman who had been shot in the 11th street laundry had shot a cousin or brother of the one who had done that shooting, the police thought, and they proceeded to make a careful investigation.

It was soon apparent that Lee Hip had shot himself. It was explained that Lee had done no work for some time; that he positively refused to work after he had sold his laundry in the northwest section of the city. Some said he was lazy, but others thought his peculiar conduct indicated a disordered brain. It was suggested by some of his friends that he was without funds, but those who were closer to him said he was fairly well supplied with cash.

Could Have Gotten Money
"If Lee was broke," said a member of one of the Chinese merchandise companies, "he could have borrowed money."All day yesterday Lee walked the sidewalk or sat in the stores in Chinatown. He had very little to say to any of his friends, the other Chinamen said this morning, and he never volunteered a remark. If addressed, they said, he merely grunted a response. Lee was in one of the Chinese restaurants shortly before midnight, where he got something to eat.Shortly afte leaving the restaurant the supposed insane laundryman went to his room. There was not much time wasted in making a change of wearing apparel for the night, as Chinamen seem to think particularly in that regard is merely a waste of time. Crawling into his matting-covered bunk. Lee was soon dreaming of the act which was to send him to appear before one of the gods he had worshiped.

None of his four cousins had given any thought to the question of Lee's putting himself in positon to be taken to a temporary grave in Congressional cemetery, and not one of them heard him make a move until he fired the shot. Even then, it is said, one of them was so sound asleep that the noise did not disturb him.

Every Chinese resident of the section in which Lee Hip killed himself knew of the affiar fifteen minutes after he shot himself, but very few of those who were seen by a Star reporter this morning were willing to admit knowledge of it. They asked who Lee Hip was and where he lived, and wanted to know what would be printed about him. Some of them suggested that Lee would not like to have his name in the paper, speaking in a tone to indicate the belief that, although dead, he would know about it.

Excitement Soon Subsides
A score of ore of the Chinese residents of Pennsylvania avenue stood on the sidewalk and watched the policemen and hospital attendants carefuly move the wounded man. They wanted to know where he was being taken saying they would see him in the morning. Chinaown recovered from the excitement in a short while and the celestials retired to their bunks.

Coroner Nevitt learned of the affair as soon as he reached his office this morning. It is rather unusual for the coroner to have to act upon a case involving the death of a Chinaman; especially a case of self-destruction. He was able to recall one or two other cases in which natives of the Flowery kingdom had committed suicide, however, and he was able to pass upon the suicide of Lee Hip withou much trouble.

A certificate of death having been given, the body was turned over to Undertaker J. William Lee and removed to the latter's establishment on Pennsylvania avenue. Tomorrow or Sunday, Lee's four cousins will appear at the undertaking establishment and want the funeral held at short notice, hoping to lessen the number of curious spectators who usually are attracted by the appearance on the hearse of a Chinaman distributing "fake" money to tempt the evil spirits and to draw attention from the spirit of the departed.

Under ordinary circumstances a Chinaman would have been seated on the hearse with the driver and would have dropped imitation money along the streets to tempt the evil spirits and attract them from the corpse, but the weather was too cold for the one who was designated to perform this service yesterday, and he rode in the one carriage that followed the hearse. Evil spirits in the forms of small boys occasionally stepped behind the cortege and picked up the money to keep as souvenirs, but certainly no invisible spirits were responsible for the disappearance of the fake money. Upon reaching the cemetery the driver of the hearse was directed to the section in which the bodies of so many Chinamen have been interred, and the body was soon resting over the opening into which the remains of the laundryman were so soon to be lowered.

Several cups were placed about the grave, and these were filled with a liquid which soon evaporated. Each time the liquid disappeared the cups were refilled. This was done several times, and then the lighting of punk and the burning of paper made the affair take on a distinctive Chinese appearance. This done, the body was lowered into the grave and a small quantity of earth thrown upon the box covering. Then the Chinese friends of the deceased put in some roast chickens and cooked rice and the grave was filled. Some more punk was burned and fake paper money destroyed. The three friends had then finished the ceremony at the grave, and the body was left to rest there until such time as friends will come and have it disintterred to be taken to China.

John Jung, who was forty years old, complained of severe pains in his stomach Saturday night while seated in front of his home, 340 Pennsylvania avenue. He was taken to Casualty Hospital where he died early yesterday morning.

An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Dr. Cousins responded to a call sent to Emergency Hospital, examined the body and pronounced life extinct. Coroner Nevitt gave a certificate of death from natural causes.

