22 LEWD CHINESE WOMEN: CHY LUNG V. FREEMAN
SCRIPT EXCERPT
| NARRATOR 2: | The next morning, Saturday, in a courtroom described by the Daily Alta as “crowded with spectators, many of whom were leading members of the Bar, who had taken great interest in the proceedings,” Judge Morrison announced his ruling. He rejected the argument that the California law was unconstitutional and then turned to the factual question: |
| JUDGE MORRISON: | Are they lewd women? There is no positive proof that they are. The evidence is purely circumstantial. . . . [A number] testified that they were married and the husbands had written them to come. It was a matter of surprise to the Court that these husbands did not appear. . . .
The lover has not come to claim the sweetheart, the mother to claim the daughter, the husband the wife. Have the women come here with good purpose? Reverend Gibson testified that women of the prostitute class are known by their dress — wide sleeves and gaudy garments. When the counsel for the petitioners made the examination, these women were dressed exactly as he described. As a rule, married women do not dress in gaudy colors. It is a very rare thing for married women to be sent from China abroad without any escort. It is said the law presumes chastity, but the evidence in this case is the most unfavorable to the petitioners. Reverend Gibson says that there are some 2,000 Chinese women in California, and only 100 are married. Only forty odd marriage licenses were issued since May 1872 to Chinese persons. That overthrows the chastity presumption altogether. Many of these people say they were here before, and have friends here. Not one witness has been called to testify on their behalf. What, then, can the Court believe but that these women are unchaste? Believing, as I do, that they are here for purposes of prostitution, and that they come within the certain class designated by this law, I deem it my duty to remand them to the custody from which they were taken. Such, then, is my decision. |
| NARRATOR 1: | The spectators in the Courtroom broke into applause, prompting Quint to ask the Court to reprimand the crowd. The next day, the San Francisco newspapers praised Judge Morrison’s decision. The Chronicle declared it “a righteous decision,” while the Examiner wrote that Judge Morrison had dealt a “death-blow to the importation of Chinese women for immoral purposes.” |
| NARRATOR 2: | Judge Morrison ordered the Sheriff to take the women back to the steamship Japan, with instructions to the Captain to reconvey them to China. |
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