Canada’s festering racism, under which Chinese suffered for decades, came dangerously close to mass murder claiming 120 lives before an attempt to dynamite two railway cars at Vancouver was foiled, Canadian Press reported May 20, 1910. The Chinese had arrived on the SS Empress of China for a scheduled “trip across the continent.”

“The plan to kill the Chinese was discovered by a CPR agent, who found a stick of dynamite inside the stove of each of the two cars.” Ham Woo, a cook, was preparing to light the stove in one of the cars. The stove had been stuffed with paper, and Mr. Ham, not knowing what it was, had a stick of dynamite in his hand, when C.L. Corning, the railroad agent, stopped him and took the dynamite from his hand. A 60-pound explosive cap was found attached to the dynamite. Another stick of dynamite was later found in the second car.

Unfamiliar Canadian History Stories 108