Mon Lee had been sick for more than a year, it is stated, during which time he was c ared for by friends in Chinatown, and it was only about two weeks before he died that he was taken to Blue Plains. He came to this country more than 40 years ago, when he was a mere boy, according to his Chinese friends, and had been employed as a cook.

As soon as it became known that he had died his friends claimed his body, and directed an undertaker to prepare it for burial.

One of Moy Joe's countrymen will ride upon the hearse and will make a startling figure as he scatters imitation money to the four winds of heaven. He will be "buying off" the evil spirits, who might otherwise interfere with the passage of Moy Joe's spirit to its rightful resting place.

At the grave a grand feast will be found waiting for the spirit before it takes its journey across the mystic chasm. There will be roast duck, roast chicken, sweetmeats, rice and tea, and there will also be a fire built somewhere near the grave. The last is one of the Chinese customs used at all funerals.

Moy Joe was at one time a laundryman, but he made enough money to sell out and retire to the Chinese quarter. He developed tuberculosis and, learning the probably outcome of it, he devoted his time to every effort possible at prolonging his life.He died Thursday at Sibley Hospital.

The Evening Star, January 18, 1910, p. 10
Curious Mixture of Christian and Pagan Customs
Chinese Stand Aloof
Sweetmeats, Tea and Rice Wine Sent to the Grave
An Old Friend's Tribute
Hymns Sung by Teachers From the First Baptist Church--Dr. McMasters Reads Service
Moy Joe, who was born in Canton, China, about forty years ago, was buried in Congressional cemetery yesterday, with half the circumference of the world between him and the men and women who knew him before he came to America.

It is not often that a Chinaman dies and is buried here in Washington, and the people who pushed their way into the chapel of the undertaking firm at 325 Pennsylvania avenue yesterday afternoon were mainly of the curiosity seeking sort. There were many women, a very few Chinamen, and a scattering of the men that you can find around the city doing nothing at all but looking for a chance to pass the time away pleasantly.There was not the air of a funeral. There was a buzz of conversation, and occasionally one of the Chinamen would get up and walk up or down the aisle. Moy Joe lay in a coffin of American make. There was nothing Chinese or oriental about it, with the single exception of a certain bunch of white roses. A shrinking, tiny Chinaman, hatless and embarrassed, pattered quickly up the middle aisle of the chapel just before a quartet from the First Baptist Church began to sing. The little Chinaman had a bunch of white roses in his hand, and attached to them was a rough bit of paper daubed with odd-looking Chinese characters.The man shyly placed them on the coffin, and then taking a hasty look at the face of Moy Joe, glanced around with a scared face and actually ran away from the place. A moment later he was in the midst of the clerks of a Chinese merchant near the chapel. He was Moy Joe's best friend.Mixtures of Christian and Pagan

It was an odd funeral service. A more curious mixture of Christian and pagan things is rarely seen, and yet to a person not seeking for the odd things it seemed perhaps like a very poor, dull affair--this burial of an unknown Chinaman. First there were Sunday school teachers from the First Baptist Church who have worked many years among the Chinese men and boys of the quarter here. And Moy Joe's own teacher was there, with a wreath of roles to lay upon the coffin, and later to be placed upon the grave.

A quartet of these teachers sang some of the hymns of the church before Rev. Dr. McMasters appeared. While they were singing, the unbelieving Chinamen from the tea stores and merchandise companies along the block ran in and out whispering to one another and paying no attention at all, as far as outward appearance go, the body of Moy Joe.The minister came, book in hand, and started the set form of the burial service. He had known Moy Joe, for the man had fluttered back and forth, hesitating between his own gods and Dr. McMasters' God for many months before he finally decided to shave off his queue and become Christian. So he could speak about Moy Joe with some feeling--and he did.

Old Chinamen Amused
Then three boys--Moy's own countrymen--sang a hymn. A gray queued Chinaman, leaning against the back of the chapel, laughed and said something aloud to another old Chinaman half way up the aisle, who turned and grinned. They took no interest--they were Moy Joe's friends, and had known him in Canton--but Moy Joe had turned Christian and had broken away from everything that had held him a friend to them.And then Yee Li, a very small China boy stood up and read something from a book. He, too, spoke his own tongue. He stood very near the open coffin, and now and again looked into it. The half dozen Chinamen from the Sunday school, who had come with American clothes, paid strict attention to him. The older men, those who have not yet broken away from the religion of their fathers, listened to him with apparent unconcern.

A young man standing up near the back of the chapel asked a gray old Chinaman what the boy read:
"Him crazy," said the old man.
"What is he reading," asked the young man of another Chinaman.
For an answer he got a shrug.

