Wm. H. McKee to Thomas Linton , Coroner, November 15, 1880

Testimony before the coroner’s jury sitting on the body of Sing Lee.

State of Colorado, County of Arapaho, ss:

An inquisition held at Denver on November 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 15, A. D. 1880, before Thomas Linton, coroner of said county and State aforesaid, on the body of Sing Lee, lying there dead.

The jurors, whose names are hereto subscribed, after having first viewed the body and heard the evidence adduced at the inquest, on their oaths do say:

That the said Sing Lee came to his death at the office of Dr. O. G. Cranston, in the Moffat and Rassler block, in the city of Denver, on the 31st day of October, A. D. 1880, at 8.30 o’clock p.m., from compression of the brain, caused by being beaten and kicked by——Corrigan, Ed. Wendell, Fred. Miller, and——Krieger, aided and abetted by other parties to the jury at present unknown, at the corner of Arapaho, and Nine teenth, and between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets, in the city of Denver and county and State aforesaid, about 7 o’clock p.m. of said day.

And we further find that the said mob was but the outgrowth of a drunken attack by two or three white men on some Chinese in the rear of their quarters between Blake and Wazee streets, near Sixteenth, and, which the evidence shows, could have been suppressed by the regular police force had they fearlessly arrested the ringleaders; but which, owing to the disorganized condition of the police force of the city, and the incompetency and inefficiency of its government by the proper authority, and the failure of the county authorities to render the necessary aid and assistance required in such emergencies, the mob assumed such proportions as culminated in the destruction of human life and the disgrace of the city in not affording protection to life and property.

Stephen Gill, being duly sworn, says:

I live at 364 Wellon street, and work for Higgins, the ice man. I was present on Arapaho and Sixteenth street on last Sunday eve, and was there when the mayor arrived. I saw the mob there present, and heard the leader of the mob say to throw the Chinaman in the wagon or they would finish him. He was put in the wagon, and I believe he was then dead. I believe the dead body here is the same Chinaman, by his size and general appearance. At the time I saw him in the wagon he was lying cramped up, and bruised on the head and face. The crowd and the leader directed the driver to take the Chinaman down to headquarters and to the undertakers. Someone suggested that they ought to serve the mayor, when he came, in the same way. After the body was taken away the mob fell back, but I don’t know where they went. I next saw a mob at the corner of Fifteenth and Arapaho, and they went over towards the Chinese house back of Parham’s drug-store. The man whom I considered as the leader was about 5 feet 10 inches high, and rather heavy set, but, I think, had no whiskers. I met, the next day on Wazee street, a man by the name of James McCann, who said to me that, “We cleaned them out yesterday; we gave them hell; God damn them; they have got to go.” I don’t know the driver of the wagon. The wagon had an oil-cloth top, but no side curtains. It looked like a market wagon. I think I would know the man who made the remark, “They would finish him if he was not taken away,” if I would see him again. He had on a dark old-style cloth coat, the balance of his clothes being dark. I have seen the prisoners in the county jail, and I recognize a man there whom I believe to be the man whom I heard make the remarks I have heretofore spoken of. He gave his name as Ed. Trondell.

Nicholas G. Kendall says:

I live at 507 Stout street, this city. I am working at a shoe-store near the corner of Nineteenth and Larimer. On last Sunday I came down town about 7 o’clock from home and saw the mob come from Blake street to Nineteenth street and up Nineteenth street as far as Lawrence. During the time I was behind the mob until near Nineteenth and Holliday and then I went ahead of the mob to the corner of Nineteenth and Lawrence. They went straight to Sing Lee’s house and commence breaking in the windows. A portion of the mob went into the house in the rear. They proceeded to break up everything and throw it out. There were about ten went into the house. They caught one Chinaman and brought him out with a rope around his neck, and they were dragging with the rope while he was on his back. The Chinaman got the rope off and run around the building and out across the lot. While he was being dragged I saw one man strike him with a chair or table and take down a lamp from a bracket. I don’t believe I would recognize the man. The man who struck the Chinaman had on an old-fashioned stiff square-top hat. His clothing was light colored. After going out back I saw the same Chinaman, I believe, across on the other side of the alley on the steps of a brick house attempting to get up the stairs and struggling to release himself from a white man. There were two white women trying to defend the Chinaman, but the white man got possession of the Chinaman, and the crowd then came up and cried, “Cut.off his cue; cut off his nose,” &c. I saw a man open his pocket-knife when a man said, “Cut off his cue.”

