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The Year of the Rat THE YEAR OF THE RAT: A SOCIAL AND MEDICAL HISTORY OF BUBONIC PLAGUE IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1900-1908 __________________ University Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, East Bay __________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History __________________ By Jennifer Nicole Faggiano May, 2019 Copyright © 2019 by Jenifer Nicole Faggiano ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Copyright ............................................................................................................................ii List of Figures and Photos ..................................................................................................v Introduction .........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1. Gold Mountain: The Chinese In California During the 18th century............................................................................................................. 12 Chapter 2. The Menagerie: The Chinese in San Francisco ............................................... 37 Chapter 3. La Piqure de Puce: Plague History and Ecology............................................. 51 Chapter 4. Fallen Leaves: The Arrival of Plague In San Francisco.................................. 67 Chapter 5. Fake News: Death, Denial, and Kinyoun’s Attempt to End the Outbreak ........................................................................................................... 83 Chapter 6. Ashes to Ashes: Rupert Blue, the End of the First Epidemic, and the San Francisco Earthquake ...............................................................................113 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................132 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................141 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Blaze razes Honolulu’s Chinatown .............................................................8 Figure 2 Sheet music featuring racial caricatures ................................................... 21 Figure 3 Chinese gold miners in Tuolumne County ................................................ 23 Figure 4 Advertisement for cigars made by white labor ......................................... 28 Figure 5 San Jose Chinatown, before and after it was razed ................................... 30 Figure 6 Bartlett Alley, Chinatown, 1900 ................................................................ 39 Figure 7 Chinatown yard filled with refuse and debris ........................................... 42 Figure 8 Rat-infested basement in Chinatown ........................................................ 48 Figure 9 Plague doctor mask, fantasy versus reality.. ............................................. 56 Figure 10 Microscopic view of Yersinia pestis ......................................................... 57 Figure 11 Microscopic view of a flea ........................................................................ 60 Figure 12 Patient with visible bubo in their armpit ................................................... 64 Figure 13 Herbal shop in Chinatown, 1900 ............................................................... 69 Figure 14 First police cordon around Chinatown ...................................................... 74 Figure 15 Specters of disease over Chinatown, political cartoon .............................. 75 Figure 16 Horse-drawn wagon used to disinfect buildings ....................................... 77 Figure 17 “The Raising of the Quarantine” limerick ................................................ 82 Figure 18 Two Chinese men attempt to hide a sick companion ............................... 88 Figure 19 Newspaper Headline: “There is absolutely no reason for alarm” ............. 99 v Figure 20 Dr. Shrady’s words of counsel to the Chinese .........................................102 Figure 21 Image of Consul Ho Yow alongside article of extortion scandal ............105 Figure 22 J.J. Kinyoun political cartoon ..................................................................109 Figure 23 Demolition of condemned buildings in Chinatown .................................124 Figure 24 Ruins of Chinatown after the 1906 earthquake and fire ..........................129 vi 1 INTRODUCTION “The Oceanic Steamship Company's Australia arrived yesterday from Hawaii and the Toyo Kisen Kaisha's Nippon Maru from China and Japan via Honolulu. Both vessels were sent into quarantine…The quarantine grounds presented a lively scene throughout the day… The Australia was the vessel to which Dr. Kinyoun devoted most of his attention. She has over 150 cabin passengers aboard from Honolulu, and every one of them will be subjected to a rigid examination before being allowed to land.” -The San Francisco Call, February 1, 1900.1 In late December 1899, the steamship Australia departed from Honolulu, freshly packed with passengers and goods, and sailed towards San Francisco. This voyage across the Pacific was part of the regular run that the ship frequently made, and thus nothing out of the ordinary was to be expected from the journey. 150 passengers from all walks of life were charioted across the chilly and unforgiving winter waves, waiting with what we can only assume was eagerness to finally catch sight of the Golden Coast that would give them a reprieve from their rough passage. On January 31, 1900, the Australia finally passed through the Golden Gate and docked at the Angel Island quarantine station to await the mandatory inspection and fumigation for all incoming vessels. Waiting to inspect the ship was Dr. Joseph J. Kinyoun, Chief Quarantine Officer of the United States Marine Hospital.2 A careful and calculated man, Kinyoun was particularly dedicated in his inspection of the Australia, as Honolulu was currently grappling with an outbreak of 1 "Mail Steamers Are Detained in Quarantine - Australia and Nippon Maru Held.," San Francisco Call (San Francisco) February 1, 1900: 7. 2 San Francisco Call, February 1, 1900. 2 bubonic plague, and unchecked cargo or passengers created the risk of bringing infection Into San Francisco. Few others shared Kinyoun’s intense concern over the plague bacillus reaching the city, possibly because, unlike Kinyoun, it was not their job to prevent so from happening. Four days after the arrival of the Australia, the San Francisco Examiner published an article further propagating the idea that it was inconceivable to think that plague could occur in their city. The article, appropriately titled, “Why San Francisco is Plague Proof,” had the following to say of the supposed immunity of the city: First is the fact that all vessels coming to San Francisco must stop at the islands, where…they could discharge them if infection had appeared and the ships themselves could be held in quarantine. At San Francisco, again, we have two lines of defense besides the city’s own Health Department. These are the Federal quarantine, with its swift steamer for boarding incoming vessels; its great quarantine station at Angel Island, and the large floating hulk alongside which Pacific liners of the greatest draught may anchor in the bay of California City, and there have their entire hulls and cargoes fumigated. When any vessel from a foreign port enters the Golden Gate, and before any person or thing may leave her, she must stop...3 In bold-faced print, the Examiner acknowledged that a central aspect to San Francisco’s supposed plague immunity lie in the federal quarantine work done by Kinyoun at Angel Island. Despite this, on January 31 the quarantine inspectors had been placed under immense pressure by impatient shippers and merchants to grant the Australia a clean bill of health, so that she may dock and unload her valuable cargo, which included 7,929 bags of sugar.4 After granting the steamer permission to proceed to the city, the inspectors 3 "Why San Francisco is Plague Proof," San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco) February 4, 1900: 33. 4 San Francisco Call, February 1, 1900. 3 watched with uncertainty as she sailed across the bay to dock in San Francisco’s port. There, on the first of February, crewmen on the Australia unloaded passengers and cargo, and quickly turned around for a return trip to Hawaii. As the human passengers disembarked and made their way onto the docks, so too did some four-legged stowaways who had gone undetected as a result of the hurried inspection. At first glance it may appear that these creatures made little difference when added to the city’s already massive subterranean rat population; however, these new arrivals brought with them a deadly new cargo. January 31 of 1900 did not only see the arrival of the Australia steamship: it also saw the arrival of the first day in the Chinese New Year. The year of the pig had come to an end, and according to the legendary sequence of the Chinese zodiac, the year of the rat had begun. The stories and legends associated with each zodiac animal vary widely throughout Chinese culture, yet it is often held that those born under the sign of the rat exemplify cleverness, are loving to their families, and make good companions in adversity. Alongside this, the rat is a representation of good health. This year, however, a cruel twist of fate would ensure that the year of the rat brought not good health, but its antithesis: pestilence. 5 When the Australia was permitted to dock on February 1, it
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