| Show CHINESE HIGH BINDERS the frequent murders committed b by y chinese upon their fellow countrymen in are causing considerable agitation among the people of the pacific coast metropolis there is one phase of the war being waged between the rival high binders societies in chinatown which threatens a danger more far reaching and lar far more serious in its us effect on the city the state and the nation than the death of half a dozen chinese more or less or the stirring up of a local turbulence which the police find it no easy task to control says the chronicle the events of the last week must have emphasized in the minds of every newspaper reader the fact that any chance pedestrian through the chinese quarter of san francisco has to run no small risk of his life prudent residents of the city keep away from chinatown unless the have business there but not a day nor a night goes by that one or more parties of strangers do not make the tour of the mongol quarter for the sake of seeing the sights suppose for ithe sake of the argument that some prominent 0 m i nent stranger thus sightseeing in in ri chinatown should fall a victim to the stray bullet of a murderous highbinder what would be the result to the city surely an effort aou would I 1 d be made to fasten the responsibility for such an occurrence on the municipal authorities who permitted a condition of affairs where an accident like that could occur suppose again that the stranger who might thus be shot was the accredited re presenta bivs of a foreign government who shall say what international complications would follow in direct evidence of the reasonableness of this suggestion it need only be said that the very risk here suggested was run in chinatown last week it so happened that cozino barroso the brazilian worlds fair commissioner and special envoy from brazil for the study of the chinese question in this city was escorted to chinatown by a police officer detailed by chief crowley and that the development of a serious phase of the highbinder war made it necessary tor for the commissioner to abandon his trip it was detective glennon who was escorting mr barroso and they had penetrated into the chinese quarters as far as jackson and dupont streets when detect detective ve cox signaled glennon irom from a dark doorway and said you had better take your friend out of here partner we are watching for a highbinder duel that is scheduled for hereabouts cad and he might see more of chinat chinatown own than he wants to the distinguished at once manifested his desire to get out of the reach of any such dan ger and the continuance ot of the official incursion was temporarily postponed as stated the police sometimes receive receive information of projected highbinder conflicts as in the case referred to but no one knows when two murderous high binders may not begin firing upon each in broad daylight andin andin streets which are crowded with people it will be noticed that in the case of the murderer last arrested in connection with the present war the police have a lively hope of securing conviction since there were a number of white witnesses to the shooting I 1 rhe he very presence of these witnesses is in further confirmation of the danger that threatens the public safety two tw 0 chinese meet on the sidewalk one draws a revolver and fires at the other in this case five bullets are buried in the body of the highbinder who had no pistol but the records of the police are full 0 of instances where a general argeneral fusillade has taken place in the streets and not a few white people have felt the force of the stray bullets thus scattered abroad at least three police officers have been killed by high binders during the last six years the death of officer osgood and officer nicholson will be recalled in this connection and it will also be remembered that officer gillen a brother of the present sergeant of police golice of the same name also met his eath death at the hands of a highbinder whom he sought to rescue from the pranks of a lot fot of boys two of these officers were murdered and the other though perhaps not killed intentionally was not the victim of a stray bullet exactly but there have been other deaths and some narrow escapes in direct illustration of the danger under special consideration about ten years ago a merchant met his death by a stray rifle ball away down on the corner of front and jack son it was proven beyond a dou doubt that the bullet came from a highbinder rifle fired up on the higher part of washington street in chinatown A more recent instance was the killing of kelleher two y years ago at the corner of dupont and jac jackson bags on streets by chin yung who after several trials is now serving a life sentence in san quentin it was claimed that Kelle hers taking off was accidental though it was contended in court that the highbinder was guilty of murderous intent another danger which threatens the peace of the general community comm community unit must have been forcibly suggested ty by the foregoing facts only let one of a party of the tougher element of whites come within the range of a high binders bullet and the police would be of no avail in stemming the tide of revenge that would sweep through chinatown it is possible that the cooler counsel of the better class of people would prevail against a proposition of public vengeance in the case of the death of a single citizen from such a cause but a second fatality in quick succession would surely result in a riot sari san franciscans area are a law abiding people but their grievance chinese is of so long standing and their aggravations have been so many and so various that it would take only a few straws in the way of high binder murders of whites to break the back of public patience As regards the number of murders openly committed the present highbinder war beats the record three chinese killed and another badly evaded ws waded within bt days is a little better or worse than has previously been accomplished but there have been more bitter battles than any that have yet taken place this time about ten years abow ago when h e n two other tongs were at war with each other there were a number of