Passageway Found Under the Ground

An underground passageway 36 feet long by 18 feet wide of mysterious construction and doubtful use, was discovered by Contractor W. C. Gale this morning while making the excavations for the new Lyceum theater on lower Twenty-fifth street. The subterranean hallway leads to a dark, unventilated chamber. That the passageway was constructed by Chinamen of Ogden, and that Wah Sing Lung, the proprietor of the Oriental tea store next door to the theater site, is the custodian, was made manifest today when the Celestial, after making anxious inquiries of the contractor how deep he intended to excavate, finally admitted that he was afraid the excavations would interfere with the underground chamber.

One of the men on the work told the Chinaman that they intended going down twenty feet. After being assured that the workman was joking about the depth of the excavation, the Chinaman appeared to be much chagrined that he had given up the secret of the secret chamber and refused to discuss the matter. It is believed that the underground room was constructed by the slant-eyed opium smokers and is being used as a den where the seductive pills can be smoked without police interference.

The discovery of the existence of the room recalls a story which is going the rounds in police circles today of a criminal who was traced to the building by the police a year ago, and after surrounding the place and making a vigorous search, the officers failed to locate their man, who had apparently been swallowed up. The theory that the underground chamber is used for storing of opium for Ogden's Chinatown, and that it frequently comes in handy when some friend of the Celestials desires a hiding place, seems to be the most plausible explanation of its existence.