Mary Ting Yi Lui - The Chinatown Trunk Mystery: Murder, Miscegenation, and Other Dangerous Encounters in Turn-of-the-Century New York City

The Chinatown Trunk Mystery

THE CHINATOWN TRUNK MYSTERY

Murder, Miscegenation,
and Other Dangerous Encounters
in Turn-of-the-Century New York City

Mary Ting Yi Lui

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD

Copyright 2005 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock,

Oxfordshire OX20 1SY

All Rights Reserved

Second printing, and first paperback printing, 2007

Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0-691-13048-4

Paperback ISBN-10: 0-691-13048-5

The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows

Lui, Mary Ting Yi, 1967

The Chinatown trunk mystery : murder, miscegenation, and other dangerous encounters

in turn-of-the-century New York City / Mary Ting Yi Lui.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-691-09196-X (cl. : alk. paper)

eISBN 978-0-691-21628-7

1. United StatesEmigration and immigrationGovernment policy. 2. Immigrants New York (State)New YorkPublic opinion. 3. ChineseNew York (State)New YorkPublic opinion. 4. Interracial datingNew York (State)New YorkPublic opinion. 5. MurderNew York (State)New YorkCase studies. I. Title.

JV6483.L85 2005

364.1523097471dc22

2004044252

https://press.princeton.edu/

R0

To the people of New York Citys Chinatown

Illustrations

MAPS

FIGURES

Acknowledgments

I have been fortunate to receive the generous support of family, friends, and colleagues throughout the research and writing of this book. First and foremost, this book would not exist without the invaluable work experience at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, formerly known as the New York Chinatown History Project, situated in the heart of New York Citys Chinatown. While working on the museums exhibition on early Chinatown history I stumbled across the long forgotten Elsie Sigel murder case and was quickly inspired to investigate further. I did not know at the time that this after-hours sleuthing would one day lead me to write this book. Many thanks go to my former colleagues at the museum, who not only encouraged me to research the murder but also to pursue full-time graduate work in Asian American history. In particular, I wish to thank Fay Chew Matsuda, Maria Hong, Lamgen Leon, William Charlie Chin, Adrienne Cooper, and Charles Lai.

I am deeply indebted to my graduate dissertation advisors for their initial enthusiasm and expert tutelage in developing this project. Gary Okihiro, my dissertation advisor and mentor, quickly recognized the importance of the Elsie Sigel case and granted me the opportunity to develop the necessary tools to turn this sensational tale of murder and miscegenation into a serious work of historical analysis. Sunn Shelley Wong and Nick Salvatore were equally important for enlarging the books analysis to incorporate the themes of geography and social history respectively.

I am also grateful to fellow historians and friends K. Scott Wong, John Kuo Wei Tchen, and Dorothy Fujita Rony who directed me to key archival sources and taught by example the importance of reexamining the turn-of-the-century experiences of Chinese immigrants on the East Coast. My discussion of the problems of racial identification at the turn-of-the-century in was greatly improved as a result of my participation in a collaborative research project on the history of fingerprinting and the Chinese Exclusion Act with Simon Cole. My thanks go to him for his knowledge and friendship. I am grateful to Edward Rhoads for making available his research on Charles Sing and the North Adams Chinese shoemakers. Thanks also go to Ian Lewis Gordon for sharing his research on the murder case.

This book has also benefited greatly from the meticulous reading and thoughtful comments from a number of scholars whose work I greatly admire. Friend, colleague, and fellow traveler Moon-Ho Jung, has provided constant critical commentary, invaluable editorial support, and camaraderie throughout the various incarnations of this project from dissertation to book. I have also been fortunate enough to participate in an Asian American womens writing group with a remarkable group of scholars from a range of academic disciplines: Evelyn Chien, Shirley Lim, Sanda Lwin, Suzette Min, Mae Ngai, Shuang Shen, Sandhya Shukla, Lok Siu, Cynthia Tolentino, and Lisa Yun. I am particularly grateful for their comments on .

Since arriving at Yale, I have been fortunate to receive the enthusiastic support of peers, and graduate and undergraduate students. A number of colleagues from my home departments of history and American Studies have provided insightful suggestions for improving particular sections of the book: Sanda Lwin, Dolores Hayden, Laura Wexler, Matthew Jacobson, and Aaron Sachs. I am also greatly appreciative of the assistance provided by Yales Social Science Statistical Laboratory (Statlab) and Steve Citron-Pousty in the use of GIS software to generate maps for the book.

Like other historians, I am extremely beholden to the attentive assistance I received from the staff of various archives consulted during the course of my research. In particular, I wish to express my gratitude to Kenneth Cobb, Director of the New York City Municipal Archives; and Wayne Kempton, Archivist of the Episcopal Diocese of New York; and the archivists at the National Archives, northeastern regional branch in New York City. These archivists went beyond the call of duty to suggest and locate materials they felt would be pertinent; the book would certainly have been a lesser product without their contribution. I also wish to thank the Church of the Transfiguration for allowing me access to their baptism and marriage registries. I am grateful to the National Endowment of the Humanities, Williams College, and Yale University for their financial support of some of the research and travel expenses incurred.

Ten thousand thanks go to Thomas LeBien, whose editorial expertise and unflagging commitment to the project have been invaluable from the moment I began the arduous process of revising for publication. It has been my good luck to have such a thorough and committed editor. I also wish to thank Brigitta van Rheinberg for continuing the process of shepherding the book to its completion. I am also grateful for the assistance of Mark Bellis, Dale Cotton, Alison Kalett, and Dimitri Karetnikov for their fine work. I have been especially fortunate to have the manuscript reviewed by historians Timothy Gilfoyle and Henry Yu, who strongly endorsed the project from the outset and made numerous insightful suggestions for revision. Additional thanks go to Timothy Gilfoyle for generously sharing his expertise on turn-of-the-century New York City history and pointing out additional sources for consideration.

Most importantly, I wish to acknowledge the constant support and love of my family. My parents, Pok Sang Lui and Fung Shim Chan Lui, have waited a long time to see the conclusion of this project, but have never doubted its completion. Since joining the Balbarin family, Corazon and Eduardo Balbarin have been an equally important source of encouragement. It has often been said that cats make the perfect writing companions; this is certainly true of our companions, Oscar and Dexter. To my partner, Vincent Balbarin, who has brought laughter, music, and technology into my life, I am forever grateful for your limitless patience and good cheer for making this possible. Now that the book is completed, we move together toward a new chapter of our lives as parents to our son, Mateo. Let the adventure begin.