pitched battles engaged in on the streets in which a great many chinese took part on both sides but it is not known that anybody was killed there is undoubtedly a small element of comparatively innocent denizens 0 of chinatown who are in fear of their own lives on account of high binders and the history of the societies warrants them in their fear three years and a half ago in september 1889 fung wing a chinese girl ig 19 years of age was killed on dupont street because she failed to pay tribute to the tongs she was going home from a restaurant with a companion when an unknown highbinder came out of a doorway shot her twice and then made good hs his escape it transpired that she had been persecuted by highbinder agents to pay tribute that she had backed up her refusal with a complaint to the police and had been killed in revenge for her obstinacy two years later in november 1891 the body of a murdered chinese was found in a clothes basket in bull run alley there was no evidence forthcoming that ne was a highbinder and it was supposed that he was murdered simply because he had become possessed of of some dangerous information on the very day following this discovery another chinese was known to have been killed by the suey sing tongs one of the societies now at war again but the body did not fall into the hands of the police at about the same time ah loy a chinese miner at auburn was killed by high binders and chief crowley traced tra c ed the authority for the crime to a san francisco tong there was also a highbinder war in los angeles in 1891 and several murderers received life sentences in the same year ea I 1 john ohn gibbs a white man was buic butchered ared by y a chinese hatchet man in cum cook alley for no apparent reason the crimes herein before referred to are by no means all ail that are attributable to the high binders A book may be written about their murderous operations the police have from time to time unearthed highbinder conspiracies when they least expected to do so on one occasion a chinese arrested for a trivial offense was found clothed in a coat of mail and under this coat were found documents which being translated afforded some very important clews on another occasion a suspicious looking chinese was arrested while reading a highbinder bulletin board at a street corner and on his person was found a copy of highbinder rules which proved to be very useful to the authorities As a rule however the clever highbinder carries nothing compromising on his person it is only novices who are thus caught napping the different societies have a regular system of spies they have innocent looking pickets stationed at given points to guard against surprise and it is this system which has put the coolies on their guard against the alley raids as shown in in the accompanying illustration if it has frequently been remarked that the high binders seem to prefer the pistol as a means of assassination the ex of this is that the highbinder is theatrical beyond anything the quiet cutting of a throat in a dark cor ner has no glory in it but if he makes a great noise and is seen by a big crowd assassinating an enemy in the street he is is a made hi highbinder li binder if he escapes he is a hero if if he is caught he is a martyr and it may be stated just here that there have been developed some really ludicrous instances of martyrdom in a small way during the last few days in chinatown the police have been exercising the privilege of stopping and searching every chinese they care to interfere with in this way dozens of the heathen have been searched and it is almost laughable to see the meekness with which they submit to the operation if nothing be found on them the biggest policeman in the party usually holds the fellow off at arms length and bids him farewell with a terrible kick on the posterior as a warning against misdoing and as a reminder of the majesty of the law but the coolie makes not a movement in retaliation says not a word and betrays no emotion of any sort whatever though he will probably be unable to sit down for hours these vigorous measures have been resorted to on the part of the police as part of their policy of letting the chinese know that there is to be no trifling with them and chief crowley is inclined to believe that this policy has already had some good effect he also entertains the hope that the present outbreak is now practically suppressed notwithstanding the fact that the hop sing tongs have killed one more man than the suey sings the officers have so harassed the high binders by breaking up their quarters and arresting many of the hatchet men that they are pretty well scattered and are living singly or in pairs in family houses the chattels who are the main main support support of the high binders have also been een driven from their brothels and like the men are spread all over chinatown in twos and threes the police officers are being constantly blamed for not securing convictions vict ions it is not their fault they try hard enough but the very people who who condemn them for neglect os of duty in not obtaining a conviction will acquit the most villainous looking highbinder no matter what evidence the police may submit if the chinese only manage to get in a little conflicting testimony and they can always do that even if one be c convicted 0 he can obtain a new trial by s some 0 me technicality of the law this makes them bold and they dont fear the law As one chinese said once china law number one english law number two law go to bellee that was the strongest way in which he could express his contempt for our in institutions but high binders are not only amblers and hoodlums fully four fifths J fahs of the cooks in private houses belong to highbinder societies they join both for protection and to be bad and in many cases they make themselves so well liked by their employers that a strong pull is made to keep them from conviction when they are caught in a crime be cheerful A light heart lives long dont cuiry too swift arrives as tardy as too slow think only healthful thoughts As a naan man thin keth in his heart so is he associate with healthy people health is contagious as well as disease |
