Editing Tong Sing Wo (section)

==The Legend of Tong Sing Wo and Pretty Maggie== 

Tong Sing Wo was involved in one of Bodie's more infamous stories. There was a young Indian girl named Pretty Maggie. Her mother died when she was a baby and she was being raised by very poor grandparents. Old Jim and Annie would often go without food when there was just enough to feed their granddaughter. They would look for gold to eke out a living. One day she found a small nugget and got $25 for it. Old Annie and Jim in their hovel on right.
 
She always wanted a pretty scarf so she went to Tong Sing Yu's store. Imagine what those beautiful, silk, colorful Chinese scarves looked like to her. Tong Sing Wo seemed to really like her and took a special interest. He let Pretty Maggie have the silk scarf for free. He just asked her to come back tomorrow and let him know if she really liked it. She came back the next day. And the next day. and the next. Each time staying a little longer.
 
Soon she was staying overnight. Old Jim and Annie did not know what was going on with the granddaughter they raised.
 
Finally she came back one last time to say good-bye. She was wearing a peculiar looking blue dress with fancy embroidery, a necklace of gold with green jade and a jade ring on her finger. Her hair was cut straight across her forehead. Old Annie and Jim could hardly recognize her.
 
Maggie was at first frightened of the second and third floor. But Tong Sing Wo gave Maggie her own opium den. She began to use the drug and soon was using it regularly. Years went by and people in the gambling hall got used to seeing Pretty Maggie wandering around in her Chinese finery.


This went on for a long, long time until the mines in Bodie were played out. As the miners and white merchants moved out, the Chinese also began to talk. One morning she woke up from her den and the building was completely dark. The windows were boarded shut and no one was there. It took a while for it to sink in that the Chinese had all left with Tong Sing Wo, but they left food and opium. For months Pretty Maggie stayed inside always using opium. But that opium finally ran out.
 
Ragged, wailing and demented Pretty Maggie found her grandparents. They tried to take care of her, but she never spoke a word. She just wandered the hills with her head ever down. One day when she was walking she saw what she had been looking for. A plant was just sprouting out of the earth. She ate the roots - whole handfuls of them. The deadly parsnip did its job. Pretty Maggie was once again free!