Planning of the Expulsion

Planning of the Expulsion. . On October 3, 1885, a committee of fifteen was appointed to notify the Chinese that they must leave Tacoma on or before the first of November. The committee included Mayor Jacob R. Weisbach, County Judge James Wickersham, Fire Chief Jacob Ralph, and other prominent businessmen and city officials., Frightened by the threats, many Chinese left Tacoma before the deadline, but more than 200 others stayed. On November 3, 1885, an organized mob of armed men, led by the mayor of Tacoma, forcibly evicted the remaining Chinese from the city. They marched them eight miles to the Lake View train station where the Chinese waited all night in the rain without shelter. The next morning, armed guards loaded them onto trains bound for Portland., Kwok Sue, a Tacoma merchant, later testified: "The parties who notified us to go said if the Chinese did not leave, they were going to cut their throats, kill them, and destroy their property.", Affidavit of Lum May, June 1886 , "They went to all the Chinese houses and establishments and notified the Chinese to leave. Where the doors were locked they broke forcibly into the houses smashing in doors and breaking in windows. Some of the crowd were armed with pistols, some with clubs. I saw my countrymen marched out of Tacoma on November 3rd. They presented a sad spectacle. Some lost their trunks, some their blankets, some were crying for their things. Armed white men were behind the Chinese, on horseback sternly urging them on. It was raining and blowing hard. On the 5th of November, all the Chinese houses situated on the wharf were burnt down by incendiaries."