1885

Left to Right: Lieutenant Stephen W. Groesbeck (Regimental Adjutant Fort Douglas), Tseng Hoy (interpreter), Colonel Frederick A. Bee (Consul for Chinese Government from San Francisco), Huang Sih Chuen (New York Consul), Unknown and Colonel Alexander McDowell McCook (commanding officer Fort Douglas). investigating Rock Springs massacre
Another copy of picture

Map of Chinatown
or
Map of Chinatown

1885 Langley San Francisco City Directory

1885 Journal of the Senate

"The Chinese" in Washington Territory

Chinese in San Francisco 1885

Report of the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration
and
Colonel Bee's testimony

Correspondence with the Legation of China at Washington

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12681, 1 January 1885
Mrs. F. A. Bee was not receiving guests.

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12690, 10 January 1885
Possible fake passports
Chong Wan's passport

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12695, 15 January 1885
Arrivals, departures, habeas corpus

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12703, 23 January 1885
Chinese cases [Cum How and Cum Bow]

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 52, Number 135, 31 January 1885
White babies in Chinatown

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12717, 6 February 1885
Chinese emigration

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12719, 8 February 1885
Chinese ordered out of Eureka, California.

Examples of immigration and Habeas Corpus index

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 52, Number 143, 10 February 1885
Chinese expelled from Chico, California.

Sausalito News, Volume 1, Number 1, 12 February 1885
Bee and Bosqui were original incorporators of Sausalito.

Meeting assembled to complain about Chinese and Consul Bee.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Feb 15, 1885. p. 8 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12733, 22 February 1885
Catherine M. Bee sold property to H.Sears

February 26, 1885 The Alien Contract Labor Law

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12740, 1 March 1885
Consul Bee represented violators of Cubic Air Ordinance.

Consul Bee visited violators of the Cubic Air Law in jail.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Mar 15, 1885. p. 1 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12755, 16 March 1885
Mrs. F A Bee visited friends in San Jose, California.

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12756, 17 March 1885
.Hing v. Crowley - Crowley won.
F.A. Bee worked on the Soon Hing case.
from "Chinese Habeas Corpus Cases, 1884-1893." Records of the U.S. Commissioners, U.S. Circuit Court for the Ninth Circuit for the Northern District of California. Record Group 21.
1885 San Francisco Municipal Reports

New school for Chinese students to be opened on Stockton Street.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Mar 29, 1885. p. 1 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12769, 30 March 1885
Barlow Bee and wife hosted party for parents of Albin Starbird.

April 8, 1885 letter from Mary Tape to San Francisco Board of Education
Copy of letter in newspaper

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12784, 14 April 1885
The Fire Commissioners [letter from F. A. Bee to commissioners]

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12784, 14 April 1885
Chinese Primary School opened.

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 53, Number 45, 15 April 1885
Chinese Primary School opened.
Chinese School - Daily Alta California, Volume 16, Number 5290, 27 August 1864
History of Chinese School - 1881 San Francisco Municipal Report

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12786, 16 April 1885
Chinese children entered Chinese Primary School.
Tape Family history
According to the Twelfth Annual Report of the Occidental Board Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, 1885, "After Ms. Baskin had presented her annual report, her school was visited by Directors of the Board of Education and other officials, asking questions about how to obtain the scholars, how to teach and discipline them, etc. Soon after, four of her boys (and since then others) were taken into the public school. There, with a little brother and sister wbo lived away from Chinatown, and who have had American associates, made up the pupils for the first day in the public school annals of the Chinese. Their fathers were men of influence, and thought it their duty to give their sanction to this new effort for their education, at the expense of the State."

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12789, 19 April 1885
Arrival of the steamer Arabic

This Habeas Corpus file included testimony from interpreters who interrogated a passenger on the Arabic. It is interesting because it described procedures used by Custom officials.

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12804, 4 May 1885
Customs House

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12805, 5 May 1885
Editorial about the adequacy of a Californian for the post of Minister to China

Consul Bee explained his position about custom certificates.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: May 9, 1885. p. 2 (1 page)

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 53, Number 84, 30 May 1885
Mr. and Mrs. Bee visited John Bidwell in Chico.

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12832, 1 June 1885
Colonel and Mrs. Bee in Chico, California

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 53, Number 86, 2 June 1885
Colonel Bee and wife returned to San Francisco from Chico.

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12843, 12 June 1885
July 4th Finance Committee

June 19, 1885 North China Herald
Article in column 2 reported Morton's statistics.

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12854, 23 June 1885
Fourth of July plans

Sausalito News, Volume 1, Number 20, 25 June 1885
Editorial about overfishing by Chinese

Report of the Special Committee on the Condition of the Chinese Quarter and the Chinese in San Francisco

Mohave County miner., July 05, 1885
Consul Bee described proposed railroad in China.

