Read Online Hatchet Men: The Story of the Tong Wars in San Francisco’s Chinatown by Richard Dillon - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Richard Dillon
Tags: Chinese Americans, chinatown, California history, Chinese history, San Francisco Chinatown, Tongs, Tong Wars, San Francisco history
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As the decade of the ’60s waned the Chinese population began to rise rapidly in numbers. The signal for the increase was Leland Stanford’s clumsy swing at the Golden Spike at Promontory Point. With the East Coast linked to the West Coast by rail, thousands of “Crocker’s Pets,” as the Chinese gandy dancers were called, began to drift down to San Francisco. Drifting with them were hundreds of unemployed Irishmen from the Union Pacific Railroad. Some of these Chinese newcomers sailed for home, some went to Texas and Massachusetts, but most stayed on in Chinatown. At the same time a new wave of immigration developed out of Hong Kong. On May 13, 1869, alone, 1,276 Chinese arrived on the Embarcadero from the S.S. Japan. The new, big steamers brought them in like cattle, jammed below-decks. The City Directory guessed there were 8,600 Chinese in San Francisco at the end of the ’60s. The Federal census figure was 11,817. Most accurate was the figure of the Chinese Protective Association (the Six Companies)—17,000.
Like a corollary to the increase in Chinese population, there was an increase in anti-Chinese incidents and riots. The people of Chinatown found themselves between the jaws of a vise: the growing tong underworld in Chinatown itself forming one jaw; the mounting pressure of hoodlums, labor and eventually a large segment of the city’s population, forming the other.
Thus it was no surprise that the decade went out violently. The year 1869 was one of turbulence. It really belonged to the bitter decade ahead rather than to the fairly peaceful ’60s. On January 24, Tong Moon Yun was shot dead on Dupont Street. On February 8, the corpse of a Chinese girl was found under a house on Cooper Alley. The 9th of April saw Ah Kow, sentenced to death for the murder of one of his countrymen, cheating the gallows by suicide in his cell. Eight days later a riot broke out among the Chinese population and many men were wounded. On May 20, Customs officials seized a cache of opium worth $15,000 on the S.S. China. On June 2, Werner Hoelscher was shot down by a Chinese. And so it went. The prestorm lull was over.
Violence was on the increase even though the Emperor of China himself, via an envoy Chi Tajen, warned the population of Chinatown through its quasi government, the Six Companies: “Be careful to obey the laws and regulations of the nation in which you reside. If you do so and at the same time pursue your callings in accordance with the principles of right and propriety, success cannot fail to attend your labors, while a contrary course will infallibly bring on you failure and misfortune.” The underworld laughed at His Majesty. Anarchy might have prevailed but for the calming influence of the Six Companies. They would preserve the peace for another decade. To understand Chinatown and its past, a knowledge of this organization—which kept the fighting tongs in check for so long—is necessary. The story of the Six Companies’ success is the story of Chinatown’s growth; the story of the Six Companies’ failure is the key to Chinatown’s shame—the tong wars.
CHAPTER FOUR The Six Companies
“It is charged against us that the Six Companies have secretly established judicial tribunals, jails and prisons and secretly exercise judicial authority over the people. This charge has no foundation in fact. These Six Companies were originally organized for the purpose of mutual protection and care of our people coming and going from this country. The Six Companies do not claim, nor do they exercise, any judicial authority whatever, but are the same as any tradesmen’s or protective and benevolent societies.”
—“Memorial” of the Six Companies of President U. S. Grant, 1876
THE “GOVERNMENT” of Chinatown during the nineteenth century, de facto if not de jure, was a combination of the Chinese Consulate General and the Six Companies, particularly the latter. These agencies managed to protect the
As the decade of the ’60s waned the Chinese population began to rise rapidly in numbers. The signal for the increase was Leland Stanford’s clumsy swing at the Golden Spike at Promontory Point. With the East Coast linked to the West Coast by rail, thousands of “Crocker’s Pets,” as the Chinese gandy dancers were called, began to drift down to San Francisco. Drifting with them were hundreds of unemployed Irishmen from the Union Pacific Railroad. Some of these Chinese newcomers sailed for home, some went to Texas and Massachusetts, but most stayed on in Chinatown. At the same time a new wave of immigration developed out of Hong Kong. On May 13, 1869, alone, 1,276 Chinese arrived on the Embarcadero from the S.S. Japan. The new, big steamers brought them in like cattle, jammed below-decks. The City Directory guessed there were 8,600 Chinese in San Francisco at the end of the ’60s. The Federal census figure was 11,817. Most accurate was the figure of the Chinese Protective Association (the Six Companies)—17,000.
Like a corollary to the increase in Chinese population, there was an increase in anti-Chinese incidents and riots. The people of Chinatown found themselves between the jaws of a vise: the growing tong underworld in Chinatown itself forming one jaw; the mounting pressure of hoodlums, labor and eventually a large segment of the city’s population, forming the other.
Thus it was no surprise that the decade went out violently. The year 1869 was one of turbulence. It really belonged to the bitter decade ahead rather than to the fairly peaceful ’60s. On January 24, Tong Moon Yun was shot dead on Dupont Street. On February 8, the corpse of a Chinese girl was found under a house on Cooper Alley. The 9th of April saw Ah Kow, sentenced to death for the murder of one of his countrymen, cheating the gallows by suicide in his cell. Eight days later a riot broke out among the Chinese population and many men were wounded. On May 20, Customs officials seized a cache of opium worth $15,000 on the S.S. China. On June 2, Werner Hoelscher was shot down by a Chinese. And so it went. The prestorm lull was over.
Violence was on the increase even though the Emperor of China himself, via an envoy Chi Tajen, warned the population of Chinatown through its quasi government, the Six Companies: “Be careful to obey the laws and regulations of the nation in which you reside. If you do so and at the same time pursue your callings in accordance with the principles of right and propriety, success cannot fail to attend your labors, while a contrary course will infallibly bring on you failure and misfortune.” The underworld laughed at His Majesty. Anarchy might have prevailed but for the calming influence of the Six Companies. They would preserve the peace for another decade. To understand Chinatown and its past, a knowledge of this organization—which kept the fighting tongs in check for so long—is necessary. The story of the Six Companies’ success is the story of Chinatown’s growth; the story of the Six Companies’ failure is the key to Chinatown’s shame—the tong wars.
CHAPTER FOUR The Six Companies
“It is charged against us that the Six Companies have secretly established judicial tribunals, jails and prisons and secretly exercise judicial authority over the people. This charge has no foundation in fact. These Six Companies were originally organized for the purpose of mutual protection and care of our people coming and going from this country. The Six Companies do not claim, nor do they exercise, any judicial authority whatever, but are the same as any tradesmen’s or protective and benevolent societies.”
—“Memorial” of the Six Companies of President U. S. Grant, 1876
THE “GOVERNMENT” of Chinatown during the nineteenth century, de facto if not de jure, was a combination of the Chinese Consulate General and the Six Companies, particularly the latter. These agencies managed to protect the
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