I then left and did not see what was done to him until ten or fifteen minutes afterwards. I saw them throw him into the wagon at Eighteenth and Arapaho. The crowd following the wagon went down Arapaho toward Fifteenth street. This is all I saw of the affair. I have seen the prisoners at the jail and at the sheriff’s office but I don’t recognize any of them as having seen them at the mob. During part of the time spoken of there were with me two men by the name of James Smith and—— Gilmore who live at Nineteenth and Holliday, and I afterwards saw Smith again at Lawrence and Nineteenth street during the riot.

Dr. C. C. Bradbury:

I live at 533 Arapaho street in this city; am a physician. About half past seven last Sunday I was attracted by the noise of the mob, and I went out of the house and down to Nineteenth street, and first met the mob, in the rear of Sing Lee’s place. I went into the crowd and saw that one man had the Chinaman (deceased) by the cue, and another had a rope around deceased’s neck. They were then moving towards the corner of Nineteenth and Arapaho. I made every remonstrance that I could with the mob. I was pushed away repeatedly by them. The mob took deceased to the corner with the avowed purpose of hanging him. When they got there I took hold of the leader and endeavored to persuade them not to hang him; in doing so I was pushed across the ditch. I made my way to deceased and he was pulled out of the ditch by the mob by the rope and by the cue. While being held up by one of the mob his cue was cut off by another. Deceased was at that time nearly insensible, he having been beaten by part of the mob with a large oak stick. At the time his cue was cut off, my wife and Mrs. Cale then stepped between the deceased and the mob. The crowd then fell back except these two leaders. I grappled one of the leaders and released the Chinaman (deceased) and with the help of some parties who appeared on the ground he succeeded in getting across the street when he was again seized by the mob. They then dragged him down Arapaho toward Eighteenth by the rope and the collar or the remainder of his cue. About halfway between Eighteenth and Nineteenth on Arapaho, and while near the fence they stopped again and commenced beating and kicking him. I again made my way to him, and while they were beating him I got between one of the leaders and deceased again. One of the leaders (the short one), then told me to get out of the way or he would kill me, and at that time one of the crowd struck me from behind three times on the side of the head with his fist. At that time I was standing between one of the leaders and the deceased and leaning over the deceased when the blood from deceased spurted over my clothing. Deceased was then on his knees held in that position by one of the leaders who was kicking him and the other was pounding him on the head with his fists. I then got deceased released again and he was grasped by some young men whom I had urged to assist and take around the corner, and while I was between the principal leader and deceased, he was thrown into a wagon and taken away down Arapaho street, and I did not see him again.

I have seen the prisoners in the jail, but I cannot positively say that I recognize any of them as members of that mob. One of them answers the description of one of the leaders except in height.

I have seen two prisoners in the sheriff’s office and am rather positive they are the two leaders of the mob above spoken to.

Lewis Rich:

I live at 212 Tenth street, and am a newsboy. I have lived in Denver two years. I saw the mob at the corner of Wazee and Sixteenth streets last Sunday, and on Blake and Seventeenth. While I was there the water was thrown on the mob and they dispersed. I then left and returned about half-past five to Wazee and Sixteenth streets, and saw that all the Chinese quarters were destroyed, and they were in charge of the police. There were a good many boys and men standing around. After I left there Henry Eichoff and I went up to Nineteenth and Arapaho, where the mob were then collected. The first thing I saw was the mob in charge of a Chinaman near a lamppost, at corner of Nineteenth and Arapaho. I had first seen them take the Chinaman from the rear of the house to the lamp-post. He had been beaten and was all bloody. One man was holding him by the cue, and I heard him say, “I have got his cue.” I saw a man also with a hatchet; he was a short man. The man who cut off the cue was tall and wore a stiff hat, but crushed down at the top. Some of the crowd wanted to release him and the tall man hallooed for a rope to hang him. The short man wanted to kill him. I think I would know the two men if I was to see them. I did not know any of the men in the mob.