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 53, Number 117, 8 July 1885
J.Russell Young's optposition to Chinese exclusion

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12900, 9 July 1885
Statistical results of Restriction Act

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12900, 9 July 1885
Letter to editor from F. A. Bee

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12901, 10 July 1885
Editor asked for Consul Bee to explain discrepancy in Chinese population estimate

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12914, 23 July 1885
Consul Bee corrects statements supposedly made in front of Police Commission

Example of stamp used to indicate refusal to land

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 53, Number 135, 29 July 1885
Silver mines near Calistoga, California
Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12925, 3 August 1885
Mr. and Mrs. Bee traveled to Calistoga, California.
Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 53, Number 150, 15 August 1885
Fire in Calistoga
Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 7, 29 August 1885
Leland Stanford considered the establishment of a university in Calistoga.
NOTE: Leland Stanford's wife became ill and the Stanfords remained in Santa Clara County, California.
Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 39, 6 October 1885
Senator Stanford purchased Calistoga Hot Springs.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12925, 3 August 1885
Consul Bee and lady attended large party.

Mr. and Mrs. Bee left for Calistoga, California.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Aug 4, 1885. p. 2 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12928, 6 August 1885
Non-partisan group met with Charles Denby and Mr. Denby agreed to visit Chinatown.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12930, 8 August 1885
Charles Denby, new Minister to China, visited Chinatown.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12941, 19 August 1885
Minister Denby sailed for China.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12942, 20 August 1885
Judge Hoffman and Surveyor Morton commented on the effect of the Restriction Act on the court system.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12943, 21 August 1885
Collector of the Port and certificates

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12945, 23 August 1885
Consul Bee commented on adding photographs to certificates.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12947, 25 August 1885
Colonel Mosby returned from China to become attorney in San Francisco.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12947, 25 August 1885
How to obtain return certificates

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12949, 27 August 1885
Mrs. Frederick Bee visited friends in San Jose, California.
Note: Barlow Bee, brother of Colonel Bee, lived in San Jose, California.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12949, 27 August 1885
Colonel Bee on Judge Sawyer's decision

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12949, 27 August 1885
Suggestive testimony
Case numbers 3647 and 3659

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12949, 27 August 1885
Consul Bee ridiculed the idea of 4-year residency during appeals process for Chinese in letter to the editor.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12957, 4 September 1885
Rock Springs massacre
Excerpt from 1885 State of the Union address, "The harmony of our relations with China is fully sustained.
In the application of the acts lately passed to execute the treaty of 1880, restrictive of the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States, individual cases of hardship have occurred beyond the power of the Executive to remedy, and calling for judicial determination.
The condition of the Chinese question in the Western States and Territories is, despite this restrictive legislation, far from being satisfactory. The recent outbreak in Wyoming Territory, where numbers of unoffending Chinamen, indisputably within the protection of the treaties and the law, were murdered by a mob, and the still more recent threatened outbreak of the same character in Washington Territory, are fresh in the minds of all, and there is apprehension lest the bitterness of feeling against the Mongolian race on the Pacific Slope may find vent in similar lawless demonstrations. All the power of this Government should be exerted to maintain the amplest good faith toward China in the treatment of these men, and the inflexible sternness of the law in bringing the wrongdoers to justice should be insisted upon.
Every effort has been made by this Government to prevent these violent outbreaks and to aid the representatives of China in their investigation of these outrages; and it is but just to say that they are traceable to the lawlessness of men not citizens of the United States engaged in competition with Chinese laborers.
Race prejudice is the chief factor in originating these disturbances, and it exists in a large part of our domain, jeopardizing our domestic peace and the good relationship we strive to maintain with China.
The admitted right of a government to prevent the influx of elements hostile to its internal peace and security may not be questioned, even where there is no treaty stipulation on the subject. That the exclusion of Chinese labor is demanded in other countries where like conditions prevail is strongly evidenced in the Dominion of Canada, where Chinese immigration is now regulated by laws more exclusive than our own. If existing laws are inadequate to compass the end in view, I shall be prepared to give earnest consideration to any further remedial measures, within the treaty limits, which the wisdom of Congress may devise. "

I created a web page from documents located in

Qing ji wai jiao shi liao / Wang Yanwei, Wang Liang bian.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12958, 5 September 1885
Jee Ah Loy shot Charles H. Bowers in Bakersfield, California.

Annals of Wyoming

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12959, 6 September 1885
Colonel Bee informed that Federal authorities will be sent to Wyoming.

