La Ah Cured (Lee Cue)

The funeral will take place in the chapel of the Woodring Undertaking establishment at 4 o'clock this afternoon. John went to Omaha to secure if possible a Chinese priest to officiate at the services, in accordance with Chinese custom, but was unsuccessful, and subsequently arranged to have Rev. S.J. Carter of this city conduct the service. The remains will be buried in Fairview Cemetery. La Ah Cured had been in this country about twenty years and had lived here about a year.
[Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Published September 1, 1906]
Submitted by Ann.

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Chinese Sought to Distract Spirits at Unusual Death Rites Held Here

Musing over unusual funeral services which he conducted in the last thirty three years, E.P. Woodring, 121 South Seventh Street, declared recently that the queerest rites in which he ever participated were those held on September 1, 1906, for La Ah Cured, Council Bluffs Chinese laundryman. Cured, who was 57 years old, died at 40 North Main Street, where he had been in business with his cousin, John Sankee. Excessive use of opium, according to sankee, was the cause of his death.

The funeral services were held at the Woodring Chapel in the afternoon at 4 o'clock. Although Sankee had joined the First Baptist Church, after his cousin died he went to Omaha and tried to secure the services of a Chinese priest to conduct the funeral services. Finding, however, that no priest of his ancestral faith resided in that city, he obtained Rev. S.J. Carter of this city to take charge of the funeral. Three of Sankee's friends accompanied him back from Omaha.

As soon as Mr. Carter had finished reading the brief funeral services, the friends took charge. Sankee produced three quarters and one 10 cent piece and doubled the amount in Chinese coins. He then carefully placed each piece of the American money between two Chinese coins and inserted one group of the coins beneath each shoulder and at each side of the corpse as it lay in the coffin. Before the casket was closed every Chinese present tossed in a handful of money. The purpose of this ceremony it was explained, was to enable the dead man to pay his passage to the Nirvana of all good Buddhists.

When the funeral procession started toward the cemetery, Sankee took from his pocket a pad of fine paper about 5 x 2 inches, punched with holes of all shapes and sizes. He tore sheets of paper from the pad and strewed them by the wayside as the carriage passed along the street, so that evil spirts, thinking it was money would stop to gather it and give the departed spirit of Cured a chance to escape.

Long bundles of joss sticks were set up and lighted above the newly made grave. While these were burning, more of the pads, were strewed upon the ground and lighted with bright red tapers. When all of these were burned to ashes, the four Chinese folded their hands and made obseisance over the grave, apparently as an act of worship to the departed spirit. A head board, two feet high and fourteen inches wide, and painted with Chinese characters detailing the life of the deceased man was set up to mark the grave.

Later the body was removed from the grave and shipped back to China

[Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Published December 22, 1933]
Submitted by Ann.