Hatchet Men: The Story of the Tong Wars in San Francisco’s Chinatown

by Dillon, Richard

  “Innocent men can be convinced?”

  “Yes, and I have no doubt innocent men are convicted through the medium of perjury and ‘jobs’ fixed up on them….”

  Special Officer Andrew McKenzie was interrogated by Pierson. He was a veteran of 24 years as a peace officer, including 41/2 years as a Chinatown local. “We have never entirely suppressed gambling,” he volunteered, “but generally manage to keep it under some restraint. We have driven it and prostitution to the backstreets and off the street itself.”

  McKenzie was not as loud and sure in his criticism of the Chinese as his brother officers. “There is a great deal of dishonesty [among them] but I think there are some honest men. I don’t look upon them as being as honest as white persons. The Chinese look upon us as rascals and we look upon them in the same way.”

  “Would you believe them under oath?”

  “A great many I would not believe. That is the rule. There are exceptions, of course.”

  McKenzie appeared to be a little more honest and straightforward than his mates. Asked, “You are paid by the Chinese, are you not?” he answered in the affirmative and admitted that a large part of his pay came from gamblers and prostitutes.

  “Does the closing of these houses affect your salary to any great extent?”

  “Yes, sir. We do not make such big collections. There is a dark hour in all kinds of business, and this is our dark hour just now.”

  After Judge Davis Louderback of the police court testified to the low degree of veracity of Chinese witnesses in general and to the facility with which some of them used American law to revenge themselves on their enemies by malicious prosecutions, Yung Ty testified. He was president of the 24,000-member Hop Wo Company. He was followed to the stand by Sing How, President of the Kong Chow Company. They said pretty much the same thing through an interpreter. Their companies had neither gambling nor prostitution interests. Si Quon, President of the Yeung Wo Company, said he did not even know any gamblers. Chin Fong Chow, President of the Yan Wo Company, also testified but most of his answers were translated as “I don’t know.”

  An interesting Chinese, and a lusty type in general, was called next. Wong Ben, once an interpreter in the police court and county court, opened the eighth day of testimony on April 20. He really woke up the courtroom when he was asked, “Were you a witness in the police court yesterday, where some Chinese prostitutes were tried?”

  “Yes,” said Wong Ben. “Last year I had two boys with me, and we tried to break up the gambling houses and houses of prostitution. We tried to have the policemen arrest keepers, but Charley Duffield kicked the boy in the head and told him to go away. He would not let us go into the gambling houses to see who were there so that we could have them arrested.”

  As Duffield squirmed uneasily, the nervy Chinese was asked, “Are you helping the police?”

  “Yes, sir, but Charley Duffield told us we had no reason to go against the keepers of those houses.”

  “Who are these keepers?”

  Wong Ben thought a moment. “Wong Woon,” he said, “a big fellow who keeps a house of prostitution. An Geo, another big fellow. Every time a woman gets into trouble he gets her out. He goes and collects commissions from women and makes them pay so much a month. He gets lawyers for the gamblers, too, and collects five dollars a week and ten dollars a month. They keep gambling houses and houses of prostitution. They buy women in China and bring them here to be prostitutes. And they sell them again here.”

  “What do they say if you testify?”

  “They put up one thousand, five hundred dollars to put my life out,” Wong Ben told the astonished audience. “They tell me if that don’t do it they will put up two thousand and then three thousand. He told me last night he would give me a hundred and fifty dollars if I would not say anything, and that I must take it or 1 would have my life put out. Wong Woon and An Geo collect thirteen dollars each month from gambling houses, eight dollars a month from lottery houses, then five dollars a week more from gamblers. They tell me I must not go against them, and they would give me money. If I would not take it they would put my life out. I won’t take it because young boys come here and spend all their money in gambling houses and houses of prostitution, and by and by he hasn’t got a cent. ..”

  “Who brings the Chinese women here?”

  “Wong Fook Soi, Bi Chee, An Geo and Wong [Woon],” he answered.

  “What do these men do?”

  “They keep gambling houses and houses of prostitution.”

  “To what company do these men belong?”

  “An Geo belongs to the See Yup Company. Wong Woon to the Sam Yup Company. That fellow has got lots of money. He buys women in China for two or three hundred dollars and brings them out here and sells them for eight or nine hundred to be prostitutes.”

  “How do they get these women in China?” the committee asked.

  “In Tartary. They are ‘big-feet’ women, and are sometimes bought for ninety dollars. When they bring them out here they sell them for nine hundred. They make them be prostitutes… They don’t treat them well at all... Chinawomen in China are treated first rate, but in California these ‘big-feet’ women are treated worse than dogs.”

  “How many Chinese prostitutes are there in this city?”

  “Take in the high-toned prostitutes—those that live upstairs—and I guess there are about eight hundred.”

  “How many gambling houses?” Wong Ben was asked.

  “An Geo, Wong [Woon] and those big fellows have got six big houses and seventy-five or seventy-six smaller ones. Last year I got two boys and we counted eighty-two gambling houses in this city. Duffield said if we didn’t stop he would break our heads.”

