The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 17, 1901, Page 17

THE SUNDAY CALL. “HOLAR, MUT YEAR HO soP” S0 SAYS THE CHINAMAN WHEN HE WANTS A TELE- | ONE NUMBER. | CHINATOWN HAS A NEW NTRAL. JUST ESTABLISHED IN | E FORM WITH THE JOSS | L HANDY FOR CELES- AL WORSHIP AND MOT- TOES OF GOOD LUCK ALL AROUND. THE MOST SOCIABLE EX- | | CHANGE/IN TOWN AND THE MOST INTERESTING. THE QUEEREST COMBIN- | ATION OF ORIENTAL CUS- TOM WITE OCCIDENTAL SCIENCE THAT CAN BE | FOUND THE WORLD OVER. IS in and eresting It you for a it a are t of color that is nbt American, the Stars and jox office interior greets h a girl behind it, 1gly miles of hone About six years corner The 1west 1 streets dingy second ige shaped narrow we front of the dirty not much witchboard, and the was ong t the at- y Oriental year or so business me that the r r re convenient quarters pOW. < t 743 Washington street be- past Here all the of the town expected at once Jarger accommoda- $250 per outside of g 5 cents extra. It will long before there will be a list of 500 subscribers doing business i rough this ex cessity. siness ed. there being 260 su ubscribers pay switches t be sge The manager of the telep e system is Le Shu, an exceedingly affable t s¢ gentleman, who k r and in his stiff silk robes of « E ue when taking tea with six operators, all Chinese men or boys. Little 5 pleasant faced Ching Soy Sing the chief operator, and then come the “hello boys.” T! Bue, Bing 8 Chin L1, C 4 Wie Park. Thre: operators are on during the day and three sing, while one remains all important of the during the e night. Not th business of the establishment is done by least ld Yick Chun, the Celestial bo He knows Chinatown like a book, and many and varied are the take and the places he v be found at ‘the switchboard, a coronet of steel ou ck “‘operate” receiver over onc with the best of for he can ear, them. One of the most interesting characters Bing Gay, the dexterous in his or plugs of the among the “hello boys” warf of 20 -y2ars, handling of the B:bo with_ t numbers ranging from “China 00" t “hina 209.” He is bright, having reached a grade of 28 per cent in his studies in public schools It is a treat to sce Bing Gay manipulate the plu a call. In almost the sam ator falls on the board in front of him his 1o im Oriental band has reached the plug anl inese d placed it, and the C it may be (for the women make great use of the JOSE AMD. M SHRINE telephone), has got the call she wants. There are six local “trunk” lines from this exchange to the main telephone office and the number will soon be in- cr d to ten. The principal stores iu Chinatown, the restaurants, the famil and the clubs all use the telephone, and it would be Interesting to hear the variel and sometim exciting messages that fly over these wires. It is the ‘‘good angel™ of the gambling-house, for it often tells them of new customers or gives warning of those raiders who may be about to pen- etrate the inner doors. One can even im- agine it a friendly agency, by strategy or th, to help the poor slave girl of the now, In conversation over the phone it Is surprising how much English is used among thé Chinese. All are individual lines, and if you nt to talk with a Chi- merchant for nese call China 250, say, and you will aimost al get an Eng- fello! Wko is this?” in return. But cften at the switchboard after the “hello” of the operator you will see h¥m shake his queue in a deprecatory way and then call in a mellow woice, “Holar! Mut year ho £0?” This is Chinese for *Hello! What number do you want?” and you know that the rest of the conversation will probably be carried on in that language. The Chinese operator has to have a good - ey Jhe Camera to pDeiect Crime, ROBABLY no buman invention has D aided the course of justice to a greater extent than tk nap-shot camera. Jt has been instrumental in condemning criminals. and has also been the. means before now of saving in- lives. e in point is that of Alfred Gray- an Englishman who was living a few years ago at Rio de Janeiro. He was ac- cused of the murder of a Brazilian named Linares, a clerk in the same office with himself. The two were known to have guarreled some days previous to the Sun- day on which Linares met his death. Ap- parently, however, they bad made up their differences. for they went out sailing that day on a small yacht which Grayson had hired. In the evening Grayson brought the dead ‘body of Linares