I have been over to the sheriff’s office and seen the prisoners there and recognize the tall man as the man who cut off the cue and called for the rope to hang him, but I cannot say positively that the small man was the other. The tall one I afterwards saw carrying off clothing from the Chinese house in the rear of the Grand Central Hotel, between 8 and 10 o’clock p.m. This house was destroyed by the same mob that attacked Sing Lee’s house at the corner of Nineteenth and Arapaho.

Dr. O. G. Cranston:

I live at 545 Curtis, and am a physician. On last Sunday night about half-past eight or nine o’clock, the body of a man was brought in a wagon to the hall in front of my office. I examined him and found him still alive, and he was carried up into my room (No. 13 Moffatt and Kassler block) and laid on a lounge, and I went to work to try and resuscitate him by giving him stimulants. I found a cut on the left side of his head through the scalp clear to the skull. As far as examined I did not consider the skull fractured. By rubbing and counter-irritants we succeeded in raising his pulse and he breathed easier. He had a wound on his forehead, over the right eye, and the right side of his face was swollen considerably. His teeth were mostly all loose, and we took out some which were entirely broken out. He was bruised all over the body as though he had been kicked. His feet and hands and limbs to his body were cold, and he was in a cold sweat when brought there. The indications were that he was hurt internally and probably some rupture of a blood vessel. I think the cause of his death was concussion of the brain. There was no fracture of the skull, but concussion frequently occurs from a jar of the brain, as being struck by a broad instrument, jaring and paralyzing the brain. There were marks on his neck as though caused by strangulation, but don’t think that the cause of his death. I attended him to near his death in company with Dr. Park and Dr. Coburn. He was in my office about one and a half hours before he died.

Henry Eichoff:

I live on Fifteenth, near the bridge; I am fifteen years old; I am a newsboy Last Sunday I saw the crowd on Fifteenth and Blake about dusk. I afterwards went up to the corner of Nineteenth and Lawrence and saw the mob have a Chinaman at the corner of Nineteenth and Arapaho, and heard them crying to hang him. I had followed the crowd to see what they were going to do, and I heard them say, “Now for Nineteenth and Lawrence.” When I got to Nineteenth and Lawrence, I saw that the windows were broken in, and they had run the Chinese out, and the crowd had the deceased at the corner of Nineteenth and Arapaho at a lamp-post, and were threatening to hang him, and were calling for a rope. They then told him to run for his life, and he started to run, and he was moaning as he ran, and the crowd followed and struck him, and caught him again between Eighteenth and Nineteenth, on Arapaho. They afterwards threw him into a wagon at the comer of Eighteenth and Arapaho. I heard some one say, “Cut off his cue,” and I heard the large man say, “I have; I have got it in my pocket.” This man had on a stiff hat. I afterwards saw this same man carrying away clothing from the Chinese house in the rear of Grand Central hotel. I had seen this man striking and kicking the deceased at Arapaho and Nineteenth, and between Eighteenth and Nineteenth on Arapaho. He took the clothing down Seventeenth street past the Grand Central Hotel. I have seen two men in the sheriff’s office but don’t recognize them as having seen them in the mob. I did not see the rope oh the Chinaman’s neck. From the corner of Arapaho and Nineteenth the Chinaman was released and told to run for his life, and started to run, but was overtaken about halfway to Eighteenth and seized again by the mob and beaten again. He ran and was dragged to Eighteenth, and was there thrown into the wagon, and the wagon started down Arapaho towards the ’bus barn. I saw the same man who seemed to be the leader at Arapaho and Nineteenth down at the Chinese house in the rear of the Grand Central Hotel carrying away clothes under his arm down past the Grand Central. I followed the crowd down to the Grand Central from Arapaho and Nineteenth.

Frisber Hayden:

I live at the corner of Nineteenth and California, and am a barber. Last Sunday about 6 or 7 o’clock p.m., I was passing the corner of Nineteenth and Arapaho on my way home, and saw the mob at that place near the lamp-post in charge of a Chinaman. One of the mob had the Chinaman by the cue and said he would cut his throat, and put his hand in his pocket. Not wanting to see the man’s throat cut, I moved away. The man who made the threat had a sandy mustache, and a soft hat, dark coat, rather tall. I don’t believe I would recognize him again. I think from his appearance he might have been an Irishman. I saw another man kick the Chinaman while he was down on the ground, and as the Chinaman raised up another man struck him. I then crossed over the street and could not see anything more, but I noticed the Chinaman had wounds on the right side of his head, and the blood was running from the wounds. I noticed an old gentleman with white beard remonstrating with the men who were holding the Chinaman, and one man standing near said to him, to “Stand back,” “Go away,” and pushed the old man away.