She Knew
A woman who had been shifting noisily about, craning her neck to see what was going on said she knew what the boy was reading:
"He's reciting a Buddhist prayer," she volunteered in a loud whisper.
"Ain't it a shame?" replied a companion who had just dropped in out of sheer curiosity.
"Sly things," murmured the other one.
"The Buddhist prayer" that Yee Li was reading slowly and with all the feeling at his command was the Twenty-third Psalm.

Six Chinamen carried the coffin from the chapel to the street. On the sidewalk another curious crowd stood. Some of Moy Joe's native friends crowded into the three carriages provided and the little procession started toward the cemetery.An Old Friend's Tribute

As the drivers clucked to their horses one of the gray-queued Chinamen who had known Moy Joe before he had become a Christian ran out to the curb with a bundle in his arms. The hearse stopped. The old man who had smiled at the Christian prayer and had paid no attention to the service or the flowers handed up to the driver a basket in which were tea and rice, a bottle of Canton rice wine of a kind so rare that it is scarcely ever seen in America, and sweet meats.

This was the old man's tribute. It was like the things they had put on the grave of Moy Joe's father and his mother and their parents and grandparents in China for countless generations back. The old man did not understand the flowers--nor the Twenty-third Psalm--but he knew the ways of his kind, and when they put those few sweet meats of his on the grave it expressed exactly as much as it does when some one else puts thousands of American Beauties at the door of some tomb.

Sam Moy was last seen alive by his brother late Friday evening. He went to see his brother and they walked over to the corner of 25th and K streets together to talk business. At that time, the brother stated to a Star reporter last night, Sam complained of not feeling well, or as the brother expressed it: "Belly feel sickee; no good." Sam also showed signs of being discouraged and despondent. He had a wife in China and he has been anxious to back to see her. Friday evening he talked a good deal about a trip to China and complained that he did not have money enough to meet the expense. Another thing which added to his despondency was that a friend named John Suay, returned to China recently and Sam Moy had wished to accompany him, but was unable to do so, his lack of means forbidding. There was nothing said at this last talk between brothers about committing suicide, however.

Closed During Day
According to the neighbors, the laundry kept by Sam Moy was closed most of the day yesterday. Patrons who visited it in the afternoon found all the doors locked, but attributed it to some peculiarity of the Chinaman. About 9:30 o'clock last night, however, some of the patrons grew curious, as stated, and made an investigation. One window was not covered up, that in the laundry on the K street side. The gas jet was burning dimly and in that light they could see the form of a man suspended in the air.

Police Notified
The alarm was given to the police in two ways. Policemen Newton and Dulin, the men on the beat, while at 24th and H streets, were told by an excited colored woman, who was at the laundry, that a Chinaman was dead. The station house was also notified by some neighbors. The two officers named, who hastened to the scene, found all the doors and windows of the laundry closely barred and locked. They forced open the front door, and, stepping back through the office and a middle room, they discovered the body of the dead Chinaman hanging in the rear room, used as a kitchen.There was every indication that the man had caused his own death. A gas pipe which led down from the ceiling was bent under a rafter which ran across the room about a foot below the ceiling, as if to reinforce the strength of the beam. A towel was carefully wrapped around the rafter to prevent the sharp edges from cutting the rope. Making the rope secure about the rafter and the gas pipe where the towel was placed, he had evident slipped a noose over his head. In order to get away from the floor he placed two soap boxes in position, one on top of the other. After the rope had been adjusted about his neck he had kicked one of the boxes from under him, clearing the other by fully a foot.

Before he hanged himself it is believed he made careful preparations against discovery. At the front windows he tacked up large sheets, hiding out the view from the street. He closed the blinds of the windows on the outside. At the rear window of the room in which he hanged himself he hung up a blanket, but it failed to entirely cover the window, thus leaving the opening through which his suspended body was discovered. All the doors and windows were locked from the inside.

Dressed in His Best
When found Sam was dressed in his best American clothes. In one of the pockets of his coat was found twenty $1 bills. The finding of money on his person and in the cash drawer of the shop dispelled the rumors which were abroad that he had been robbed. The money, which the brother claimed to have seen on the night before suicide, was all found.

The dead man's brother, after finishing his day's work at his laundry at 1226 I street northwest, went to the laundry at 25th and K streets about 9 o'clock last night accompanied by three friends. When they found that it was closed up they determined to ask the police to help them to get into the laundry. They went to the thirid precinct station house and were explaining their troubles when the report of the suicide reached the station, and they were detained there until the matter was investigated. Later they were taken to the laundry, and were shown the body of their dead countryman.