home. His story was that the latter had fallen from the mast and fractured his skull. But medi- cal evidence was of opinion the wound on the head had been made with a stick or oar. An oar was missing from the yacht's dingey. The mast-climbing story, too, sounded improbable, for the rigging was all worked from the deck. Taking the re- cent quarrel into consi®wation, and Gray- nocent A sor son’s well known violent temper, the case was black, indeed, against the English- man. The Coroner’s jury had %already found him guilty of murder. when a pas- senger on a Marsellles steamer, which had arrived in Rio on the Sunday af!er-; noon. came forward with a new piece of ! evidence. » This was a snap-shot photograph takex, as the vessel entered the harbor. Far away, under the cliffs, a tiny vessel was sailing, and against the white sail ‘was a dark mark which a powerful magnifier proved to be a falling man. By an almost miraculous coincidence the camera had been snapped just as Linares fell, The photograph turned the scale in Grayson's favor. Almost equally curious is the way _. which a photograph aided justice In the Cooper murder case. Cooper was assist- TriEr OPERATOR ABSISTarNT S ant to a young blacksmith named Mec- Kenna in a Lanarkshire village. Both men were known to be fond of the samesr———— girl. One day Cooper was found dead on the floor of the smithy. He had been poisoned with carbolic .acid. McKenna ‘was suspected, but there was no proof whatever of his having ever bought or owned any carbolic acid, while Cooper ArnD was known to bave purchased, as a toothache remedy, the phial found beside his body. *“Death from misadventure” was the verdict. 7 Shortly afterward McKenna was arrest- ed. It appeared that an English tourist INATO W NTRAL memory and remember many names, for the Chinese, 75 per cent of them perhaps, call for a party by name instead of num- ber, and insist upon it until they get him. Though it is a fact that the Chinese lan- guage. probably because it .has more vowels, can be heard more readily and smoothly through the phone than Eng- lish, the operators are all required t» speak English, and often switch off into that language in the midst of a conversa- tion started in Chinese. The Chinese op- erators and subscribers can get along well on lines on which an American heas with difficulty. But much of the business of the lines is done in English. This Chinatown office is run under a different system from any other in the world. The operators have in many cases 1o act as interpreters for customers, and among the Chinese the whole office is re- garded almost in the light of a general information bureau. The operator is sup- posed to know what time the steame: sails or arrives, all the particulars of the last fight, etc., and if the information is not forthcoming the inquirer considers himself insulted. The two long-distance booths are a source of trouble also, for often the coun- try subscriber will only know the name of the man he wants with no further partic- ulars, and the operator or little Yick Chun will have to go out and look him up. The good “‘hello boy"” has not a bed of chrys- anthemums or roses, for he must know the various Chinese dialects and English, and in short, as the manager says, “have some business about him."” Oeccasionally it comes to the point where the subscriber and the operator have difficulties to be settled out of office hours. Loo Kum Shu, the manager, has a nice private office here, and a comfortable room upstairs, where he resides in order to be “always on hand,” as he ex- presses it. Order and cleanliness are ev- erywhere apparent, and the whole place is run on business-like principles. The telephore is not a new thing to many of these operators, as in China they have private ‘telephone lines, but no ex- change. Two more sections will soon be added to the switchboard, now consisting of five sections. All complaints of sub- scribers are received at this office, and a Photography an _Aid to Justice. provided with a kodak had passed through the village on the very morning of the murder. Attracted by the quaint- ness of the old forge, he had taken sev- eral snap-shots of it. The photographer went on to stay in an out-of-the-way part of the Highlands and did not hear of Cooper’s death for some days. Then he hastened to develop his plates. Plain in one of the pictures were three bottles on a shelf. Two were beer bottles, the third was