Alex’r Ely:

I live at 289 Twentieth street. I am collector for James Duff, and agent for Mr. Horr’s property, occupied recently by the deceased on Lawrence and Nineteenth. Last Sunday eve, about 7 o’clock, on the corner of Nineteenth and Larimer, I first saw the mob attempting to destroy a Chinese house. After breaking in that building they went to the corner of Nineteenth, and Lawrence. I was knocked down at the corner of Nineteenth and Larimer by a man while I was trying to protect the property for Mr. Horr. I did not know the man, and he escaped in the crowd. I was told by the crowd that if I attempted to assist the Chinese that they would serve me the same as the Chinese. I think my assailant was an Irishman. I heard some parties then call out to the mob to come on and they would go to the corner of Lawrence and Nineteenth, and clean out that place. When they got there they attacked Sing Lee’s place with axes, hatchets, stones, & c., and broke in the windows and doors. I saw two men with hatchets, and one of them took the hatchet from his overcoat pocket.

• One of these men with hatchets I saw seize the Chinaman in the rear of the building, and drag him to the lamp-post at the corner of Arapaho and Nineteenth. I heard him say he was going to take the town in and kill every damned son of a bitch of a Chinaman he could find. I saw the same man cut off the cue of the Chinaman. This man was a dark complexioned man, tall, with dark beard and mustache, and about thirty-five or forty years of age.
• I saw another man assisting in dragging the Chinaman by the arm. He was a short man, sandy complexioned, dark coat, dark brown pants, and black soft hat, short stubby whiskers. I have been over to the sheriff’s office, and have seen two prisoners there, and I recognize one of the prisoners there as the tall man I have heretofore spoken of (Corrigan). He was the third man who entered Sing Lee’s building and found deceased under the lounge and commenced beating him, and dragged him out and said, “Here is one of them, the son of a bitch; we will kill him.” He helped drag him out by the collar, and two others assisted and got him into the back yard, and there they beat him again. They then got the clothes-line, and Corrigan said, “We will hang him to the tree,” and the others said to hang him to the lamp-post. They dragged him by the rope which they had put around his neck, across the ditch and street to the lamp-post, and a dark-complexioned man went to the lamp-post to throw the rope over, and a lady present begged them not to hang him. I also asked them not to hang him, and they said they would hang me if I did not keep still. I have been to the county jail, and among the prisoners I recognize a man there as the same man as heretofore marked No. 2. I also saw another man there that I have heretofore spoken of as No. 3 I also saw another man there (Craigen), that I recognize as having seen at the head of the mob on Larimer street. He is a tall young man, no whiskers. He was present aiding the mob and throwing into the house on Larimer street. He gave his name as Gregory (Craiger) at the jail. The crowd at Larimer street then shouted to go to Lawrence street, and hallooed for Hancock. When I left the lamp-post where they were trying to hang Sing Lee, I did not see anything more. I heard the man described as No. 2 tell Sing Lee they were going to kill him.

Frank Stanton:

I live at 497 Arapaho street, and am a baker; I saw the mob first at the corner of Nineteenth and Larimer, about 7 o’clock in the evening, on their way to Sing Lee’s place. I went home and returned in a short time, and saw the crowd in possession of a Chinaman whom they were dragging toward the lamp-post; I followed the mob, and saw them attack Sing Lee’s place. When they got him to the lamp-post, I first noticed two men in particular; one was a tall man with a light mustache, a dark hat, and dark clothes; the other man was short and heavy set, dark clothing. They had hold of the Chinaman, and were beating and kicking him; the tall man I saw cut off the cue. I then saw them dragging him toward Eighteenth street. These two men and the crowd were shouting to hang him. I saw several ladies there trying to persuade the crowd not to kill him. I have been over to the sheriff’s office, and seen the prisoners there, but I do not recognize any of them as having seen them before; I recollect seeing Dr. Bradbury in the crowd trying to persuade the mob to release the Chinaman, and he finally succeeded in getting him away and into a wagon, and got him away.

