On this day in 1871, a mob of more than 500 vigilantes murdered nearly two dozen Chinese immigrants in Los Angles Chinatown. (Artist’s sketch, right)
Called one of the ugliest chapters in California history, the racially inspired riot began when local lawman Jesus Bilderrain reportedly was wounded attempting to break up a fight between two Chinese tongs. The feud was a long simmering dispute over the abduction of a young woman, Yut Ho. Robert Thompson, described alternately as the owner of the Blue Wing Saloon or a local rancher, intervened and was shot and killed in the melee.
Following the two shootings, a mob of non-Asian Angelenos overran Chinatown, looting Chinese businesses and, within a span of five hours, lynching an undetermined number of young Chinese men and boys. Just one of the victims was found to have possibly had a hand in the gang fight that killed Thompson.
The so-called Chinese Massacre didn’t boil over in a single day. Tensions between the small number of Asian immigrants and the majority white residents had existed under the surface for years. It was estimated the total Chinese population at the time was no more than 200 while the number of vigilantes represented a tenth of the city’s non-Asian population. California’s economy was floundering following the Civil War and many white Angelinos resented the influx of Chinese labor that arrived following the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
The heart of the Chinese section was an adobe apartment block (in background above) located at the site of the present-day Union Pacific 
Station, (above) crowded with gaming houses, saloons, dance halls and prostitutes. The city’s “common council” had actually legalized prostitution in Chinatown in an effort to confine the sex trade to this one deteriorating neighborhood.
Eleven prominent Angelenos, including Sheriff James Burns and Robert Widney, (left) founder of the University of Southern California, tried to stop the mob without success. Eventually eight rioters were arrested for murder and convicted of manslaughter. California’s former Attorney General Edward J. C. Kewen defended the eight and got all but one of their convictions overturned on a technicality. The judge in the case was none other than USC founder Robert Widney.
The infamous adobe block, site of the largest vigilante lynchings in the county, was torn down in the late 1880s and is now part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument (right).
The Chinese American museum 425 N. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles is part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument and is located across from Union Station. Just past the main plaza area south of Olvera Street, it is housed in the 1890 Garnier Building, the oldest surviving 
Chinese building in southern California. A number of permanent exhibits commemorate the development of the Cantonese American community in LA. A Lantern Festival is held at the museum during Chinese New Year and features a variety of live performances. Suggested admission is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and students with ID. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 to 3, closed Mondays and on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. For more information go to camla.org or call (213) 485-8567.
© Text Only – 2017 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain.