Tong Wars
Page 32
1932 Mock Duck is shot in Newark over gambling debts by a Hip Sing assailant.
1933 Amity prevails as tongs undertake common philanthropic projects. The shooting of a Boston Hip Sing ushers in a new wave of murders. The U.S. attorney hauls tong leaders before a grand jury and subpoenas membership lists. Tongs insist there had not been a formal declaration of war. A cease-fire is declared, ending the Fourth Tong War.
1934 Both tongs parade through the streets of Chinatown in New Year celebration as hundreds of Chinese stand on the sidelines and cheer.
GLOSSARY AND GAZETTEER
Pinyin equivalents for traditional spellings and standard Chinese characters are provided where known.
Bin Ching Union (Bingzheng Gongsuo) . An early name for the Gamblers’ Union that eventually became the On Leong Tong. It translates as “Upholding Fairness Society.”
Bloody Angle. See Doyers Street.
boo how doy (futou zai) . A hatchet man, or an enforcer. See highbinder.
Celestial. A term referring to overseas Chinese derived from Tianchao (), a traditional name for China that translates as “Celestial Empire.”
Chee Kung Tong (Zhigong Tang) . An organization with roots in early Qing dynasty China often referred to as the Chinese Masons, a term that erroneously implies an association with the Western Masonic tradition. New York’s Loon Yee Tong adopted this better-known name at about the turn of the twentieth century. See Hongmen.
Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. See Chung Hwa Gong Shaw; Six Companies.
Chinese Delmonico Restaurant. See Mon Lay Won.
Chung Hwa Gong Shaw (Zhonghua Gongsuo) . The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. Formed as the New York branch of the Six Companies, it served as the central governing body of the Chinese community. See Six Companies.
Doyers Street (Duoye Jie) . Narrow street in the heart of New York’s Chinatown that runs from Pell Street to Chatham Square. Its obtuse angle, which prevents a straight line of sight, is popularly known as the Bloody Angle because of the legend that warring tongs could sneak up on one another there without being detected.
fan tan . The “spread and turn over game.” A popular Chinese game of chance.
Four Brothers’ Society (Longgang Qinyi Gongsuo) . A Chinese clan association encompassing four families: Lau (Liu) , Kwan (Guan) , Cheung (Zhang) , and Chu (Zhao) . Also known as the See Sing Tong.
Guangdong . A coastal province in southeast China from which the majority of America’s early Chinese immigrants hailed. Traditionally rendered as Kwangtung, or Canton Province.
Guan Gong . A virtuous third-century general and hero whose effigy was worshipped in many Chinese joss houses. Traditionally rendered as Kwan Kung.
Guangxu . The ninth Qing dynasty emperor to rule China. His official reign lasted from 1875 to 1908.
Guangzhou . The capital of Guangdong Province. Traditionally rendered as Canton.
Guomindang . The Chinese Nationalist Party. Traditionally rendered as Kuomintang.
He Shen . Manchu official who enriched himself and his family through graft and extortion.
highbinder. Gangster or hatchet man; archaic term derived from the name of an early nineteenth-century, non-Chinese New York City gang later used to describe a member of a Chinese American triad.
Hip Sing Tong (Xiesheng Tang) . A Chinese secret society associated with underworld activities whose name translates as the “Chamber United in Victory.” Emerged on the West Coast and established itself in the East in the late 1880s.
Hong Kong (Xianggang) . Coastal city abutting Guangdong Province. A British crown colony between 1841 and 1997.
Hongmen . A secret society formed in China early in the Qing dynasty to restore the Chinese-ruled Ming dynasty often erroneously seen as a Masonic order. It went by different names in different American cities, including the Loon Yee Tong, and later the Chee Kung Tong, in New York. Traditionally rendered as Hung Mun.
Hung Far Low (Xinghua Lou) . Restaurant located at 16 Pell Street.
joss. A term for a Chinese idol, believed to be a corruption of the Portuguese deus, meaning “God.”
Kim Lan Association (Jinlan Gongsuo) . The “cadet branch” of the Chee Kung Tong, some members of which were former Hip Sings. See Chee Kung Tong.
Liu Jin . A corrupt Ming dynasty eunuch who used his high position for personal gain.
lobbygow. A hanger-on in Chinatown; often a tour guide or messenger.
Loon Yee Tong (Lianyi Tang) . See Chee Kung Tong.
Lung Kong Tin Yee Gong Shaw. See Four Brothers’ Society.
Manchu (Manzhouren) . An ethnic group from Manchuria, a region in the northeast of China, that ruled the Chinese Empire as the Qing dynasty between 1644 and 1912.
Ming dynasty (Ming Chao) . China’s ruling dynasty from 1368 to 1644.
Mon Far Low (Wan Hua Lou) . Restaurant located at 14 Mott Street.
Mon Lay Won (Wan Li Yun) . Restaurant located at 24 Pell Street.
Mott Street (Wu Jie) . Principal avenue in New York’s Chinatown.
Nanjing . Historical capital of China located on the lower Yangtze (Yangzi) River. Traditionally rendered as Nanking.
Ning Yeung Society (Ningyang Huiguan) . Association of former residents of Taishan.
On Leong Tong (Anliang Tang) . A Chinese secret society organized in New York in the late 1880s and incorporated in 1897 as the Chinese Merchants Association. Its name translates as “Chamber of Peaceful Conscientiousness.”
pak kop piu (baige piao) . The “white pigeon ticket” game of chance popular among Chinatown residents. Popularly known among Americans as policy.
Pell Street (Pilu Jie) . Avenue in New York’s Chinatown.
pi gow (paijiu) . A Chinese gambling game that makes use of dominoes.
policy. See pak kop piu.
Polong Congsee (probably Baoliang Gongsi) . A mutual aid society formed by New York Chinese in the 1870s.
Port Arthur Restaurant (Lüshun Lou) . Restaurant located at 7–9 Mott Street.
Qing dynasty (Qing Chao) . China’s last imperial dynasty, which ruled from 1644 to 1912. Also called the Manchu dynasty. Traditionally rendered as Ch’ing.
Sam Yup Benevolent Association (Sanyi Huiguan) . Association of former residents of three counties near Guangzhou.
See Sing Tong (Sixing Tang) . “Four Surnames Society.” See Four Brothers’ Society.
Shandong . A coastal province in north China. Traditionally rendered as Shantung.
Six Companies (Liu Da Gongsi) . Umbrella organization that governed Chinatowns throughout the United States and served as the voice of America’s Chinese. Eventually renamed the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. See Chung Hwa Gong Shaw.
Taishan . A district in Guangdong Province’s Pearl River delta from which the majority of nineteenth-century Chinese in America emigrated. Traditionally rendered as Toisan and Sunning (Xinning).
tong (tang) . Chamber or hall. Used colloquially to describe a Chinese organization, most often a “triad,” or Chinese secret society.
Tung On Society (Dongan Huiguan) . A society with roots in China made up primarily of seamen. Its name translates as “Eastern Peace.”
Tuxedo Restaurant (Caihua Jiulou) . Restaurant located at 2 Doyers Street.
Wei Zhongxian . A corrupt Ming dynasty eunuch who rose to a high position and manipulated the emperor for his personal gain.
NOTES
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations have been employed below for the names of newspapers cited most often.
BA Baltimore American
BDE Brooklyn Daily Eagle
BDS Brooklyn Daily Star
BH Boston Herald
BJ Boston Journal
BS Baltimore Sun
BSU Brooklyn Standard Union
CPD Cleveland Plain Dealer
CSM Christian Science Monitor
CT Chicago Tribune
DP Denver Post
DPP Daily People
IS Idaho Statesman
KCS Kansas City Star
MT Macon Telegraph
NHR New Haven Register
NYC New York Call
NYG New York Globe and Commercial Advertiser
NYH New York Herald
NYP New York Post
NYPR New York Press
NYS New York Sun
NYT New York Times
NYTGM New York Telegram
NYTGP New York Telegraph
NYTR New-York Tribune
NYW New York World
PI Philadelphia Inquirer
SDT San Diego Tribune
SFB San Francisco Bulletin
SFC San Francisco Chronicle
SJ Syracuse Journal
SR Springfield Republican
TT Trenton Times
WH Washington Herald
WP Washington Post
WS Washington Star
WT Washington Times
Introduction
other contemporary sources: Bonner, Alas! What Brought Thee Hither?, 169; Lai, Chinese American Transnational Politics, 86; Chen, Being Chinese, Becoming Chinese American, 185n.
“About 6000 B.C.”: “Chinese Fighting Armor in Court,” NYTGM, Nov. 26, 1904.
“Two Chinamen were shot”: Neal O’Hara, “Telling the World,” Baton Rouge Advocate, June 25, 1930.
For example, Herbert Asbury: Asbury, Gangs of New York, 282, 288.
Chapter 1: An “Army of Almond-Eyed Exiles”
There was bias against all newcomers: “Chinese Immigration: Letter from Senator Blaine,” NYTR, Feb. 24, 1879; John Swinton, “The New Issue: The Chinese-American Question,” NYTR, June 30, 1870.
