THE DAILY PROVINCE
SEPTEMBER 11, 1907

p.2

HINDU REFUGEES NOW IN SEATTLE
--------------------Declare They Are Afraid to Remain in Vancouver or
Bellingham--Seeking Work in Mills Further South.

--------------------Seattle. Sept 11.--Fully two score of frightened and disconsolate looking
Hindus and Afghans came to Seattle yesterday from the North and found
shelter in some tumble-down buildings in the alley near King street and First
avenue. Many were refugees from Bellingham, and others, terrified by the
riots at Vancouver, had fled from the northern cities. They were a timid lot,
save for one or two, and they looked upon the casual questioner with
suspicion. They feared that some attack upon them was contemplated.
One old man wearing the khaki uniform of a native regiment of the
British army, appeared to be the leader. He wore a yellow turban that looked
like a huge dome. His whiskers were curled upward in a ferocious manner and
when he spoke the conversation of the company abruptly ceased. He said he
was Krishna Chatteriji and that he had served with an Indian regiment at
Bombay.
Chatteriji held himself apart from the common herd, and when he
entered a small room in which twenty Hindus and Afghans were sitting
playing cards and baking hard tack on a little stove, he chose to stand.
Although stricken with poverty, shameless, and friendless, the
unsurmountable barrier of caste was recognized. Chatteriji believed himself to
be made of better clay than the others and his assumption of authority was
not questioned.
They appeared unconcerned until the appearance of a photographer
with a camera, which threw them into a panic. Back into their rooms they
hurried and no inducement in the way of silver could bring them out. Then it
was that old Krishna Chatteriji, with yellow turban and soldier’s uniform,
stepped forward to explain their fright.

THE DAILY PROVINCE
SEPTEMBER 11, 1907

p.2

His comrades feared that if their pictures were made, they would go
from town to town as marked men. Every white man would get a picture and
lie in wait for the Hindus and Afghans. They felt that to be photographed
would bring the worst of luck.