Tombstone epitaph., 1892-06-26
CHINESE FEUDs.
California Mongolians Settle [
 Fractional Fight
The system of Blackmailing Pursued by the Celestial IIighbinders-A Novel Method of Settling
 Difficulty.


 Tong's boss joss is settled, says the San Francisco Examiner. Peace reigns once more among the highbinders of Chinatown The soul of the wooden god of the Mongolians is no longer tor mented by the quarreling of his wor- shipers, and his repulsivc eyes that look in nearly every direction at once have become less ficndish in their stare.
 For some time the highbinder socie- ties in Chinatown have been getting poorer and poorer on account of the blockade of the police. When Sergt. Price with his squad rallied and de- stroyed all their idols and shrines, not even sparing the famous and costly carved gods of the Chee Kung Tong, the leaders of the societies became des- perate. Their followers began to com plain that they were poor managers; that things were going wrong on ac- count of inattention to the affairs of their offices. The malcontents urged that if proper pecuniary arrangements had been made by the police they would not have been molested.
 But, notwiths tanding all their grum- bling, the blockade was continued and
  After Sergt Prices famous raid it was almost at q standstill. The highbind- CTS, bereft of the protection of their wooden gods, were unable to impress the merchants with their power for in- turing them should they decline to ac- cede to the demands for tribute. The methods that have been prac- tired by the yellow blacllmailers for years arc as follows:
 A wealthy merchant is visited and told that unless certain sum of money is paid within certain time some great harm will bcfall him. In order to ere ate strong impression the victim is taken to the headquarters of the socie- ty, where he is shown the grinning joss and the implements of warfare on the walls.
 But after the idols were destroyed the merchants did not seem to be very greatly impressed. Perhaps the true reason was that they thought that at last the police were making an effort to protect them. At any rate the high binders themselves declared it was be- i cause their gods had been broken up.
 So it was that the Sucy Sings were proud and powerful above all the other Tongs, because the police failed to mo- lest their gods
 A very nice-loolxing old fellow is the Suey Sing joss His smile is one of the most terrible and awe-inspiring possi- ble, according to Mongolian standards. His whiskcrs, long and sparse, have for years been guarded from every zephyr by his faithful priests, so that now they | are filled with sandalwood ashes and ! dust. Still he is . mighty god.
 Beside him there is another one of | much less power and dimensions, but yet a very good joss for some things The Suey Sings were all happy and prosper ous for awhile, but Q schism arose and a faction led by Chan Wan seeded from the main body.
 But everything was settled peaceful | ly between the two branches of the old l society. and the secedcrs, led by Chan Wan, retained the possession of the mascot josses. The mode of settling was sort of lottery. The two factions
 met at a place on Pine street by agree ment, and it was settled that which ever side won should be entitled to the idols. Both sides were anxious, and there were some even who preferred to ! fight the matter out rather than take any chances, and for time it ! looked as though there might be | large-sized row But the eooler-head- ed members advised peace. and after the little dispute had been quicted down the implements by which the for ! tunatc party was to be decided were produced. They consisted simply of | two light pine boards about fourteen inches long and four inches wide. One of them was painted black on one side and the other had one side painted white. The method of gambling is quite simple. The boards are held aloft together and dropped to the floor. One ! side chooses white and the other black. l Should the white side of the board turn up the side choosing that color wins. ! and SO with the black. Should both colors or both backs turn up at the same l time the throw is declared of.
 There was lot of ceremony attend i ing the production of the boards. Each side examined them to see that they , were perfectly fair and that neither of them was weighted so as to turn a cer- tain way more often than another. When the boards had been pronounced all right another erdispute was threatened 1 because the sides could not agree on the man to drop the boards Finally it was decided that Q different man from each faction should drop them, and the lot tery for the gods was begun
 Anxious eyes watched the boards as they clattered to the floor. The noise of their striking was completely drowned by the jabbering of the Mon- gols- The first throw resulted in no gain for either side. Then the old fac tion won two throws in succession. After that the seccders were successful several times without miss. The last