The brother gave one look at the body and then left the room.The four Chinamen talked over the situation in their own language, and then the spokesman told Lieutenant Boyle of the third precinct who had taken charge in person, that they regarded it as a case of suicide. They had little more to say, except that they would take charge of the body, and they subsequently notified the undertaker to come for it.

His Brother's Statement
His brother stated that Sam Moy was thirty-six or thirty-sewven years old and that he had a wife in China. He said he had furnished the money for buying the laundry, and the entire affairs of the place and its contents were turned over to him.

Several anxious patrons called late last evening and were given packages of laundry, for which the brother of the dead man collected. There was every indication that the dead man had been doing a prosperous business. His shelves were filled with packages of laundry and in the wash room there was a large number of shirts hanging on the line to dry."I have been in the police department for thirty-one years, and this is the first Chinaman I remember who hung himself," was the comment of Lieut. Boyle of the third precinct, after investigating the suicide. One of the countrymen of the dead man also added that very few Chinamen killed themselves by hanging.

The news of the suicide spread rapidly through the neighborhood and a curious crowd gathered about the laundry. Policeman Embrey of the third precinct was stationed outside and he kept back the crowd. Detective Weedon was sent from police headquarters to investigate the case, but he was soon satisfied that it was a case of suicide and returned to the bureau.

The Evening Star, February 25, 1905
Funeral of Sam Moy,
Interment Tomorrow of Chinaman Who Committed Suicide
All that is mortal of Sam Moy, the Chinese laundryman who committed suicide Saturday by hanging himself, as printed in the Sunday Star, will be buried in Congressional cemetery tomorrow afternoon. The hour at which the funeral is to take place has been fixed at 2 o'clock, but a change may be made in the hour before tomorrow. When friends and relatives of Sam learned of the suicide they hurried to his business place to prevent the removal of the body to the morgue.

"Don't like looks of dead house," remarked one of Sam's friends. "Put all kinds of people in there and no good place for a Chinaman."They succeeded in their efforts and the remains of their friend and relative found room at the undertaking establishment of J. William Lee, 333 Pennsylvania avenue. Moy was dressed and his body placed in a casket.

There was a time when the funeral of a Chinaman in this city attracted a curious crowd of persons to the cemetery, but so many of the almond-eyed celestials have died and been buried here that such funerals are no longer a novelty. Chinamen dislike publicity at funerals of their countrymen and they invariably try to hold the ceremonies at an hour when they think there will be but a few curious persons at the cemetery. The distribution of imitation money along the streets between the undertaking establishment and the cemetery always attracts the small boys, who pick it up as fast as it is dropped. Then at the grave comes the interesting ceremony of offering good things to tempt the evil spirits and the destruction of garments and other personal effects of the deceased. Some time in the future all the bodies of Chinamen that are buried here will be disinterred and the bone's removed to China. Most of those who have died in this city had wives in their native land, and the widows hope the bones of their loved ones will reach China before they have passed away.

The Evening Star, December 27, 1905, p. 16
Funeral of Sam Moy
Remains Followed by Friends to Grave in Congressional Cemetery
The funeral of Sam Moy, the Chinese laundryman who committed suicide Saturday, attracted a number of curious persons to Congressional cemetery yesterday afternoon. Seated on the hearse beside the driver was a Chinese friend of the deceased, who dropped imitation money along the street for the purpose of attracting the evil spirits. These "spirits," in the form of men, women and children, appeared and gathered the slips of paper to keep as souvenirs of the funeral.Several ladies and three Chinamen occupied the two carriages which followed the corpse, one of the latter caring for a basket of cooked food that had been prepared in one of the restaurants in "Chinatown." Upon reaching the cemetery and seeing a hundred or more curious persons the Chinese mourners decided to make a change in the burial ceremony to prevent the curiosity of the crowd. Instead of burning the dead man's effects and setting fire to hbunches of punk upon the grave they lowered the articles into the grave with the basket of food, one of them made a few remarks over the open grave and the ceremony was concluded.

Curley, she says, carried a slender package in his hand, about fifteen inches long and wrapped in paper. This he was swinging by one end, she says.According to Mattie Gray, who went to the laundry at 10 o'clock this morning to tell her story, she had been sent out last night by the woman who employs her to deliver a message on 14th street in a house nearly directly opposite the laundry, and was accompanied on the mission by a negro girl employed in the house next to where she herself worked.