Geo. C. Hickey:

I live at the Taney House, 341 Holladay street, and am a printer. I saw the mob on Blake street, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets, when the water was thrown on them. The mob still remained there, and I came to Hop Lee’s at 416½ Blake street, and remained there half an hour. The small boys commenced throwing stones at the windows, and then the men commenced kicking in the doors and windows. I then went to the rear of the house, and Officer Ryan and a citizen were there trying to keep back the crowd. A. Tom then came out and said to get carriages and a policeman, and they would go away with us. The mob then threw stones so fast we had to retreat from the building. Another man and myself then went into the building, and Ryan and a citizen were trying to beat back the mob. I went through the house to the front to admit a policeman, and it being fastened, it had to be broken open to admit them. After the officer came in I went to the sleeping room and found there and urged them to run out. They all did so but Ah Chung, who remained and hid under the table. The mob then broke past the officers at the door and got into the building and found Ah Chung and put a rope around his neck and threw him and dragged him out. I followed him out, and Officer Ryan tried to release Ah Chung, but being unable, some one cut the rope. Ryan and the citizen then ran him across the lot to Seventeenth street and down Holladay until again stopped by the mob. We got him into a doorway, the door being fastened, near Sixteenth.

The sheriff then ordered the mob to disperse, and Ryan, the citizen, and Ah Chung then moved on. I kept behind the party down Sixteenth street and into a place in the rear of the American House. I then went up to my room and changed clothes and returned to the scene, which was then on Wazee street attacking the Chinese houses in that quarter. The mayor and a squad of police then appeared and fired several shots, when the mob fell back. Two specials were left, and the main body of police left. The mob, after completing the destruction after the police left, darted for Eighteenth and Larimer, going up Wazee to Seventeenth, thence to Blake, thence, to Nineteenth. On the way to Nineteenth they attacked and demolished two Chinese houses. They then shouted, “For Nineteenth and Lawrence!” I knew they were going to Sing Lee’s, and I ran ahead to warn him, and when I got here and called to him he locked the door and would not come out. The mob then came and attacked the place with sticks and stones, and commenced breaking in the windows and doors in the rear. I went around to the front of the house, and while I was there they broke open the building, and one of the mob entered through a window, and I followed him. The crowd by that time had forced the back door and entered. I saw Sing Lee on his knees, and when he saw me he came and dropped down in front of me for protection, and I endeavored to shield him and prevent them from putting the rope around his neck. The crowd then commenced kicking him, and said I was a damned Chinaman, and they would hang me if I did not get away, and attempted to put the rope over my neck.

I noticed one man in the crowd who was very active; tall, light hat, rather poorly dressed, and, I think, an Irishman. I did not notice any other one particularly so that I can describe them. I saw them take Sing Lee out with a rope around his neck, but could not recognize any of the men who had charge of him. They caught Ah Sin and took him out, and I followed and I hallooed to him to run, and he ran and I pulled my revolver and kept the crowd back until Ah Sin was hidden away in a coal-shed, and I afterwards washed him and brought him to headquarters. I saw the mob pounding Sing Lee with cord wood, but I could not get to him on account of the crowd. I have seen the body of Sing Lee at the coroner’s, and identified it as Sing Lee’s. The crowd called me a damned half Chinaman, and said they would hang me if I did not clear out. They were shouting for Hancock.

George Milligan:

I am fourteen years old and live in the alley between Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth and Lawrence and Larimer. About one o’clock I came down Larimer street and I saw a crowd of people running down the alley by the American House. I did not see anything there, but that night about 7 o’clock I saw the mob up on Nineteenth and Lawrence. I went up to the corner of Nineteenth and Arapaho, and saw the crowd dragging the Chinaman by the cue across the street from the Chinese house at the corner of Nineteenth and Lawrence toward the corner of Nineteenth and Arapaho. They were taking him to hang him to a tree, as the crowd announced. A lady stood by and requested that they release him, and after beating him with clubs and kicking him in the face they released him, and after letting him run a short distance they again caught him and beat him again, and he was again released, and he ran to the corner of Eighteenth and Arapaho and fell. He was there thrown into a wagon that came along and the driver directed to take him to the jail.

