Once again another shameless plug, but I had mentioned it earlier in another post (Ms. Shaw’s book review) and considering the recent ill-feelings towards English teachers and their leacherous activities, I thought some of you may find interest in the story.
In 1897 and later in 1901, Prince Eui-wha, the second son of Emperor Kojong, attended school in the United States. Not all of his studies and learning was done in the classroom. As many young Korean students (and for that matter - any nationality of students) still do while studying abroad - he ran amok.
“The prince went to Coney Island while going through the ’seeing New York’ process. He spent days and days there; also nights. Coney looked upon him as a good thing. The barkers, the grafters, the card sharks, even the peanut vendors took unwarranted toll of the imperial purse. Then there was of course an unlimited supply of the prince’s chief delight — the unveiled American woman. [Blond] beauties, chorus girls in tights, beach sprites in bathing suits, all attracted the prince’s attention and subtracted his coin. He gave suppers to bevies of blonds and bunches of brunettes. Champagne went down, but the price of it went up. As a consequence the prince had to borrow.”
It seems that he had a passion for women - not only Koreans, but Japanese and Americans as well. He supposedly had three affairs with American women and one altercation with an American farmer who attacked the Prince “because he didn’t like ‘chinks’ and thought the girls paid too much attention to the young foreign nobleman.” His punishment, considering the circumstances, was extremely lenient: he was sentenced to 30 days in county jail, a fine of $25 dollars, and was ordered to pay the costs of the prosecution.
He wasn’t in jail for long before he escaped to hunt rabbits and even brought the sheriff back one as proof of his rabbit-hunting prowess.
You can read the rest of the article here.
11 Comments
That’s a fantastic story! I’m reminded of a very interesting novel from the ’30s, the first Korean-American novel, East Goes West: The Making of an Oriental Yankee
All Robert’s stories are fantastic. It’s pitty he has not published a book yet. Pleeeeeaaaase! And I’ll lobby for a Korean translation!
I echo that. Always enjoy the tales.
Great story! I’m always happy to read more of this kind of stuff.
Right now, Mr. Neff’s posts are the only thing keeping this entire blog above float.
“Above float”—what does that even mean? Disregard my last comment. (In the absence of controversy, I can always argue with myself to keep it interesting.)
This must be where the term ‘whang-ja-byung’ comes from.
30 days in jail and a $493 (adjusted for inflation) fine is not light for a simple assault. I know, having picked up a relative from the county jail where he was doing time for just such a crime.
Thanks for the compliments…
Andy-
As for the fine not being all that light…considering that it was a prince that he assaulted and given the interest by the State Department and the American government, I think he came off pretty lightly.
The prince was a favorite of the American press and they often went to him for quotes…even about stuff that he had little knowledge of.
I think my favorite member of the Korean royal family in the United States was an alleged relative of Queen Min who was caught breaking and entering into a woman’s hotel room. He fled but was pursued by the sheriff and was eventually apprehended in California.
Reminds me of this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G....._of_Russia
hahaa…. wow. entertaining. It’s like he’s a character from Goong S.
Only thing left to say… Long Live the Republic!