Domestics Watched Negroes
Reaching the corner of 14th street, the two domestics passed the two negro men, and became interested in their movements overheating their threat to "get" somebody. Not knowing who was meant, the women lingered, expecting possibly to see a fight. When their interest was apparent, the men turned down a side street, and the girls went on to their destination.

While the women were waiting on the stoop of the house on 14th street, after having rung the bell, the two men reappeared from around the corner, and walked toward the laundry. The women saw the Chinaman within, working over his ironing board, talking to another Chinaman, who went away just as the two negroes entered.

The women not able to arouse any person in the 14th street household then went on their way, not suspecting that the Chinaman was the man the negroes were after. Mattie Gray described Curley as dark brown of skin, with curling -- not woolly -- brown hair. His companion, she says, was almost white.

Save for descriptions of negroes seen in the vicinity of the laundry at various hours of the evening yesterday, there is no other clue in the possession of the police to point the finger of suspicion in any diretion in the search for the murderer of the Chinaman.There are finger prints in blood, but they are apparently those of the oriental, made while on his feet fighting off death. There are two footprints in the snow, probably made by the slayer in making his escape, but they are so indefinite in form that their use as identifying marks seems mipracticable. There is nothing else.

There is nothing to indicate that the Chinaman made a struggle against his murderers; probably the first blow, crushing his skull, rendered him unconscious.

Robbery Believed to Be Motive
Robbery is the real or apparent motive of the crime The cash drawer was rifled; yet its contents must have been meager to attract the cupidity of a desperate character, ready to kill to obtain money. Sam Hing made only from $5 to $6 a week, according to Chinamen who know him and his affairs, yet he may have carried about him a greater sum.A tong man, Sam Hing, was a member of the Chinese Empire Association. There has not been a tong war in Washington for a generation. There is no evidence of any undercurrent of animosity among the vacations. In fact, the political struggle in China appears to have amalgamated nearly all sons of the Flowery Kingdom under the republican banner of Sun Yat Sen.

Sam Hing is a Chinaman who has been long in America, dwelling sometimes in San Francisco, afterward in New York and for many years in Washington, conducting his little shop on 14th street with habits of eternal industry that brought slender profit, and had no known enemy personal or political.

Pounding weakly on a partition wall that divides his quarters into rooms, crying feebly for help with the blood streaming down over his face and into his eyes, he was found by a policeman at about 10:20 o'clock last night. Hurried to the hospital, there the Chinaman died at midnight, without giving any account of the tragedy which had cost him his life.

Many Weapons About
Washroom, bedroom and the storeroom and shop, where customers are received, all have the appearance of a shambles. Over floor and walls and furniture and linen, hung to dry on lines of twine, the red blood is everywhere -- pools of it, on the floor, spattered about everywhere else.

There are many sorts of heavy metal pieces about, any one of which might have been used to inflict the wounds found on his skull. There are flat irons, a heavy fire poker and iron rod used to stir laundry in the clothes boiler, a hatchet for cutting boxes into kinding wood for the laundry range; none bear the slightest evidence of having been the fatal weapon -- on none is there a blood mark or stain.

Sam Hing, with tired eyes -- he was fifty-seven or more years old, with the age of the unvarying grind of eternal labor, and his eyesight was known to have been of the worst -- was working over his ironing board, with a man's shirt under his smoothing iron, when fate overtook him. The cuff of the shirt half polished, is on the ironing board where he would have been working, and the iron is on the stand where it would have been laid out of his hand for the morning.

Whoever struck him down struck the blow at that very place, where the Chinaman had suspended his work without moving his feet to peer up at the newcomer into the shop. A great pool of blood on the floor in front of the ironing board shows where Sam Hing dropped in his tracks.

An autopsy at the morgue this morning showed that his forehead was fractured by the only blow struck. A blow in the right side fractured three ribs, one of them broken in many places.

From this spot into the middle room, where the Chinaman had his sleeping bunk on a board against the wall, his body was apparently dragged out of the sight of any one on the street. Inert and unconscious, his clothing was searched and the cash drawer opened and its contents taken by the slayer.

Slayer Left by Back Door
Locking the front door, throwing the key under the bench in the front room, the slayer made his way out of the back. There is no knob on the inside of the rear door, nor is there any mark to show that the murderer had soiled his hands, which would have been made evident by the difficulty of fumbling with the stem of the knob to open the door.