In Manhattan, many early migrants: Helen Campbell, Darkness and Daylight; or, Lights and Shadows of New York (Hartford: Hartford Publishing, 1896), 557; Tchen, New York Before Chinatown, 225; “The Chinese in New York,” NYTR, June 21, 1885; “Chinese in New York: How They Live and Where. Their Club House,” NYT, Dec. 26, 1873; “Mongolian Immigrants,” Fairport (N.Y.) Herald, Oct. 3, 1879; “Little China,” NYP, May 10, 1880.
Wo Kee’s shop: “In the Chinese Quarter,” NYS, March 7, 1880.
Out of the same location: Passport Application of Wong Achon, Sept. 13, 1880, Passport Applications, 1795–1905, General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; “The Chinese New Year,” NYH, Feb. 27, 1874.
In 1875, state census takers: “The Chinese in New York,” NYT, March 6, 1880; Gyory, Closing the Gate, 281.
“A person unacquainted”: “The Work of Enumeration,” NYH, June 3, 1880.
Most of New York’s Chinese: Ibid.; “The Chinese Boarding House,” Harper’s Weekly, Dec. 1, 1888.
Diligent laborers with few deadbeats: Wong Chin Foo, “The Chinese in New York,” Cosmopolitan, Aug. 1888, 297–98.
But Chinese worked in other trades: “In the Chinese Quarter”; “Chinese in New York,” NYT, March 6, 1880; “Our New York Letter,” Utica Sunday Tribune, May 6, 1883; “Mongolian Immigrants.”
By early 1880, Chinese had leased: “Fleeing Celestials,” NYH, March 3, 1880; “Chinese in New York,” NYT, March 6, 1880.
In May, Chinese tenants: Buffalo Evening Republic, May 10, 1880; “Little China.”
His name wasn’t actually Tom Lee: “On Leong Tong Chieftain Dies Quietly in Bed,” NYTR, Jan. 11, 1918; “Tom Lee, Mayor of Chinatown, Dies,” NYS, Jan. 11, 1918; “Tom Lee’s Perplexity,” NYH, July 15, 1880; Naturalization record of Wung A. Ling, Records of the St. Louis Criminal Court, March 9, 1876, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, MO.
Although Lee adopted Western dress: “The Richest Chinaman in New York,” Richfield Springs (N.Y.) Mercury, July 30, 1881.
Just before coming to New York: Ancestry.com, “1900 United States Federal Census Online Database,” accessed Aug. 4, 2015, http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7602; “Death in the House of Tom Lee,” NYS, Jan. 22, 1883.
Minnie bore two daughters: “Tom Lee’s Son and Heir,” NYS, April 2, 1882.
It took two restaurants: Various accounts of the celebration appeared in “A Chinese Christening,” NYT, April 2, 1882; “Tom Lee’s Son and Heir”; “A Chinaman’s Heir,” Truth, April 2, 1882.
From the moment they arrived: “In the Chinese Quarter”; “Situations Wanted, Males,” NYH, Dec. 12, 1873; “Judge Dinkel and the Chinese,” NYH, April 27, 1880; “Mongolian Immigrants”; “New China,” NYH, Dec. 11, 1878; “Civic Centre Projects May Claim Old Chinatown,” NYS, Aug. 3, 1913.
The Six Companies was the congress: Him Mark Lai, Becoming Chinese American (Lanham, Md.: Altamira Press, 2002), 39; “The Chinese in America,” NYT, April 10, 1876; Bennet Bronson and Chuimei Ho, Coming Home in Gold Brocade: Chinese in Early Northwest America (Seattle: Chinese in Northwest America Research Committee, 2015), 139–40.
In the late 1870s: “Mongolian Immigrants.”
That most local Chinese: Him Mark Lai, “Historical Development of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association/Huiguan System,” in Chinese America: History and Perspectives, 1987, ed. Chinese Historical Society of America (San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of America, 1987), 13–51.
Tom Lee relished: “Making Citizens of Chinamen,” NYS, Nov. 30, 1878; “The Chinese New Year in New York,” Los Angeles Herald, Jan. 29, 1879.
No sooner had Lee settled: “Celestial Dining,” NYH, Aug. 11, 1878; “Celestial Dining,” NYH, Feb. 5, 1879.
Tom Lee quickly became: “Making Citizens of Chinamen”; “The Heathen Chinese,” NYTGM, Jan. 29, 1879.
On September 15, 1881, he arranged: “A Chinese Clam-Bake,” NYT, Sept. 15, 1881; “Sports of the Celestials,” NYTR, Sept. 16, 1881.