I did not see any one in the mob that I knew personally, but I saw one man with long hair and wide-brimmed hat, rather tall, and think I should know him if I should see him again. A man there by the name of Burke whom they called (“Captain”) “Colonel” Burke, on horseback, was hallooing to “Hang the Chinese,” and I heard him say to the crowd that “He was the first man to go to a Chinese house.” He announced that his name was not “Colonel” Burke, that it was “Mr.” Burke. He rode a bay or brown horse and very fine appearance. This man Burke was of medium size. When I first saw Burke he was coming up Nineteenth toward Arapaho, and was crying to “Come on, boys,” “Hang the Chinese.” He was in front of the mob, and when the mob got the Chinaman out, he dismounted and another man held his horse. I next saw Burke with the crowd, on his horse, with the mob going down toward the Clifton House. After the Chinaman was put in the wagon, I saw him in front of the mob at the Arapaho-street school-house. The crowd were continually shouting for “Hancock,” and “Down with the Chinese,” and I heard Burke shouting to the mob to come on.

Mrs. W. M. Cole:

I live at 529 Arapaho street. Last Sunday eve, about half-past seven o’clock in the evening, Dr. and Mrs. Bradbury and myself had started down town, and before we reached the corner of Nineteenth, we saw the mob and were told that they had attacked the house of Sing Lee. They came to the lamp-post with the Chinaman with a rope around his neck shouting to hang him, and just as he got to the ditch he fell, as I believe, of strangulation. Mrs. B. and I went into the crowd to try to get him released, but the crowd were so close that we could do nothing. Some one asked Mrs. B. if she wanted to see him hung, and she said “No, and he shall not be hung here.” I noticed one boy, whom I believe I recognize as the boy here shown, who was very active and pointed out a place to hang him, and called on them to come on. I heard them shout to cut off the cue and saw one of the men cut it off. He seemed to be nearly insensible. They then got him up and started him off, and I thought they were going to let him go. One man, a large man with a sandy mustache, said “No, kill him; don’t let him go.” And the crowd surged forward down Eighteenth street, and caught him again. The mob were beating and kicking him all the time, but there seemed to be two principal men doing most of the beating and kicking. The mob were shouting all the time to kill him, and I heard them repeatedly say they were a democratic crew, and they were continually shouting for Hancock.

T. J. Ryan:

I live at 372 Delgany street, and am a policeman. Last Sunday I first saw the mob at the corner of Sixteenth and Wazee, and I assisted in getting the mob up Sixteenth and into Blake, where the water was thrown on the mob. Judge Welborn then appeared and requested the mob to disperse if they would, and I suggested to Welborn to go ahead and halloo for Hancock, and I thought the crowd would follow, and he went up Sixteenth, and 200 or 300 followed him when he cheered for Hancock. He told the crowd that “To-morrow is the day to vote for Hancock.” The balance of the crowd then attacked Hop Lee’s house, on Blake, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth, and destroyed it. There was no policeman that I saw present there but myself, and I tried to persuade the mob to cease their attack, but the mob directed me to get away or I would get hurt. The mob in the meantime got a Chinaman out with a rope around his neck, and I attempted to release him. Another man and I then got to the Chinaman, and he cut the rope, and we got the Chinaman from the crowd and started into the alley, and the crowd then got to us again. We succeeded in getting the Chinaman along into the front of Louis’s ten-pin alley, when the door was shut against us. Some one then attempted to quiet the mob by addressing the mob, and attracted the attention of the mob, and I got away with the Chinaman down to Sixteenth and down to the American House, where I got the Chinaman into the rear of the hotel.

The mob then came down and attacked the Chinese houses in the rear of the American Hotel, and I went out into the mob and attempted again to pacify the crowd. Some man then broke in the door of the Chinese store, and the mob attempted to get in. Four shots were then fired, and a white man appeared, holding up his arm bleeding, and cried, “See the white man’s blood,” and the crowd rushed into the house. They then went through the Chinese house near the corner. The mob then moved around to Wazee, and I remained in charge of the house at the alley. I did not see Captain Burke at all, nor did I see any one whom I recognized, as I was so busy that I could not stop to look at any one in particular. The man who was shot in the arm I think was one of the mob. On Wazee street I tried to disperse the crowd from the sidewalk near John’s place. I saw a man by the name of Jim Lewis, and I ordered him away also, and he told me “No; I am a ‘special’ under Spangler;” and I said, “All right,” and I did not see him again until about 5 or 6 o’clock in the back part of the Chinese house at the corner of the alley, between Blake and Wazee, when I ordered a man away from a truuk he was trying to get into. I don’t know what he was doing, but he was making himself busy there in some way. He had on a broad-brimmed hat, and wears long hair, black coat, and brown mustache and goatee. I was not up to. Nineteenth and Arapaho at any time during the attack there, and did not see anything there.