September 11, 1885 Notes from Chinese Legation regarding Rock Springs Wyoming

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12967, 14 September 1885
20th wedding anniversary party for Mr. and Mrs. David C Smith. Mrs. Smith was the daughter of Barlow Bee.

Colonel Bee arrived in Ogden, Utah on Rock Springs, Wyoming.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Sep 17, 1885. p. 5 (1 page)

Troubles in Rock Springs, Wyoming
Galveston Daily News -September 19, 1985

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12972, 19 September 1885
Colonel Bee headed investigation into Wyoming massacre.

Manufacturers and Farmers Journal - 21 Sep 1885
Wyoming Massacre

Colonel Bee left San Francisco for a couple of weeks.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Sep 22, 1885. p. 2 (1 page)

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 31, 26 September 1885
Passengers from the East

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12979, 26 September 1885
Passenger Lists

Importance of Jung Ah Lung
This webpage has a link to the complete record.

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 32, 28 September 1885
Colonel Bee passed through from the East to San Francisco.

Colonel Bee returned to San Francisco and discussed Wyoming Massacre. Colonel left San Francisco on September 14, 1884.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Sep 28, 1885. p. 4 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12981, 28 September 1885
Wyoming Massacre
Excerpt from
THE WYOMING MASSACRE. Americans Had Nothing to Do With It.
"Colonel F. A. Bee, resident consul for China at San Francisco, has returned to that place from an investigation of the Chinese massacre at Rock Springs, Wyoming. In an interview with the Alta [a San Francisco newspaper] Colonel Bee relates what he found: 'Were any of the white men engaged in this butchery Americans?'asked the reporter. 'Americans!' exclaimed Colonel Bee, as if struck by a thunderbolt. 'Americans! Don't disgrace your country by asking such a question as that. Thank God, no! Most of them were laborers brought from Europe by the Union Pacific company to operate the mines. Cornwall and Wales furnished the major share. Brutes who have lived underground from boyhood were the assassins. Low-browed, square-jawed, ignorant and villainously visaged men, men whom you would fear to meet on a crowded street even if you were armed on both hips. Clubs and rocks aided the murderers, for when they found a wounded and helpless Chinaman, they dashed out his brains with the clubs or crushed in his skull with rocks. While the men were shooting the Chinese and firing cabins, the women were looting the vacated dwellings. There are, I should think about four hundred white men in the settlement. The women are bold and rude, and if a soldier strays away from camp the women stone him and howl at him until he is glad to beat a retreat.' "
Rock Springs, Wyoming

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12981, 28 September 1885
Colonel Bee arrived from Wyoming (Personals).

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 32, 28 September 1885
Consul Bee returned from Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 33, 29 September 1885
Editorial about Consul Bee's request for payment of damages caused by Wyoming Massacre

September 30, 1885 letter from Report of the Department of the Interior

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12993, 10 October 1885
No indictments returned in Wyoming Massacre.

Colonel Bee and status of Chinese citizens in Washington
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Oct 11, 1885. p. 6 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12995, 12 October 1885
Banquet given for Colonel Bee on the day before he left Wyoming.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 12995, 12 October 1885
The Crowells hosted euchre party attended by Frank Bee, Barlow Bee and others.

Colonel Bee concerned about safety of Chinese in Seattle.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Oct 12, 1885. p. 2 (1 page)

Banquet given for Colonel Bee on the day before he left Wyoming.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Oct 13, 1885. p. 2 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13000, 17 October 1885
The Restriction Act's effects on Chinese population

October 17, 1885 Notes from the Chinese Legation regarding Seattle, Washington

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13000, 17 October 1885
Colonel Bee endorsed Huebner's character.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13000, 17 October 1885
Investigation into corruption of Customs officials
Discussion of charges by Surveyor Morton

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 49, 17 October 1885
Consul Bee was preparing a report about arrivals and departures.

October 17, 1885 Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States
Seattle and Tacoma , Washington murders

October 17, 1885 Harper's Weekly article about Wyoming Massacre

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13001, 18 October 1885
Arrivals and departures from start of Restriction Act to date

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13002, 19 October 1885
Burgess surprise party

Meeting about Consul Bee and John Russell Young
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Oct 19, 1885. p. 3 (1 page)
Note: John Russell Young (20 November 1840, 17 January 1899) was an American journalist, author, diplomat, and the seventh Librarian of the United States Congress from 1897 to 1899.

Grand Jury to convene about fraudulent certificates>
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Oct 19, 1885. p. 2 (1 page)

Colonel Bee indicated the number of Chinese leaving USA was greater than the number entering.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Oct 20, 1885. p. 5 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13003, 20 October 1885
Certificate investigation
and
Further investigation of certificates
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Oct 22, 1885. p. 5 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13004, 21 October 1885
Surveyor Morton's statistics of habeas corpus and arrivals

October 21, 1885 letter from Watson Squire, Washington Territorial Governor, to F. A. Bee, Chinese Consul

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13007, 24 October 1885
Grand jury convened about certificates

Consul-General Ming was presented with a photo album. Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13008, 25 October 1885
Consul-General Ming was presented with a photo album.

