This week in Prince George history, July 17-23:
July 23, 1920: Prince George's Acting chief of police Sinclair raked in several suspects in Chinatown when he busted an illegal gambling ring on July 20, The Citizen reported.
"In the dim light of the gambling dive the game proceeded at a frenzied pace, punctuated by the rustle of paper money and the hoarse breathing of the players," The Citizen reported. "Silently, as a shadow out of the night, there came upon them Acting Chief of Police Sinclair. 'The game is pinched,' he said succulently from the shadows, creating no mean sensation among the players, 'Leave your money on the table.'"
The players scrambled to grab their money off the table, prompting the acting chief to grab a man named Yee Hay by the wrist.
"Yee Hay was game, however. Perhaps he comes from the wild Mongolian tribes of far Chop Suey, for he tried to break away," The Citizen reported. "In the tussle the other players started to bolt out of the innumerable exists and, as matters were pressing, the chief put his opponent out of the game by the simple expedient of bouncing a hard object off his head."
Yee Hay made a quick recovery after being taken to the hospital, and he and several othe men were expected to appear in court on July 24.
I've never said anything "succulently" and hope I never do.
These days journalists generally try to avoid casual racism and purple prose, but this scribe missed his calling writing for the hardboiled pulp magazines that were to come into their heyday in the late 1920s and '30s.
Also, if you wondered, chop suey is not a place. It's not even an authentic Chinese dish -it originated among Chinese American immigrants, perhaps based on the tsap seui which was popular in the Taishan county of Guangdong.
A short one this week, due to technical issues with The Citizen's archives. But Raiding the Archives will return at full length next week.