unmistakably one of those fluted blue glass bottles in which poisons are sold. 1t had also a label on it, and %though the wording on this could not be read, yet on the strength of this evidence the police made a thorough search of McKenna's premises. They found the remains of the bottle in question in an old well and proved that it had contained carbolic acid. Then McKenna confessed his guilt. The more recent developments of scien- “#tific photography must make the criminal feel less secure than he used to. One of those thieves who make a living by van- robbing got an unpleasant shock one day in March last. He had safely got off with a tub of butter, which he had stolen from the tail of a wagon as it was crossing a bridge In Rochester, N. Y. The deadly witness against him was a photograph taken by telephotography from the top of a neighboring high building. Hindoo criminals succeed by long prac- tice in forming a littla bag in thelr throats, into which they can guide jewels when they steal them. Last September a native was arrested for stealing a dia- mond worth 10,000 rupees from a jeweler's window in Calcutta. But as the evidence ‘was only circumstantial and possession unproved he would have been liberated had it not occurred to the police to have an X-ray photograph taken of his throat. That showed the gem safely hidden in the little sac. The thief was sentenced to two years’' imprisonment, but he still refuses to give up the diamond. The Roentgen ray photography has also been {nstrumental in adding several thou- sand pounds to the customs revenue of Buenos Ayres within the last year. val- uable jewelry on which no duty was be. ing paid was known to be coming into the country in letters or stamped pack- ages, so the law-breakers were unchecked At last, in June, 1900, several registered letters and packages were examined un- der X-rays in the presence of the Argen- tine Postmaster General. Sixty-six sus. pected packages contained £4000 worth of jewelry, and were, of course, all confis- cated, ‘ > anecsae? F4T very frequent cause of controversy is In trying to explain to an impatlent cus- tomer - that the line is “busy.” This scarcely comes within their bellef. and the operator gets the blame, which is not wholly Chinese. Directly opposite the deor of this strange office for business is an altar gor- geous with embroideries and silken cur- tains, in the recess of which is the joss. It was a “pleasant idea to have him there,” the manager said, and that pleas- ant idea is carried out in the Chinese characters above the shrine, which trans- lated read thus: “A line will convey good pews to you.” On either side are the gilded glass doors ot the long-distance booths, and beyond these again Is a carved and gilded grill work. Through this is the main room, with the switchboard in a railed inclosure. Carved sandalwood chairs, rich vases and daintily carved tables of ebony are scat- tered around, and on the walls hang scrolls richly embroidered in Chinese hie- roglyphics. When the operators pause in their work If by chance they turn around they read from these scrolls such max- ims as “Industry and attention to busi~ " ete. This luxurious part of the office is used as a sort of ‘walting-room for those who are waiting for messages, long-distance calls, etc. Here a pleasant custom is in- troduced into business life that makes the American telephone offices seem thou- sands of miles away. No one is being treated hospitably while waiting, accord- ing to the Chinese idea. unless he is of- fered a cup of fragrant tea or a pipe of tobacco. So the richly chased little cups with thelr saucer-like lids are always about, and Ching Soy Sing Is often very busy brewing a steaming golden bever- age. Then, if you drop into the office at just the right time. you may see a pic- ture. Here in one of the gorgeous chairs sits a Chinese merchant, waiting to send a message and beguiling the minutes with a cup of tea and a curious looking water pipe. The mother of one of the operators has dropped in for a chat, and she shuf- fles around smilingly, carrying in her arms a baby San Toy, swathed in brilliant embroidery and wearing a wonderful headdress. Through an open door you catch a glimpse of a group of Orientals busy with rice and chopsticks. You go lingeringly down the stairs, fearful less the spell be broken, and the last thing that floats down to your ears is the strange call: “Holar, mut year ho set*