Murder at the Hi Lo Laundry
Amid anti-Chinese sentiment of the 1890s, a stunning crime and a surprising verdict
By Peter G. Meyerhof
During the 30 years that followed the Gold Rush, several hundred single Chinese men settled in the Sonoma Valley. Sonoma was predominantly an agricultural community. In times of relative prosperity, the Chinese found jobs in American-owned businesses by using Chinese-owned employment agencies such as the Quong Hie Sing office, located on the present-day site of the Sonoma Hotel. Other Chinese men found employment in the Chinese-owned wash houses, the laundries of Sonoma.
During downturns in the economy, though, jobs became scarcer and anti-Chinese sentiment increased. This was the situation in late 1885.
In spite of the fact that the editor of the local paper acknowledged that the Chinese laundries were now “patronized by almost every family and man in Sonoma and the suburbs,” there was a petition circulated in his paper to dispose with Chinese labor and establish a “white labor laundry” in place of the three Chinese wash houses of Sonoma. The Sonoma Non-Partisan Anti-Coolie League was established with plans to remove the Chinese by boycotting all businesses where they worked.
As the economy improved again the next year, Chinese agricultural workers were welcomed back once more, and the white labor laundry movement faded away. Yet there remained a deep-seated distrust of the Chinese among a portion of the population. It did not matter that several Chinese had publically contributed to charitable fundraising efforts such as providing funds for the decent burial of a local Irish tailor Owen Wynne who died unexpectedly with no next of kin. The distrust was based on fear resulting from misunderstanding. There was also a general recognition that Chinese workers, who represented about one-third of the population, were far more industrious and willing to work for much less pay. For example, the Chinese laundries, which provided excellent service to Sonoma, were open practically 24 hours a day and 7 days a week while providing sufficient income for approximately 40 employees.
This mistrust and wariness led certain individuals to act out with violence. One such hothead was the 31-year-old Marion Patrick. He had a police record in Napa before he moved to the Sonoma Valley in the mid-1880s to work on the ranch of J.H. Donleavy.
In those days there were two Chinese laundries facing the Plaza on First Street West. One was the Sing Tai Laundry located on the site currently occupied by the Eraldi’s store. The other was the Hi Lo Laundry on the ground floor of an adobe building in the center of the block where the Fairmont Gallery is today (above).
Late on a Saturday night in November of 1890, Patrick, after a night on the town, entered the Hi Lo Laundry to pick up his clothing before heading home. Mr. Donleavy remained in a buggy outside until he heard a fight going on. As soon as Donleavy entered, he heard a gunshot only to find his friend lying mortally wounded. Donleavy claimed he saw the unarmed Patrick surrounded by Chinese workers and shot by the elderly owner, Ah How, better known to most Sonomans as Hi Lo. But of course there were many other witnesses – the Chinese workers who were ironing clothes in the same room. They vigorously denied Donleavy’s claim and blamed a Chinese boarder who had fled the building with the gun.
Ah How was nonetheless arrested and taken to jail in Santa Rosa where he was held without bail.
The trial was held in March of 1891. Donleavy admitted he did not actually see Patrick shot by Ah How. The defense subpoenaed the Chinese witnesses, but lacking physical evidence, it was the large number of character witnesses who would determine Ah How’s fate.
The defense called out a veritable who’s who of influential Sonomans who had been loyal customers of Ah How over many years. These character witnesses included the physician Dr. H. Davis, winemakers Carl Dresel and Camille Aguillon, merchants Solomon Schocken, Frederick Clewe, and Henry Weyl, resort owner Henry Boyes, constable Louis Breitenbach, banker Jessie Burris, and more. They all declared Ah How was a quiet, peaceable, and generous man.
The defense also summoned other witnesses including the Sheriff and three constables from Napa in an attempt to show the bad character of Marion Patrick, the victim. A jury of 12 white men considered the evidence for two hours. They found the defendant not guilty. It was concluded that the fight had been initiated by Marion Patrick over a disputed 10 cents in his bill. Patrick had punched Ah How in the face and was in the process of beating him mercilessly on the floor whereupon a boarder came to How’s assistance and shot Patrick before escaping out the back door, never to return.
In spite of his many friends in Sonoma, Ah How still felt it would be too unsafe to return to Sonoma after the trial. He wasted no time in leaving the Santa Rosa courtroom and taking a train and ferry to San Francisco. The Hi Lo laundry was soon purchased by Charley Hoy of Oakland. He was described as very intelligent, polite, gregarious with Americans, and a “first-class laundryman.” He promoted his purchase of the laundry with ads in the newspaper.
To erase any unpleasant association with the past, Hoy changed the name of the laundry from Hi Lo to Wing Sing. Ah How would become another one of the hundreds of forgotten Chinese in the history of Sonoma whose name was only recorded because his life story had intersected with the American narrative.
The author gratefully acknowledges the Sonoma Valley Historical Society which provided the newspapers and other primary documents that allowed this story to be told.
