THE YEAR OF THE RAT
1. “Old Year Tooted Out, and the New One Noisily Welcomed,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 1, 1900, p. 12.
2. Theodora Lau, The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes (New York: Perennial Library, 1988), pp. 35–48.
3. Charles T. Gregg, Plague: An Ancient Disease in the Twentieth Century (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1985), p. 171.
4. “The Story of Wong Chut King,” Chung Sai Yat Po, March 8, 1900, translated by Prisca Hui. (Readers should note that the name of Wong Chut King varies in English-language newspaper accounts as Wing Chut King or Chick Gin, reflecting different pronunciations and transliterations. Regarding his village and district, Chinatown historian Him Mark Lai notes that speakers from Canton mingle their “n” and “l” sounds, so Ling Yup should be Ning Yup, short for Sunning district. The village of Pei Hang is a mingling of Cantonese and Mandarin. In this village, also known as Bak Hang, Wong was the dominant surname.)
5. Marlon K. Hom, Songs of Gold Mountain: Cantonese Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), pp. 308–322.
6. Descriptions of the pathology of plague and the progression of patients from infection to death, recounted by Gregg in Plague, pp. 113–128.
7. “The Story of Wong Chut King,” Chung Sai Yat Po, March 8, 1900, p. 1. For explaining the significance of coffin shops and the meaning of sau pan po, or long-life boards, I am indebted to translator Prisca Hui. Historian Him Mark Lai adds his insight on cultural meanings of coffins and burial. Sau pan or sau baan means coffin, literally a longevity board. “Po” means store. He adds a better term might be Cheung Sang Po, which denotes a store for both long life and coffins.
8. “Quarantine of Chinatown,” Chung Sai Yat Po, March 7, 1900, p. 1. Translated by Prisca Hui.
9. “Burning of Dead Body,” Chung Sai Yat Po, March 21, 1900, p. 2. Translated by Prisca Hui.
10. “The Story of Wong Chut King,” Chung Sai Yat Po, March 8, 1900, p. 1. Translated by Prisca Hui.
11. “No Results from Tests of Bacteriologist… Chinese Merchants Will Seek to Enjoin the Maintenance of Quarantine,” San Francisco Examiner, March 9, 1900.
“A LIVELY CORPSE”
1. Joseph J. Kinyoun, Letter to Dr. Bailhache, August 9, 1900, p. 41. Letters of Joseph J. Kinyoun, Ms. C. 464, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md.
2. Mrs. John Hendricks Kinyoun, Letter to “My Dear Husband,” December 29, 1861, John Hendricks Kinyoun Papers, Genealogy Series, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
3. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, American National Biography, vol. 12 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 736.
4. John Hendricks Kinyoun Papers, Genealogy Series, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
5. Garraty and Carnes, American National Biography, vol. 12, p. 736.
6. Bess Furman, A Profile of the United States Public Health Service, 1798–1948 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1973), p. 279.
7. Program, Complimentary Dinner to Joseph J. Kinyoun, Ms. C. 464, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md.
8. Joseph J. Kinyoun, Letter to “My Dear Aunt and Uncle,” June 29, 1901, Joseph J. Kinyoun Manuscript Collection, Ms. C. 464, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md., pp. 1–2.
9. Joseph J. Kinyoun, Letter to Dr. Bailhache, Joseph J. Kinyoun Manuscript Collection, Ms. C. 464, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md., pp. 1–2.
10. Ibid., p. 27.
11. Ibid., p. 23.
12. Ibid., p. 50.
13. Ibid., pp. 1, 69.
14. Ibid., 50–51.
15. Ibid., pp. 16–17.
16. Joseph Kinyoun, Letter to Supervising Surgeon General, March 5, 1900, National Archives and Records Administration, Records Group 90, Central File 1897–1923, Box 627, Folder 5608, Folder January– May 1900, J. J. Kinyoun.
17. Kinyoun, Undated Telegram to Supervising Surgeon General, NARA, San Bruno, Calif., RG 90 (Public Health Service), Quarantine Station, Angel Island, Calif., Letters from the Surgeon General to the Medical Officer in Charge, July 1, 1891–July 1, 1918, Box 16, Vol. 3.
18. Charles T. Gregg, Plague: An Ancient Disease in the Twentieth Century (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1985), pp. 40–41.
19. “Quarantine of Chinatown Raised, All Fears Proving Groundless,” San Francisco Examiner, March 10, 1900.
THE BOY FROM CATFISH CREEK
1. Rupert Blue, Letter to Supervising Surgeon General, June 27, 1900, National Archives and Records Administration, Records Group 90, Central File 1897–1923, Box 616, Folder 3 of 3.
2. David T. Dennis, Kenneth L. Gage, et al., Plague Manuaclass="underline" Epidemiology, Distribution, Surveillance and Control (Geneva: World Health Organization, 1999), pp. 12–13.
3. Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, translated by Guido Waldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 12–13.
4. Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year (London: Penguin Classics, 1986), pp. 27–28.
5. Philip Ziegler, The Black Death (Surrey, Eng.: Sutton Publishing Ltd., Bramley Books, Quadrillion Publishing Ltd., 1998), pp. 53–55.
6. Ibid., p. 37.
7. Major Arthur Henry Moorhead, “Plague in India,” The Military Surgeon, March 1908, as cited in Frank Morton Todd, Eradicating Plague from San Francisco (San Francisco: C. Murdock and Co., 1909), p. 283.
8. W. W. Sellers, A History of Marion County, South Carolina (Columbia, S.C.: R. L. Bryan Co., 1902), p. 132.
9. Kate Lilly Blue, “Marion Men Lead Reconstruction,” News and Courier, Charleston, S.C., March 11, 1934. South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
10. Kate Lilly Blue, Historical Sketches of Marion County and Other Articles, SC R 975.757 Scrapbook Blu, Marion County, S.C., Public Library, South Carolina Room.
11. Personal communication of Miss Elizabeth McIntyre, one of Marion’s venerable citizens, and Mr. Tommy Lett, curator of the Marion Museum, regarding the town’s history and culture, during a reporting trip there in the summer of 2000.
12. Ibid.
13. Kate Lilly Blue, Letter to her cousin Theo, July 19, 1948. Blue Family Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
14. Kate Lilly Blue, Letter to her cousin Mary, April 30, 1943. Blue Family Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
15. Rupert Blue, Letter to Kate Lilly Blue, Latta, S.C., October 23, 1888. Collection of J. Michael Hughes.