Crime

Ting Tong Sang

Authorities throughout the country tried hard last week to end the animosity of the two great Tongs--the On Leong and the Hip Sing--which broke out two weeks ago (TIME, Sept. 7). In Manhattan, the District Attorney (one Banton) managed to bring together high officials of the Tongs.

First a fine assemblage of Chinese notables, all urging peace, met in the District Attorney's office. There was Ziang Ling Chang, the Chinese Consul, Lee Kee, President of the Chinese Benevolent Association, Leong du Ching, Chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chu Man Sing, Secretary of the Four Brothers' Association, Professor Guy Main of Columbia, Ong Gong Yee, potentate of Chinese Freemasons, Lou You, head of the Chinese Citizens' Alliance. A most august assemblage--all urging peace in the good name of their country and their race.

Then came the negotiators--Henry Moy, International Secretary of On Leong, surrounded by a group of followers, all of them surrounded by a protective cordon of detectives. Henry Moy protested in advance that although five members of his Tong had been slain in a few days, no reprisals had been taken or would be taken: "We shall not do so, unless driven to it in self-defence. Our society is anxious to obey the law. Hip Sings are law-breakers and cannot be depended on to follow out any instructions given by the authorities toward the suppression of disorder."

Shortly Wong Get, International Secretary of Hip Sing, arrived. Detectives ringed him 'round to preserve him from violence. He preserved a suave silence.

Then the District Attorney talked turkey: The electric chair for murderers, deportation for gun-toters, direct responsibility to be placed on the leaders of the Tongs for any killings. The gathered potentates expressed themselves. Ziang Ling Chang advised moderation. Chu Man Sing asked peace. Ong Gong Yee spoke in conciliatory accents.

So Messrs. Henry Moy and Wong Get agreed to meet privately for a discussion of the District Attorney's agenda. The meeting took place that afternoon. A temporary truce was patched up.

The next afternoon police raided a barber shop in Manhattan's Chinatown. They rushed up the stairs and heard feet pattering on the roof. They opened the hatch and saw no one. They went out on the roof to search and a fusillade of shots fell about them from a roof across the streets. Forty shots were fired but no one was hurt. In a safe below they found ten new automatics, 1,000 rounds of ammunition and six steel vests. Henry Moy, his brother Frank and other prominent On Leongs stood across the street watching the proceedings.

That night Que Yee, a Hip Sing, was met by three pellets of steel as he walked upstairs in his house. He rolled to the bottom and died. Wong Hong, a young Hip Sing gunman, was entering his lodging house. A hatchet came down on his head from behind and his brains were crushed. They found a revolver lashed inside his vest.

In Chicago Joe Mong, an On Leong, was found beaten unconscious in a gutter.

At New Kensington, Pa., a customer walked into a laundry one morning and found Charley Lee, a Hip Sing, lying on the floor with a bullet in his head and a bullet in his chest. His partner in business, George Wong, an On Leong was missing. In Manhattan the police began to get busy. They revoked all pistol permits for Chinese, taking guns even from high Tong officials who had been given them for protection. Even the suave Wong Get had to surrender his gun; also Boston Charley, a smiling Chinaman of great popularity in the On Leongs.

One Chin Bing, a man who had been expelled in turn from the On Leong and then from the Hip Sing Tong, was arrested, suspected of the murder of Que Yee. For four hours the police questioned him. For four hours he answered "Me don't know." Their patience exhausted, the police arraigned him for murder.

They also arrested Lee Gee Min, International President, the voluable Mr. Henry Moy, International Secretary, and Lee Du, local secretary of On Leong--carrying out the threat to hold officers of the Tongs responsible. But a judge released the latter three because there was no evidence against them.

Meantime a grand jury indicted one Wong Fook, a Hop Sing, for the murder of Gong Mar Quong, since three Occidentals could be found as witnesses.

To make the pressure of the law felt, a combination raid of the New York City squad, Federal narcotic agents and immigration officials swept down upon Manhattan's Chinatown and seized 200 Chinamen. Those wanted by the police were placed in jail. The others were examined as to their right to be in the U. S. For want of evidence of lawful entry or U. S. birth, 42 were shipped to Ellis Island for deportation.

The same night in Boston, Chin Gow Woon, a Hip Sing, was shot as he stepped from his doorway.

In Cleveland, Wong Bowe, Hip Sing organizer, appealed to police for protection, saying On Leongs had set a price of $10,000 on his head and were despatching gunmen from Chicago and New York to earn the money.

In Sing Sing, in the death house, Mock Hirk, a Hip Sing, waited execution for the murder of an On Leong laundryman. At the opposite end of the row of death cells, Lu Chow, an On Leong, waited execution for the murder of a Hip Sing restaurateur.

More men will die before the White Rooster is killed (Chinese ceremony of peacemaking).