The door opens upon an alley about two and a half feet wide littered with many impediments that make it impassable. A high fence is on the other side of the alley. Over this the slayer made his way, leaving no hand mark on the wooden boards which he must have clutched, but making the indistinct marks of his shoes in the heavy crusted snow on the other side as he juped to the ground

The Chinaman, recovering semi-consciousness in a few minutes, must have struggled to his feet, half-blinded, weak, aimlessly trying to find a way to the door, calling and pounding on the partitions. Everywhere is the evidence of his floundering about; there is blood on everything in three rooms.

By the vender of fruit next door -- who thought a drunken man was in the place and that it was none of his affair -- and by dwellers in the house to the rear of the laundry shop the cries and poundings were heard. The child in the house in the rear called the attention of their father to the noises and he went forth and notified a policeman.

Policeman W.C. Allen was the man he told. Allen went immediately to the spot. Finding the front way closed, he entered by the rear, climbing over barrels and boxes in the alley till he reached the rear door, which was unlocked.

He found the Chinaman in this rear room, sustaining himself on his feet by holding on to the side of the partition wall and to a box. With body bowed, knees bent and half collapsing over another box, the dying Chinaman was still making ineffectual efforts at times to pound on the wooden wall, but his cries had subsided into moans.

Gave No Account of Assault
The Chinaman could give no account of what had happened to him. He sank almost immediately into unconsciousness. Policeman Allen summoned aid and the precinct patrol wagon. The oriental, on a liter, was carried out by the rear, down the alley, put into the patrol wagon and hurried to Garfield Hospital. There he died at about midnight, without recovering consciousness carrying with him his knowledge of how he met his death.

Annie Dade, colored, employed by the Chinaman to wash for him, left the shop at 8:20 o'clock last night She appeared this morning to resume work at about 8 o'clock. She knew of no one who could have had enmity against the Chinaman.

On the hook, where the laundryman kept the laundry tickets returned by customers when they come for their wash she found several tickets that had not been there at the hour when she left the shop last night. As these tickets may represent wash called for by the slayer of the murdered man the police hope to find in them a possible clue.Clarence F. Cobb, a resident of the vicinity, told the police that he has long taken a personal interest in the Chinaman, and he offered $100 reward for the capture of the murderer. He says that Sam Hing, in addition to his daily receipts of cash, kept in the cash drawer also carried about his clothing a big roll of bills.

Mr. Cobb recently gave to the Chinaman a money bag, in which he put these bills. What has become of this supposed roll of money is not now known to the police. They suspect that the murderer found it in searching the dying man's clothing.Sam Hing is supposed to have three cousins living in Washington. A Chinaman gives their names as Lee Chom, Lee Mane and Lee Wan, all dwelling at 342 Pennsylvania avenue.

The Evening Star, February 8, 1913, p. 1
Says He Is Slayer
Theodore Norris, Colored, Confesses Murder of Lee Ong
Is Faced By Companion
Nathan Johnson Declares He Witnessed Killing of Chinaman
Both Are Held For Crime
Remark of Wife of Man Who Struck Fatal Blow Leads to Solving of Mystery
Theodore Norris, colored, twenty-eight years old, who lives at 2120 Pennsylvania avenue northwest, is alleged to have confessed to the police this afternoon that he killed Lee Ong, a Chinese laundryman, nearly a year ago. The confession of Norris followed a statement made to the police by Nathan Johnson, also colored, that he witnessed he killing of the Chinaman, and that the murder was committed by Norris, Johnson, who formerly lived at Sugarland, Md., now lives at 466 Washington street northwest. Norris, his wife, Hattie Norris, and Johnson were all arrested last night.

Lee Ong, the murdered Chinaman, was proprietor of a laundry at 3430 14th street northwest. On the night of February 13, 1912, he was killed in the rear room of his laundry, and the police failed to discover any clues leading to the detection of the murderer.

Johnson Tells All
Detective Stringfellow of the third precinct arrested Johnson yesterday, and after being questioned by the police Johnson, it is said, finally admitted that he knew the man who killed Lee Ong. A few minutes later he told the police the slayer’s name, and Norris was arrested shortly afterward.Norris vigorously denied any knowledge of the crime, but on repeated questioning finally broke down and told the police, so they say, that he was the Chinaman’s murderer.

Detective Stringfellow obtained information leading to the detection of the alleged slayer when he arrested a young colored man three days ago. The prisoner, it is stated, in order to get in the good graces of the detective, told a story of a remark he said he heard Hattie Norris make to her husband. Norris and his wife were quarreling, he stated, and he said he heard the woman say to Norris: "If you strike me again I’ll tell what you and Nathan Johnson did to the Chinaman."

