Record 20 of 75
Ah He Died After Boys Stoned Him
Narrative
On the evening of May 31, 1871, Ah He, the proprietor of a small cigar factory at Fourth and Freelon Streets in San Francisco, was attacked by a gang of boys and struck with stones. The San Francisco Call Bulletin reported that one of the stones hit him with such force that it “knocked him down and rendered him insensible,” and that he died the next morning at the City and County Hospital. Other papers emphasized that bystanders watched without intervening. For example, The Greenville Journal said that “dozens of people” witnessed the assault and “did not interfere until the murder was completed.” Later reports noted that even when two boys were held to bail, Chinese testimony about the incident had been excluded.