The Children of Chinatown by wendy rouse jorae

Author:wendy rouse jorae
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

GUARDIANSHIP DISPUTES

While the children resided temporarily in the mission homes, missionaries attempted to secure guardianship rights through the courts. Court battles typically occurred when parents or Chinatown criminals challenged the guardianship claims of the missionaries. Chinese men and women hired lawyers, filed writs of habeas corpus, and initiated criminal charges in an attempt to regain custody of rescued girls. Brothel keepers sometimes stood before the court and claimed to be the legitimate parents of a girl in an effort to retain custody. In 1895 Charley Hung applied for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that the Methodist mission was unlawfully detaining seven-year-old Ah Soo. The Chinese consular office and the Six Companies quickly interfered in the proceeding, testifying to the unscrupulous history of the notorious highbinder, opium dealer, and ex-convict. Their efforts prevented Hung from gaining custody of Ah Soo and revealed the undeclared alliance between reformers and Chinese American community leaders in eradicating vice in Chinatown. 29

Chinese children sometimes found themselves in the midst of fierce custody battles that revealed ideological discord between missionaries and child-saving agencies. In 1901 Chan Ah Ying was rescued by the Society for the Suppression of Vice and placed in the Methodist Chinese mission. Chan Ah Ying's guardianship hearings revealed a developing rift between Margarita Lake of the Methodist mission home and Frank Kane of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. The court initially appointed Kane the guardian and, as usual, Kane turned the child over to the care of the mission home. However, Kane later tried to remove the child from the mission and return her to her reformed mother. Lake desired that the girl remain in the mission home and challenged Kane's guardianship in court. Chan Ah Ying's mother contested the claims of both organizations and fought for custody of her daughter. A year later, a judge denied the claim of the Methodist mission and determined that since the mother had found stable employment with a white family, she was the proper guardian of the child. 30 The court generally preferred to keep children with their biological parents whenever possible. Relations between Kane and Lake were strained thereafter.

Unscrupulous adults sometimes tried to intimidate children into giving false testimony in court to protect themselves from criminal charges. One seven-year-old girl was so intimidated by her master's repeated abuse that, even after she was safe in the mission, she refused to testify against her former owner in court. Police officers were unable to press charges against the abuser. 31 The girl was no doubt haunted by fear and insecurity even as she lived within the security of the mission home. The child may have understood that if the missionaries failed to gain legal guardianship, she would be returned to her former home. Making public statements against her abuser could make the situation worse in the long run. The children in these cases had to negotiate their fate by carefully weighing their options. They feared the unknown of the mission home and may have doubted the sincerity of missionaries and their guarantees of safety.

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