Feeling satisfied the information thus obtained would lead to something of interest in the case of Lee Ong’s murder. Detective Stringfellow set about to accomplish the arrest of Norris and Johnson.

Bolts Through Window
Norris, it is said, had an idea the police wanted him in connection with the theft of a bicycle, and he bolted through a back window in an effort to get away. Outside the house he was caught, however, and although the police had discussed the murder of the Chinaman with him several times he steadfastly maintained his innocence until he faced Johnson this afternoon.

Mrs. Norris was not inclined to discuss her domestic troubles or to say anything about the killing of the Chinaman further than to declare she knew nothing of it. Not only did Johnson tell of the details of the murder, but he told of Norris having dropped a sweater in the laundry.

Soon Loses His Nerve
When the prisoners were brought face to face a police headquarters this afternoon. Norris soon lost his nerve and said he would "come across." He told substantially the same story as that told by Johnson, with the exception that he said Johnson dealt the Chinaman several blows.

Johnson declared that he had not the slightest idea where Norris was going to take him he night of the murder until they actually reached the laundry. They walked all the way from Washington street to Lee Ong’s place of business, he stated, and he told of how they had looked through the window as was related by a resident of 14th sreet at the time the murder and robbery was committed.

Norris, the police say, said Johnson, had the gray sweater in a piece of paper, and when they reached the vicinity of the laundry he said he was going to leave the sweater there to have it washed. Entering the laundry, he said, Norris asked the Chinaman what he would charge to wash the garment, and he replied: "Ten cents."

Hit on Head With Club
Just as the Chinaman reached for the sweater, Johnson said. Norris struck him on the head with a club.

"I don’t know where he got the club," he stated. "He may have had it when he came for me, but if he did I didn’t see it."

As soon as Lee Ong fell to the floor, declared Johnson. Norris locked the door, dragged him to the rear room and robbed the till. He struck the Chinaman several blows while the latter was on the floor.

Johnson said he finally went to the back room and left the premises by way of the back door. He and Norris climbed the back fence and left that vicinity, going in the direction of 16th street. Norris, he stated, gave him $2.50, but did not say what amount of money he took from the cash drawer.

"I have seen Norris only once since the Chinaman was killed," Johnson told Detectives Cornwell and Stringfellow today, "and we did not discuss the killing." Norris told the detectives that he got about $5 from the cash drawer. He said he killed the Chinaman with a billiard cue and not with the piece of iron that was found in the laundry and which it was thought was the weapon.

"I got the cue in a billiard room on 26th street," Norris stated, "and after leaving the laundry I took it home and burned it."

Following the confession of Norris and his statement implicating Johnson, the police charged both prisoners with murder, and held Mrs. Norris at the house of detention as a witness.

The Evening Star, February 17, 1912, p. 2
Police Still in Dark
No New Developments Today in Murder of Lee On
There were no developments today in the police investigation of the death of Lee On, who was murdered last Tuesday night in his laundry, 3430 14th street n.w.

The police worked on a clue last night which it was believed would develop into the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the death of the Chinaman, but they said today the information proved valueless.

The Evening Star, May 28, 1913, p. 5
Admit Killing Lee On
Long-Sought Murderers of Chinese Laundryman Are Remanded For Sentence
Nathan Johnson and Theodore Norris, colored, pleaded guilty today to murder in the second degree, when called for trial before Justice Stafford in Criminal Court No. 1 to answer an indictment for first degree murder in connection with the killing of Lee On, a Chinese laundryman, at 3430 14th street northwest, February 13, 1912. The prisoners were remanded for sentence.

For nearly a year the police were at a loss to discover the perpetrators of the crime, and it was not until February 6 last that an authentic clue was discovered.Norris had a quarrel with his wife, and his brother-in-law, Thomas Ware, overheard the wife tell Norris that if he hit her again she would tell the police that he and "Nath" Johnson killed the Chinaman.

Ware was arrested about this time by Detectives Stringfellow and Cornwell and during a conversation referred to the statement made by his sister, the detectives say.Investigation led

to the arrest of Norris and Johnson and it is claimed they admitted to the police that they had robbed and beaten the Chinaman.

Attorneys A.W. Scott and George F. Collins represented the defendants. Assistant United States Attorney Proctor was prepared to conduct the prosecution.

Several of his brethren, including his two brothers, who are in the laundry business, and Philip, the fat Chinaman who presides over the Chinese restaurant on Pennsylvania avenue, gathered at Lee's undertaking establishment, where the body was removed from the deadroom of the Emergency Hospital, about 3 o'clock. The body was borne to a hearse in the street and about fifteen Chinamen were bundled into three carriages and the procession moved directly to the Congressional Cemetery. No time was lost en route, and when the procession reached the part of the city adjacent to the cemetery it was evident that the children and curious persons of the neighborhood had heard of its approach, for hundreds of them were waiting on the sidewalks and started on a run after the procession and followed it to the cemetery. A great many were admitted to the cemetery, but the very small children had to content themselves with standing at the gate and peeping in.

Many Mysterious Packages
A space around the grave had been shut off by ropes, and around this was gathered a large crowd of men, women, and children, anxious to see the peculiar rites which are performed at the grave of a Chinaman. They were very orderly throughout the ceremony, but could not refrain from making inquiries of their neighbors about the meaning of certain ceremonies. The body was borne to the grave by four Celestials and placed on supports directly above the opening. It was in a plain casket and the top was tightly screwed on and never opened at the grave. The Chinamen then gathered at the foot of the casket and began to unwrap some of the many packages they carried. Moy's two brothers and Philip, who had prepared the delicacies for the nourishment of the deceased on his journey, officiated, and the others stood by watching and occasionally offering a suggestion or making a correction.

It was evident that there were certain differences between them regarding the right and proper course to pursue in the ceremonies, and when one of the managers would go wrong a Chinaman would step out from the bunch and perform the ceremony himself. One of Moy's brothers is a confirmed cigarette fiend, and had a lighted cigarette in his mouth during the entire ceremonies, and when it went out once or twice he would light it again from the sticks of incense burning at the foot of the grave.

The first bundle that was unwrapped contained two capons on separate dishes, baked and browned to a turn by the masterful Philip. The giblets were arranged around the chickens, and these were placed side by side at the foot of the grave. Then came two heaping bowls of rice, with a hard boiled egg on top of each. Then five chop-sticks were laid in a row at the foot of the grave and between each chop-stick was placed a little dish that resembled a butterdish. Then two little teapots filled with oil were produced and the little dishes filled with oil.

Poured Oil on the Flames
After the many bundles of incense, some that looked like firecrackers, were unwrapped and the firecracker-looking ones were lit from a fire that had been kindled from a bit of the oil poured over some paper and laid at the foot of the grave. The other sticks of incense were stuck upright in bunches in the ground that had been previously prepared by pouring the oil from one of the little dishes upon it. As fast as the dishes were emptied of theire contents they were refilled out of the little teapots. Finally all of the incense was burning merrily and one of Moy's brothers made a circle about the fire, from which it had been lighted with oil from the pots, and another fire was kindled of the wrappings that had come around the incense. This was also twice circled with the oil and every scrap of paper that had contained anything used at the burial, and even the market basket in which the stuff was brought, was burned in this fire with the single exception of a single sheet of wrapping paper, which was dropped into the open grave.Word was then given that the body was ready for burial, and after it was lowered into the grave a bundle composed of the deceased's clothes, his beloved pipe and all other things he was fond of, including cigarettes, were thrown upon the top of the coffin. A brother then threw in a few clods of earth, and as the grave was being filled, the food dishes, pots of oil and all were dropped into it and the Chinamen then got into the carriages and were driven back to the city. Not a word was spoken except the directions to one another, but after all the articles had been thrown into the grave, one of the Chinamen opened a bag of Chinese candy, half sugar and half salt, and passed it around. This meant that they were having a good time.

The money for Moy to pay his passage over the Styx with was in a purse in the bundle of clothes thrown into the grave and according to the best calculations he will reach the other shore in exactly six days.

Six years ago Yong came to this city. Lee was taken ill some time ago and his ailment was diagnosed as liver trouble. Being desirous of prolonging life until he could arrange to return to the land of his birth Lee sought treatment at Providence Hospital.When the patient reached the hospital his condition was so serious that practically no hope for his recovery was held out to his nearest relatives who looked after him and Sunday he died.On the way to the cemetery slips of paper were dropped along the street. The paper was supposed to represent money and was intended to interest the evil spirits so greatly that they would forget the spirit of the departed.

At the grave there was the usual Chinese ceremony of burning the effects of the deceased and placing rice, chicken and Chinese "good things" on the grave to assist the spirit further in its flight to another world.

Chinese mourners stood about the grave and saw that the last vestige of Lee Yong's garments was reduced to ashes. They said something in their native language, and when the grave had been filled and the "good things" properly placed they returned to Chinatown to resume the sale of Chinese merchanidse or to do their laundry work.