Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, February 1922 · page 43 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #30 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a narrative poem about racial prejudice and redemption set in the American West (Canyon Idlewild). The story features Durant, a character explicitly prejudiced against Chinese people and Mongolians, whose wife and child are attacked by wolves while traveling. They flee to a Chinese laundry run by Charley Wong, a Chinese immigrant worker. Wong heroically fights the wolves to protect the family, mortally wounding himself in the process. The narrator and Bill witness his death and are profoundly moved. The poem's moral message—delivered in its final stanza—reverses Durant's racism: the community now honors Wong as a hero who "saved Bill's wife and child," arguing that no name is "more holy" in their canyon. This appears to be anti-racist satire, using a frontier narrative to critique anti-Chinese sentiment prevalent in early 20th-century America. The humor works through ironic contrast: prejudiced characters are forced to recognize Chinese dignity through an act of self-sacrifice. The closing line about the horse fly is an unrelated joke.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 41 Durant weren't bad at heart, ye know, but like too many others, He didn't like Mongolians, nor own 'um men and brothers; And I often heard him say that if the Chinamen wer near He'd cut the leper's pigtail off and stick it through his ear. One evening Lizzie (Durant's wife) and little Tot, the child, Were comin' homeward down the hills when all at once a wild And fearful howl were heard behind—two wolves were on their track, Liz says she stopped and grabbed the child and threw it on her back. Then shrieking aloud for help, she ran, as swift as any hind Toward the Chinese laundry hut—the wolves came fast behind; Nearer and nearer on they came; then reaching Charley's door, The mother, with her precious load, fell prone upon the floor. Bill and I were talkin' when we heard the fearful cries, And rushing to the laundry the sight that met our eyes Was far too horrible to tell, for thar was Charley Wong Dead, and a blood-stained knife in hand full fifteen inches long. He'd fought a fearful battle; one brute wer by his side With its entrails all hanging out, and blood stains on its hide; But t' other had got its work in afore Bill and I got there, And wer gnawing Charley's throat and face till the bones were laying bare. Well, we made quick work o' Mr. Wolf, we filled 'um full o' lead, Then gathered child and mother up and took 'em home to bed, Next day when Lizzie told her tale, Bill's eyes were full o' tears, He didn't brag much sentiment, and hadn't wept for years. Poor "Washee!" when we packed him up the camp boys stood around Each one with hat in hand and tearful eyes cast on the ground; We shipped the corpse to 'Frisco, with a bag o' the yellow dust To pay the freight to Pekin—to "Rest In Peace," I trust. But ever after that, if any man had got the face To say Chinese wer yallow dogs, he'd better quit the place; For thar ain't a name more holy held in Canyon Idlewild Than Charley Wong, the Chinaman, that saved Bill's wife and child. * * * A horse fly eats whip crackers.