the inmates of brothels." This is a very clear statement of exactly what is needed in California. The public should refuse to be satisfied with visits of the police officials to the girls, to ascertain the girls' state of mind as to a sense of liberty, and demand to know the official's state of mind,--whether he is ready to _prove_ the freedom of the slave by hounding the slave dealers out of the community.
There was recently a war of secret societies in Oakland's Chinatown. One of the "tongs" quarreled with another, and three or four Chinese men were shot on the streets of Oakland,--one fatally, named Lee Bock Dong, in his own house. Lee Bock Dong had a slave girl who saw the shooting, so she was taken into custody by police officers. But the Chinese got her out of jail by means of the usual writ of habeas corpus, and she was sent to Sacramento to another person, who had disputed her ownership with Lee Bock Dong. It seems, Lee Bock Dong had been holding the slave girl for a debt owed to him by her real owner in Sacramento, of $2,000. The Oakland _Enquirer, of_ Feb. 20th, 1907, informed its readers a few days after the affray as follows: "This girl's possession was one of the points in dispute between the two tongs, and it was this that was settled at yesterday's conference." It is interesting to note that other newspapers gave the information that police officials attended the conference