  “Who is Duffield?” angrily asked the chairman, forgetting that the local had earlier been a witness.

  “He is a policeman who watches houses of prostitution and gambling houses. He gets lots of money.”

  “How much?”

  “Five dollars a week from the gambling houses and four bits a week from each prostitute.”

  “Do you know of any Chinaman being killed for taking away women from these houses?”

  “One boy got killed up in Ross Alley nearly four years ago. Those big fellows hired men to kill him. Three men ran up and shot him and ran a knife into him. And that is the reason other boys are afraid to help women…”

  “How many gambling houses were there two months ago?”

  “Over eighty.”

  “And how much a month do they pay the police?”

  Wong Ben, who was becoming the star of the whole proceedings, gave full details again. “Five dollars a week, each one. These four big fellows, besides that, collect thirteen dollars a month to pay a white man to get them out of trouble. The lottery houses pay eight dollars a month. There are two or three hundred lottery houses. When I tried to get into gambling houses to see who were there—so I could arrest them—they wouldn’t let me in. The bosses tell them and when they see me coming they shut the door. I get a green boy from the mountains to go into a house of prostitution so he can talk and see what kind of a house it is, so I can make him swear. The boys working in this city here get twenty or twenty-five dollars a month and they spend this in the houses of prostitution or gamble it off. They come to me and say, ‘You get the gambling houses and houses of prostitution shut up and you will be a great man.’”

  Wong Ben went on. “Charley Duffield put one man in jail one hundred and ten days for nothing, because he was helping me. Yesterday I had ten or twelve boys ready to swear in court against the gamblers and whorehouse fellows. I told them not to be afraid, that nothing would happen to them. When they found out that they would get hurt if they swore, they all run away. They put up a notice on a wall to put out my life for one thousand and five hundred dollars. But when I went to get i
t, they tore it down.”

  “Did you ever see any other notices offering a reward for killing Chinamen?”

  “Plenty of them,” answered Wong Ben. “On a five-story house on Jackson Street. These big fellows had a place where they kept their books and money and a list of all the men interested in gambling houses and houses of prostitution. I knew I could not get in there so I told Ying Low to go there and see if he saw any books on their table. The first time he saw plenty of books, and I went and got policemen to go there but those big fellows had all cleared out. I think they will have another meeting in two weeks or ten days, and I guess I can catch them then.”

  The little Chinese caught his breath, then continued. “Last month Wong Woon put up eighteen hundred dollars that he got from gamblers to fight the law. Yesterday 1 had fifteen witnesses to swear against those fellows, but when Wong Woon saw that he asked for a continuance and this morning I have got only two witnesses. My company tells me to break up these houses, and the Six Companies have put up a notice saying that if any more notices of reward are put up they will fight.”

  Ah Chung, when called, verified Wong Ben’s statements that An Geo, Bi Chee, Wong Fook Soi and Wong Woon were the procurers.

  He was asked, “What do the Chinamen do with anybody who testifies in court against the women?”

  “An Geo, Wong Woon and Ah Fook put up money to kill them.”

  Cigarmaker Ah Gow also said his life was threatened by An Geo, Bi Chee and Wong Woon. He was asked, “What were you put in jail for lately?”

  “George Duffleld said I bothered the women and the gamblers by coming into court against them.”

  “Are you afraid?”

  “Sometimes. I do not go out at night but stay in house and lock my door.”

  Chief of Police Ellis, when he was called, estimated the criminal population of Chinatown to run to 2,000 persons. He was asked, “What is the greatest difficulty in the way of suppressing prostitution and gambling?”

  “To suppress these vices,” said the chief, “would require a police force so great that the city could not stand the expense... It is generally believed to be true that the Chinese have a court of arbitration where they settle differences... If in secret they determine to convict a Chinaman or acquit him, that judgment is carried out. In a great many cases I believe they have convicted innocent men through prejudiced evidence.”

  Haymond asked Ellis, “Do you know anything about offers of rewards being posted up in the city for the murder of Chinamen?”

  “Yes, sir. I have had such notices taken down and interpreted.”

  “Do you know anything about money being collected for the purpose of paying men around here to see that they were not molested in their criminal pursuits?”

  “I have heard rumors of such things, but I have never known anything definitely.”

  The committee met in Sacramento for three days, where they heard similar testimony including information on the tong murder of interpreters Ah Quong and Ah Gow; then reconvened in San Francisco. The first witness called on the thirteenth day of the hearings was F. L. Gordon, an ex-publisher of a Chinese newspaper.

  Gordon said he knew of several men assassinated by hatchet men. “The first case I know of is that of Ah Suey, a member of the Wah Ting San Fong society. He did something contrary to their rules in regard to the collection of money. I was in Ah Suey’s house the very day that he was killed. He knew there was a reward offered for his death and he had not gone out for some days. He told me he was going to collect some money and would go to China in a sailing vessel. I told him I heard there was a reward for his death and he had better look out. During the day he went into Washington Alley, thirty or forty feet, when he was shot in the back and instantly killed.”

  “Who offered the reward?”