Ah Sing (through Chee Quong, interpreter):

I live at the corner of Nineteenth and Lawrence. I keep a wash-house. I was in the house last Sunday evening when the mob came, and I was lying under the ironing-table. I saw the parties, but could not recognize them as it was dark. I did not see them take out Sing Lee, as the mob put a rope around my neck and dragged me out of the house, but it was so dark I could not see them to identify them. Sing Lee was in the house at the time the mob entered the house. The mob cut off my cue after they got me outside of the house. I could not identify any of the prisoners if I should look at them. They took me out before they seized Sing Lee.

George Le Clair:

I live at the corner of Thirteenth and Holladay, west Denver, and am a bar-tender. On last Sunday, on Blake between Sixteenth and Seventeenth, on the south side of the street, in the rear of a Chinese house, the same house attacked by the mob, I saw a man by the name of Kinney or McKinney throwing stones and bricks at the building during the attack on the building. He then advanced on the building and urged the crowd to follow, and was shortly after that arrested by Mr. Hawley and taken away, and is now in jail. Another man, who gave his name as Smith, arrested on last Saturday night by Officer Sherman on Blake street, I saw on the Sunday eve of the riot, while myself, Sherman, Welch, and Clarke were bringing two Chinamen from the Chinese house on Blake street above described to the American House; he made an attempt to rescue the Chinese from us, and said, “I will take the God damned Chinamen from them; I am no ‘tenderfoot.’” This was near the American House. I afterwards saw this same man at the head of the mob at the corner of Fourteenth and Lawrence when they were dispersed by the officers, and also saw a man with a yellow hound, named Poole, who was also throwing stones, and saw him kicking at the door and break in the windows of the Chinese house above spoken of. He appeared to be very active, and was in the lead of the mob. I also saw a man by the name of Eisenhart, who was mounted and was leading the mob at the corner of Fourteenth and Lawrence, and when the mob came in sight of the Chinese house at Fourteenth and Lawrence, I heard him say to the mob, pointing to the Chinese house, “There is one of them now.” After the mob were fired into and dispersed, this man Eiseahart rode up in front of the Chinese house, and he was asked by a party there what he was doing there, and he said he “was working for the city,” and when asked his name he said it was none of their business. He was asked to show his badge or authority, and he said he “did not have any and did not need any.” He was arrested and taken off his horse and taken to jail by Officers Sherman and Levy. I did not see any attack made or ordered by any one in charge of the police at any place during the day except at Fourteenth and Lawrence, when the police were ordered to fire on the mob.

John Asmussén:

I live at 404½ Wazee street, and keep the saloon known as “John’s Place.” I was present at my saloon last Sunday, the last of October, when the riot occurred on Wazee street and Sixteenth, near my place, about 2 o’clock. There was in my place at the commencement of the row, George E Shalle and two Chinamen playing pool. Shalle works at 406 Arapaho street. They were playing quietly when three or four men came in who were drunk and went up to the table and commenced to disturb the game. One of the Chinamen asked them to quit; the men then commenced abusing the Chinamen, and I remonstrated with them, and they said they were as good as Chinamen, and they came up to the bar and got some beer. Whilethey were drinking I advised the Chinamen to go out of the house to prevent a row, and they went out at the back door. After a few minutes one of the white men went out at the back door and struck one of the Chinamen without any provocation. Another one of the crowd called to one of the same gang inside to “come on Charley, he has got him,” and he then picked up a piece of board and struck at the Chinese, which the Chinese defended against as well as they could, and tried to get away. This was the beginning of the riot. I then closed the doors and would not admit any one, and did not see any more of the riot. These men were strangers to me, and I had never seen them before, nor have not since. I saw Jim Lewis in the saloon at the time the row commenced, and he tried to get out of the back way, which I tried to prevent, but he got out by me and immediately he got out I heard the bricks flying. He tried afterwards to get back, but I would not let him in. The man who went out with Lewis I don’t know by name.