asamstudiesintro:Pasadena: Site of the Chinatown FireOn the evening of November 6, 1885, just a few
asamstudiesintro:Pasadena: Site of the Chinatown FireOn the evening of November 6, 1885, just a few weeks after the Rock Springs Massacre, a group of local men and boys started throwing rocks at a Chinese laundry. One of the rocks went through a window and knocked over a kerosene lamp. The laundry was soon ablaze. Some of the Chinese inside, afraid they were going to be trapped by the men on the street, fled for their lives.The men who had thrown the rocks ran in and looted the building, then chased the remaining Chinese to another building. By now the small group of men who started the incident had grown to dozens, and they started to break into the building where they had chased the Chinese. They were thwarted when Deputy Sheriff Thomas Banbury arrived with some local businessmen, and the mob dispersed without further harm that night.The next day, however, another crowd hanged a Chinese man in effigy next to the smoldering remains of the laundry. Allegedly to prevent further violence, all Chinese were ordered out of downtown Pasadena within 24 hours, and more than 100 Chinese soon moved to new location just outside of the city limits. Later it was found that the block where the original laundry and other nearby Chinese businesses were located was coveted by local real estate speculators.After the expulsion the Los Angeles Times reported that “the respectable portion” of Pasadena’s community “says the Chinese may stay indefinitely…[because]…their labor is needed” but only “if they remain outside of the civic center.” [source] -- source link
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