The guests assembled: “Celestials at Chowder,” New York Evening Express, Sept. 16, 1881; “Mongolian Chowder Party,” Truth, Sept. 16, 1881.
They arrived to a Western breakfast: “Chinese Clam-Bake”; “Mongolian Chowder Party”; “A Chinese Picnic,” NYS, Sept. 17, 1881; “Morning Dispatches,” SFB, Sept. 16, 1881; “Celestials Making Merry,” NYT, Sept. 16, 1881.
“Not only are they”: “Mongolian Chowder Party.”
Lee quickly eclipsed: “Fleeing Celestials”; “Chinese Ostracism in Brooklyn,” NYH, Jan. 20, 1881.
The Hongmen had gotten: Stewart Culin, “The I Hing or ‘Patriotic Rising’: A Secret Society Among the Chinese in America,” Nov. 3, 1887, Report of the Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, for the Years 1887–1889 (Philadelphia: printed for the society, 1891), 2–3.
Broadly speaking, the Loon Yee Tong: “Chinese Ostracism in Brooklyn”; “Flying from San Francisco,” NYH, March 4, 1880.
The Loon Yee Tong soon occupied: “Chinese Ostracism in Brooklyn.”
Like all Hongmen chapters: “The Highbinders,” Daily Alta California, March 17, 1891; “Chinese Mafia,” Logansport Pharos, June 19, 1893; “Highbinders,” Chatham Record, Feb. 16, 1888.
“before the next Presidential”: “Chinese Ostracism in Brooklyn.”
Shortly after the Loon Yee Tong: “Prosperous Chinese Arrested for Voting,” NYT, Aug. 17, 1904.
“the Celestials are delighted”: “The Chinese Colony,” NYH, May 21, 1880.
But not all of New York’s “Celestials”: “Deputy Sheriff Tom Lee Brings Suit Against Lee Sing and Loses His Case,” NYW, Oct. 18, 1881; “Tom Lee Goes to Law in Vain,” NYS, Oct. 18, 1881.
When the case was heard: “Chinese in the Courts,” NYT, Oct. 18, 1881; “Tom Lee Goes to Law in Vain.”
There was nothing professional: Lardner and Reppetto, NYPD, 35, 59–60; Kelly, History of the
New York City Police Department.
One superintendent: Roundsmen patrolled the districts; it was their job to keep tabs on the patrolmen. Doormen were maintenance men responsible for the upkeep of the station houses.
There were also detectives: Costello, Our Police Protectors, 266–67, 287.
“one of the greatest”: Ibid., 268–69.
Tammany Hall demanded: Lardner and Reppetto, NYPD, 65.
Chapter 2: The Gamblers’ Union
Tom Lee’s businesses: “Chinese in New York,” NYT, March 6, 1880; “The Metropolis,” Auburn News and Bulletin, Jan. 10, 1881.
Even if that was an exaggeration: “Chinese in New York,” NYTR, June 21, 1885; “Real Estate Purchases by Chinamen,” NYTR, April 28, 1883; “Chinese Monopoly,” Truth, April 10, 1883; “Chinatown Excited,” NYT, April 7, 1883; “Monopoly in the Chinese Colony,” NYTR, April 8, 1883.
The day after the announcement: “Monopoly in the Chinese Colony”; “Chinese Monopoly.”
When the new landlords: “Harmony in Chinatown,” NYT, April 12, 1883.
But in fact nothing: NHR, April 25, 1883; “War Clouds in Mott Street,” NYTR, April 25, 1883; “Tom Lee Loses His Place,” NYT, April 25, 1883.
Before the month of April: “Tom Lee Loses His Place.”
“the Chinese Jay Gould”: “Chinatown in an Uproar,” NYT, April 24, 1883; “War News from Chinatown,” NYS, April 24, 1883.
Meyers handed a list: “Tom Lee Accused,” NYH, April 25, 1883; “Taking Charge of His Precinct,” NYTR, April 18, 1882; “Capt. Petty Dead,” NYT, Dec. 15, 1889; “Citizen Tuck Hop,” NYS, July 23, 1883.
“When Chinamen come to New York”: Court of General Sessions of the Peace of the City and County of New York in the case of the People v. Tom Lee, Municipal Archives of the City of New York, box 103, folder 1101, May 1, 1883.
To defend himself: “Tom Lee’s Denial,” Truth, April 26, 1883.
While both sides: “The Troubles of Tom Lee,” NYT, April 26, 1883.
“respectable Chinese merchants”: “Tom Lee’s Denial.”
On May 1, Lee: “Tom Lee Gives Bail,” NYT, May 3, 1883; “Tom Lee in Court,” NYH, May 3, 1883.