Record 35 of 75
Anti-Chinese Rioters Killed Look Young
Narrative
On Halloween night in 1880, anti-Chinese rioters surged through Denver’s Chinese quarter, destroying laundries and homes, beating residents, and killing Look Young, a Chinese laundry worker. St. Albans Daily Messenger said Denver had been “in the hands of a mob for eight hours” and described 1,500 rioters attacking Chinese homes, while St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that “one Chinaman was lynched.” The riot formed part of a larger anti-Chinese campaign of expulsion and terror fueled by labor conflict, racial politics, and calls to drive Chinese residents out of the city.
Law enforcement tried to intervene but was unsuccessful. The mob operated openly, unafraid of prosecution.