Sample of fraudulent certificate
an Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File); San Francisco, Calif. [San Francisco, Calif]25 Oct 1885: 5.

Colonel Bee was a witness at United States Grand Jury.
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Oct 29, 1885. p. 5 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13012, 29 October 1885
Colonel Bee was a witness at United States Grand Jury.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13017, 3 November 1885
Unitarian Conference
Albert Bee's widow, S.L. Bee, attended conference.

Transcription of Western Telegraph Company Seattle Nov 4th 1885
TO: Chinese Consulate Col. Bee, 917 Clay St., S. Fr. Cal Chinese resident of Tacoma forcibly driven out yesterday From two to three hundred Chinese now in Seattle in imminent danger Local authorities will but not strong enough to protect us We ask you to secure protection for us.
Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation The Chinese garden motif allows the park to stand both as an acknowledgment of the forceful expulsion of the Chinese population of the City of Tacoma by municipal leaders and a large crowd on November 3, 1885, and as a celebration of the city's multicultural past, present, and future.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13021, 7 November 1885
Consul Bee's view of troubles in Washington Territory

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13022, 8 November 1885
Governor of Washington refuted statement made by Colonel Bee.

Letters re: Cuban passports
From: "Non-Departmental Letters Received by the Collector, 1867-1912." Records of the Collector of Customs, Collection District of San Francisco, U.S. Custom Service. Record Group 36.

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 68, 9 November 1885
Governor of Washington refuted statement made by Colonel Bee.

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 69, 10 November 1885
Editorial about how Colonel Bee is not a good American.

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13027, 13 November 1885
Over 1300 habeas corpus writs issued since 1882

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 73, 14 November 1885
Governor Stoneman and certificates for Chinese immigrants

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13031, 17 November 1885
Choi Ah Jow sentenced for impersonation of legal immigrant

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13031, 17 November 1885
Emma Nevada concert at Grand Opera House
and
Read about Emma Nevada
Barlow Bee and A. W. Bee, Jr. also lived in Austin, Nevada in 1864.

Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 54, Number 79, 21 November 1885
Editorial about Exclusion Act and trade

November 30, 1885 Notes from the Chinese Legation about Rock Springs, Wyoming massacre

Transcription of Rock Springs letter

A Little Kingdom of Mixed Nationalities: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in a Western Urban Community
Rock Springs, Wyoming, 1869--1929

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13046, 2 December 1885
Witness in front of federal grand jury

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13050, 6 December 1885
Grand Jury Report

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13050, 6 December 1885
Children, Yee and Yum, denied entry.
Notes from the Chinese Legation in the United States to the Department of State

New phase of certificate controversy
San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File). San Francisco, Calif.: Dec 6, 1885. p. 3 (1 page)

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13063, 19 December 1885
Colonel Bee and threats by dynamiters.
Note: In 1885, San Francisco newspapers were full of articles about anti-Chinese groups that threatened violence with dynamite.

Pacific Rural Press, Volume 30, Number 25, 19 December 188
Wages paid to Chinese labor

December 23, 1885 Notes from the Chinese Legation regarding Truckee, California

Twelfth Annual Report
Occidental Board
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society
1885
Indian School
Gen J. Bidwell, the owner of Rancho Chico, near Chico, California, furnishes employment to many Indians, and with wise forethought built a chapel upon his grounds, near his residence, that their families might have the benefit of a school and church. Mrs. Bidwell organized the school in 1875, and taught them herself, and with necessary intermissions it has continued to this time. The men attend when rain or slight indisposition prevent their working.
All learn reading, nearly all are taught oral arithmetic and spelling; geography and written arithmetic are also taught. A fine brass band has arisen out of this school, and through an entertainment they were enabled to buy their own instruments. They are taught to sing hymns in an evening school, and one is being taught to play the organ by Mrs. Broyles.
From thirty to forty-five attend the Sabbath services. Sometimes Indians come from a neighboring rancheria and thus the benefits of this mission are extended.
Because of the partial failure of Mrs. Bidwell's health, this school has been turned over to our Board of Foreign Missions, and $25 a month towards its support. A teacher is employed and is to be classed among our list of schools until the Board makes other disposition of its English-speaking Indian schools.

J K McLean

Reverend J. K. McLean
and California Home Missionary Society and
10th anniversary of Chinese Mission Home

RETURN TO 1880 to 1889