The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 26, 1902, Page 3

BZAUTIFUL QUE QuI, WHO EINALLY ELOPES WITH TRE WILY GRAMELER. By Jarah Comstock. Queen th of after a fe of a iong Hing and the natown's smart set er eyes ment and was little 2s as coguettishly her and her he He that would be the on Dupont street. He dirt-cheap ‘price of orth on the street and men d coveted. me to be known by every hinatown. The pipe- corner and the fish dealer no use. , the elite, quarreling man who in- she had him e of jealous; woman ever , and all she gifts that her followers tight enough at de when she ap- her money whenever 2d they bought her or an actress ned w n. if and there- to do she ed, marry as v to do was to flirt with r natown for more than then elope with a ese woman in a s any romance in her soul. € eces of household furni- customs have is why Que Qui, with f a senori s out never to be for- ¥ be replaced. When she became a free woman she took full advantage of her privilege. She went forth in the streets every day, pa- rading in such garments as the Orient alone conceives. It is sald that she never appeared in less than $5000 worth of dress. Her blouse was always made of the rarest embroidered silks, and the jewelry that she wore was valued at hundreds of dol- lars. Her bracelets were of precious jade and gold—all Chinese jewelry is of twen- ty-four karat gold—and she had a way of throwing out her graceful little arms to show them. Her plastered hair was fast- ened In the back of her neck with wonder- ful ornaments. There was a marvelous fish, cunningly wrought of different pre- cious metals so that it glinted in the sun like the scales of a real fish. This was only one of the gifts of Jew Nun, who was on her list of adorers. The queen had still another accomplish- ment in addition to her coquetry and her prettiness. She could sing. Twanghg her butterfly plano she would chant the gayest and the saddest little Chinese songs in a way that made men, even the sphinxes that Chinese men are, laugh one minute and sniff the next. The proprietor of the Chinese Theater heard her and saw her one night at a banquet, and the next day he came to old Loo Soo with an offer. He said he would pay him one hundred dollars a week for the girl’s services as a performer on his stage. He prophesied standing room only. “Your dollars are refused,” replied old Loo Soo, who, although he love@ the joy THE SUNDAY OCALL. of turning an honest penny, nevertheless loved his aristocracy better. “There is no class so low as that of the actor, save only the barber and the undertaker. My niece shall never disgrace her ancestors by ap- pearing on the stage.” Therefore her volce was always kept for more exclusive use—for private ban- quets, and for noted celebrations such as the opening of a new joss house or restaurant. No one thought of giving a really swell affair without her as the guest of honor. She was dined and wined, in no wise differently from whiter belles. Feasts were held at the restaurants— feasts where she might have been the only woman present. for the attention shown her. Others with even smaller féct—for hers Had been bandaged only in her babyhood—sat in corners and puffed their cigarettes for company. Curtain lec- tures filled the hours after the banquet- ers went home, and the gallant gentlemen of Dupont street were squaring them- selves with their wives for days follow- ing. . It was the same way whenever a joss house or restaurant was opened. Elab- orate entertainments are always given on such occasions, and Que Qui was present, the center of attraction. When the last joss house was opened she was engaged to sing nine weeks ahead, for entertain- ers stood in line for her like ticket-buyers for grand opera. Her health was drunk in Chinese brandy and in champagne as well, and she en- couraged good fellowship with an eazle - \ eye to financlal gains, but sne was snrewd herself, and her drinking never passed the fine point beyond which she would ccase to be absolutely mistress of herself. She was too clever a beauty for any folly of that kind. There is no doubt that blood has been shed plenty of times on her account. The real inside of Chinatown is dark to us, and we can only surmise, for proofs do not exist. Que Qui's beauty, we may be sure, was at the bot{om of many a feud, although the white man can never ascer- tain data that the Chinese hold within their close walls. But inasmuch as petty quarrels leaked out, it is deemed that where there was smoke there must have been fire. Chin Gok’s bride was taken to Chin's home on ROMANCE CF TRIRTY-ONS HRUNDRED aND FIETY DOLLARS AND R PRETTY MRTDEN. her wedding day to come