“PORTUGUESE IN NEW YORK CITY – “The other day John Gubbins, a Portuguese, was held for trial by Justice Grady at the Yorkville Police court under the charge of stabbing a Policeman. There is nothing strange or peculiar about the arrest of a man charged with stabbing or attempting to stab a policeman, but the oddity connected with Gubbins is the fact that he is a PORTUGUESE.
How many PORTUGUESE do you think there are among the 2,000,000 inhabitants of New York City? Just 76! There are 76 of them, and it is said in Police circles to be a fact that Gubbins is the first Portuguese ever under arrest in this city. This would be a very creditable showing if there were more than 76 of them. As it is, the only wonder is that there are so few! In the whole United States there are 16,000 Portuguese. Nine-thousand, eight-hundred and fifty-nine (9,859) turned up in the last U.S. Census in CALIFORNIA, some 3,051 in Massachusetts, just 333 in Rhode Island, and 76 as residents of New York City.
The Portuguese are a maritime people, most numerous in such seaport cities as San Francisco, Boston, Providence, New Orleans and New Bedford, but curiously enough almost unknown in New York; the greatest center of commerce in the western hemisphere.
Emigrants from the lands of Camoes and the Braganza’s are famous as sailors and navigators, and their descendants are scattered in many lands, notably in Hawaii, where the Portuguese population is considerable, and in the East Indies, where the Portuguese colonies are numerous. New York City is a cosmopolitan city. Men of every race and nationality are to be found here. The total immigration to the United States through Ellis island from January 1, 1893 to December 15, 1893 was 233,597, and toward this total Portugal contributed the almost infinitesimal total of just 79 persons! The PORTUGUESE are, generally speaking; THRIFTY, HARDY, INDUSTRIOUS, and MATTER OF FACT. They have little of the sentiment of their Spanish neighbors. They are LAW ABIDING and UNDEMONSTRATIVE, and Gubbins appears to be a rare backslider, stimulated perhaps to deeds of unruly violence by New Jersey whisky or Medford rum (both poor substitutes for the fine wines of the Oporto district of Portugal, shipped from Lisbon and famous the world over).” – (*Source: LOS ANGELES HERALD newspaper – January 16, 1894)