The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-28

Chinese murderer. and, secondly, how i'm
possible il is to convict him unless be is
taken red-handed by the officers With
their labryinth OF underground passages,
their multitude Of strong doors barring mar
row passggeways. their hidden openings IN
walls of rooms, and the perjured testimony
they are always able 10 produce II IS no
wonder the police have failed to bring to
justice the highbinders guilty Of taking
human life.
For score Of years the two great Chinese
highlander organizations, the Bing On
longs and the Suey On Tongs. have waged
against each other a perpetual warfare, at
times because of rivalry between the
societies, but more often because one So
cIety had been hired to kill some Chinese
merchant who had employed the other So
ciety to defend him.
None ofthe members Of either society ever
work. They live principally by thieving and
blackmail, and when g rich Chinese prose
eutes a highlander for theft or refuses TO
pay TO be let alone to transact his legitimate
business. then the society to which the par
ticular Highlander belongs takes up the
matter, and unless the merchant hires the
rival society TO defend him. condOnes the
theft or pays the tribute demanded by the
blackmaier. his life is always in danger.
Until February last the police were una
bic to positively locate the two tong
societies but finally Sergeant Gillen and his
ceeded in breaking them up. The Bing On
TOngs be found at Sl7 Jackson street. and
the Suey On longs at 81 WaveFly place.
From the night Of the raid by the police, on
February 10 last, the highbinders OF both
societies have never ceased working TO as
certain who it was that furnished the in
formation to the police. and they have at
last found out. This is known because yes
terday four men were notified that they had
been doomed 20 death at the Sunday night
meeting
That is one Of the pecniIarities of the CHI
nese muTderers, they notify their victims
and let them enjoy the torture OF expecting
TO be shot al any moment for month or
two and then shoot them from some door
way or in some narrow alley, having first
prepared the way Of escape.
The council Sunday night was a joint
meeting Of two societies TO decide upon the
destruction of their common enemies and
for the nrst tine ID many years men who
have been fighting each other metOn neutral
grounds. There was traitor In their midst,
however, and he has furnished the police
with not only the full details of the meet
ing, but the names of the men selected to do
the killing and the names of as many of
the members present as he could remember.
A CALL reporter met the inf0rmer yester-
day IN the back room of a Chinese store
owned by one Of the Chinese merchants
who was sentenced TO death by the tongs
and who was on Yesterday twice notified
that he was to be killed, once by Chinese
whom he had never seen before aud also by
letter dropped On the counter of his store
by some person during a rush of trade
The merchant was frightened half to
death and rushed down TO the office of Chief
Crowley to ask that be be allowed to wear
coat Of mail and carry pistol TO protect
himself. He failed to find the Chief in and
hurried home, where he says he will remain,
day and night. until he can TX things with
The :ongs.
In describing the meeting OF the high
binders the lnf0rmer said. talking in pigeon
English. that the societies met in a room at
B21 Washington street. and that there were
only about twenty men present. equally
divided between the two societies, both
sides fearing tTeachery. Every man was
armed and most Of them wore coats of mail.
The arms carried we're Chinese knife and
44-caiiber new improved Colts navy re-
vOiyer, wicked weapon that shoots like
rifle. One OF the men had brought the Joss
of the tongs with him. without which the
meeting would not have amounted to any,
thing This joss was put on a small table
al the side Of the room, and after burning
certain number OF prayers and setting on
FIRE lot Of punk sticks the leaders OF the
Bing and Suey seated themselves on opposite
sides of a long table in tie center of the
room, on which were the beans or buttons
ana the cup commonly used In playing the
game OF tan. The first question decided
was which Of the two societies
should furnish the men to commit the
murders. The cup was placed over
a lot of the beans and drawn
TO the center OF the table by the leader OF
the Sueys. and then the beans were Count
ed. The count showed that four OF the Suey
On longs and one OF the Bing On Tongs
should do the killing Then came the Sc
lection of the victims TO be killed. A num-
Der OF men were named-one because of
bis informing the police about the meeting
places of the hghbinders; another because
be had refused to swear to the false certif-
cate to land the woman zee Cae, who ar
rived here on the steamer China last week
and is still in custody; still another because
he refused to help land the woman Chun
Yut, and fourth one because he was going
TO school aud learning English and talking
to the officers. Then the beans were put
back in the pile and another cupful raked