face to face with a picture of Que Qui hung con picuously on the wall. She went into a rage over it and Chin, who is more conscientious than diplomatic, told her ti e 1y loved Que Qui all the time and would have married her if he could. The bride wet the cake of that lay on the table and daubed the ce of the queen, but Chin washed the ink off and guarded the plcture sacredly after that. One thing”all C She was the most in its limits. The natown say harttable w Ithy poor i alley and alley and ir alley all miss her. She f without a borrowed from them thousands of that she ver dreamed of repa but she opened her purse to any one in neéd. She visited the sick herself and carried them what they wanted. She sold her jew once when cash happened to to keep a family starvation—they v bables, but she did not c “We all alike wish to-eat, She made friends wherever She had a jolly word for white people She. s easily and she won friends with it. Her money and valuables came from sources. Jew Nun sa that he bought her $410 worth of jewelry on the day she disappeared—it was all in brace- lets, that she might make more flash and Jingle when she tossed her pretty arms bea fore him. Buck Eye has spent as much as 35000 on her in his time, b most persistent of her suitors were Jim Wong and Quong Hing. They are wealthy men, powerful men, desperate men. It took all the woman's wits to keep them dz the danger point. to kill her, kill e . kill anybody, in a rage of jealousy when she would in- tervene with her merry, caressing ways and they would be happily reassured. ibies he They never knew that Chin Wing existed, all much less that he was chosen plots along they town’s wrath law-preservers. Jim Wong al cot. On the day him advice in the time her she was laying ts so deep that e face of China- 1d the white man's shrewd lover, called her his mas- hat she left she gave buying and he won $2000 that same n although she had decamped with $250 that she owed him. Jim not complain, for he his lotter: found his fi very much to the good, 1ld rather lose his m Qui. Quong Hix lit man who owns eight stores over fortunes every year s ¥mporting trade. He is an eighty-po man, whose small body is so valuable to a hostile tong that he Boes about with it encased In a steel coat of mail that must weigh as much as he does. He looked carefully to the weak points In s armor when e began to court Que Q Quong Hing is known as the masher of He woced Que Qui and lost. T a banquet where 130 guests licacles that the market af- forded and drank champagne and ls- tened to a band and admired the queen. She had eyes for Quong alone. She was a flawless diplomat and her host always reaped his reward by re g all her at- tention. Skilifully she kept up the hopes of thess two and all the time plotted with her lover. While they were plotting she was sup- porting him. A big pa of the money that she borrowed from Jim and Quong and the rest she used to keep him dressed ate all the d in the height of Chinese fashion. He was a devilish handsome fellow, anyway— dressed In the clothes she bought him he looked like a prince. never knew that But the merchants he and their favorite had e two guard their secret. in a saloon at times—he never succeeded In holding a position very long. He gambled away a good deal of the money that she gave him and he always gambled badly. He was not a clever sport. Que Qui worked matters up to the point where she wanted them and made her leap at the psychological moment. Her credit had grown rather bad. but she worked it up again by borrowing small amounts from different men and repay- ing them with conscientious promptitude. Thelr confidence in her was restored and on the day that she had appointed to flee she emptied their pockets to the sum of 33150. She has gone to join-her, lover. He galled for C! on the last voyage of the Ceptic and he was in port about the time that she started. She probably made a roundabout journey by way of Portland It s s she was on the duck ranch in Francisco, the one that lies the rope walk, during the three days that she was in hiding. The duck man comes to Chinatown to sell his goods and she had made him a friend and a firm one while she bought ducks. At the end of the three days she fled, The various ownery of the $315) rose in their wrath and police. now reported her Enemies be: they are joined in a common use of jilt. And me good-for-nothing Chin Wing in Hongkong for al of the steamer that will bring s beauty and the neat little sum on which they.are to begin life together, So far as San Francisco’s Chinatown goes the Queen is dead. But who shall say, “Live the Queen™? There is none to replace Que Qui. to the