  “I heard that the society offered it. I think the amount was eight hundred dollars.”

  “Have you seen rewards of that kind posted up?”

  “Yes, sir. They are written on red paper.”

  Senator Donovan asked Gordon to mention other highbinder cases.

  “A Chinaman on Jackson Street was sent for by Chinamen to whom he had loaned money, and was told that if he would go to a certain room on Jackson Street they would pay him. Two men waited for him there, and they killed him.”

  “Was there any evidence of a reward having been offered for his death?”

  “I heard it spoken of in this way, before it happened, that there would be money paid for his death. I was in a house two days before the killing and there heard the matter spoken of. I am perfectly satisfied that his death was the result of a reward.”

  “Do you know of any other cases?”

  “There was a priest in Spofford Alley who was told that if he gave any testimony against other Chinamen he would be killed. He was badly cut soon after, but I think he recovered. Mr. Locke [Chinese interpreter for the police court] and myself waited two or three hours for the man to come to do the cutting, in order to arrest him. We knew the fellow who had threatened to do it. After we left, the attack was made.”

  “What was the date of these two murders?”

  “I think one was a year ago in February, and the other a month or two later.”

  Gordon went on. “I know of a case where a woman was cut because she would not consent to be blackmailed. A Chinaman, Ah Chuck, went into a house of prostitution and Chin Cook, a prostitute, borrowed his pocketknife and after using it laid it on the table. In a few minutes he said he was going and wanted his knife. It had disappeared from the table, and he said she would have to return the knife or pay him for it. He said it cost him one dollar and twenty-five cents, and he would come the next night for the money. Mr. Locke was sent for, and he told her to pay no attention to it; that the Chinaman was trying to blackmail her. She gave Locke two dollars and fifty cents and told him to buy as good a knife as he could for the money. He did so and she offered the man the knife. He refused to take it, saying his knife was a broken one and he didn’t want a new one. She pawned some of her clothing for twelve dollars, but he would not take that. He then said his knife was worth eighty dollars and told her he would slash her if she did not pay it. He afterward cut her with a knife. She screamed and tried to get under the bed when he cut her again. Mr. Locke and myself found him on Clay Street and arrested him. The next day he was bailed out; when he went up there and cut her again with a hatchet. Another woman, Chin Woey, was cut in the head and arm and face for refusing to pay thirty dollars blackmail to two Chinamen, one of whom kept a gambling house and the other a washhouse. Locke and myself arrested the gambler, and he was bailed out. The next day he and two others laid in wait for me with iron bars. My revolver, however, frightened them and they retreated.”

  “Was there a reward offered for your death?” Donovan asked Gordon.

  “Yes, sir. There was a reward of six hundred dollars offered for me and one of two hundred and fifty dollars offered for a Chinaman in my employ. In March of this year I was told not to go to a certain house on Clay Street or I would be killed. One day I went there and was asked into a room where several Chinamen were—two with iron bars, one of whom threatened to kill me. The door was locked after me and these men advanced. I sprang to the door, drew a pistol, and kept the Chinamen off while I unlocked the door from behind and ran into the street and escaped. I saw a notice offering a reward for my death posted up in Chinatown. I cut it down and have the translation. It says that any man who wants to get rich suddenly can do so by killing me, for six hundred dollars will be paid for my death. It was authorized by the ‘Washhouse Society.’ I had threatened to sue them and recover three thousand, four hundred dollars on a contract for printing and they thought they could escape payment by murdering me. My Chinese servant knew of this arrangement and was my friend, so they offered two hundred and fifty dollars for his death.”
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br />   “What are ‘hatchet men’?” asked Donovan.

  “Fighting men; a class of men in Chinatown that can be hired to defend any house or store that is threatened, and will cut and kill indiscriminately. About a year and a half ago a store at number 907 or 908 Dupont Street was threatened. A riot took place, and hired ‘hatchet men’ broke into the store, shooting, cutting and destroying. Some months ago a riot occurred at number 810 Dupont Street regarding the employment of Chinese in shoe factories and the retention of wages. Storekeepers hired ‘hatchet men,’ and they fought the strikers. Nine were wounded, and fifteen or twenty arrests made. None were convicted. I know a large number of professional fighters here.”

  “Do you know of any regular system of blackmail among the Chinese?”

  “Yes, sir. About three months ago three Chinamen went around to do their regular collecting. They belong to a society having its headquarters on Ross Alley. They went around among Chinese prostitutes and told them that a new chief of police had come in, and unless he received a handsome present would shut up the houses. They collected from one and a half to five dollars from each one, and it was divided among the members of that society.”

  Lem Schaum, a character of the ’70s—a Christian Chinese—contributed a little more information on the advertising for hatchet men via posters. He said, “That is a Chinese custom. When members of a company do anything against the rules of that company they are punished. Suppose one member of a company comes to me and says, ‘Go and steal a woman from a Chinaman,’ and I do so for him. Because I favor him his enemies prove I stole the woman, and put up a reward of five hundred or one thousand dollars to have me killed. That is the way they do.”

  “Do they post those rewards up publicly?”