The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-09
SOCIETY OF HIGHBINDERS.
Interest Aroused by the Arrest Of
Van PhOu Lee.


Story of Slavery and of N1urderers
UNPUBLISHED.
From the st. Louis Republic.
The recent arrest Of Yam Phon Lee at
the instance of Joe Pean, who asserts
that Lee had offered Sing Ping $50 to kill
him, has aroused interest in the High
binder Society, of which Pean says that
Lee is a member. Pean is said to have ins
formed the police of a gambling game
that was being run by Mongolian named
Lum Ping, and he says that now his life
is in danger. Pean retained Gov.
Charles P. johnson, and that attorney,
after listening to an account of the char
acter and number of the enemies with
which his client had to contend, decided
to have Yam Phon Lee arrested at once
for the purpose of showing the power of
the law and to deter the other Cinnamon
from carrying out their design of killing
Joe Pean.
A gentleman who has had much expert
ence with the Chinese said yesterday of
the Highbinders:
The Sam Hop Wui, or Triad Society
commonly known as the Highbinders, is
the most exacting of masters and knows
no punishment, except that of death. 1t
is a peculiar organization, and it
fiourishes in America and other countries
foreign to the land which gave it birth.
The members murder, MAIN and steal
with impunity, and the slightest wish of
the heads of the order is command, to
disobey which means death. 1t is of so
great antiquity that legends say it was
conceived when the stars were small and
the earth so diminutive that
it could be circumnavigated in two
days. The facts seem to be
thai it was conceived when the Chinese
drove out the aborigines, some 1900 years
ago, and first attained great strength
when the Tartars invaded China. 1t
had its conception among those who
were opposed to slavery, but soon de-
teriOrated into system of slavery itself.
When first founded it had for its object
the promotion of liberty, chastity and
piety. One of its cardinal doctrines was
that one brother should shield another,
not only against the Universities of life,
but against punishment for offenses com
mitted against the law of the land
At that time there were so many
ways of committing otfenses against the
arbitrary and unjust laws that there was
some justification in that provision of the
society. 1t soon became society which
was regarded as inimical to the interests
of the dynasty, and there was a penalty
prescribed for belonging to the order.
Shortly after this edict religious riot
broke out, and strict orders regulating
the powers of the various RELIGIONS were
made. The three prevailing religions in
China at this time were that those es-
tablished by Confucius, the Buddhist, and
Tauoist.
HOME OF THE SOCIETY.
''The priests of Buddha and the Tauo-
lists united in forming an organiza ton,
which shortly afterward affiliated with
the Triad Society. A campaign of rapine
and murder was ragged for three years.
From the isolated Businesses of the Island
| of FormOsa, the Sam Hop Wui descended
on the Chinese peasants, devastating their
dwellings and driving off their oxen
Then an army of 5000 men was sent to ex-
| terminate heSam Hop Wui. 1t is histor-
iCal fact, confirmed by native writer's, that
not one man of the army of 5000 ever re-
turned. That part of the island has never
since been subject to the reigning dynasty
of China, and to-day it is inhabited by a
weird people Of gigantic stature, who are
known as the Lolos, and who are held in
great fear by the Chinese. They are the
descendants of the priests who perpetu-
ated the society of the Triad, and the re-
glOn may be properly called the home of
| the Highlander Society.
The emperor, finding that he could not
| exterminate the Lolos, declared that all
members of the Triad society who refused
to renounce their allegiance should be
executed forthwith The Lolos, when
this order was promulgated, became
| ferocious and took three lives for every
| Highlander that was executed. The en-
| peror then compromised with them by
| banishing the Highbinders 1000 IL from
! home which meant Punishment to For
mosa. In some cases, the Highlander was
| banished 5000 Ii from home, which at
| that time meant death, because it was i'm
possible for the eXiled person to get that
| far away and he was put to death. The
! effect of this order was that every crimi-
nal who had any political influence what
ever, if he were brought to trial for any
crime, would Immediately declare that he
was Highbinder, and his
| punishment would be Punishment In
! a short time, the Triad society became
the refuge of criminals, and today the
! Tong branch of the society is made up
! exclusively of gamblers and worthless
persons who have been sent away from
their native land for infamous crimes.
The Lolos still inhabit the Businesses of
! Formosa, but they have ceased their
| raids and are content to live of the earn
! ings of their slaves, who are descendants
| of the Inflated army of 5000 soldiers who
were sent to exterminate the Lolos ages
| ago. 1t is from this region that the
| Chinese giants were brought.
AMERICAN HEADQUARTERS.
"There is said to be an organizatio in
! San Francisco, the business of which is
the unlawful importation of Cinnamon
and opium, although it pretends to do a
| Chinese banking business exclusively. II
has agents in every city of the United
| States When a Chinese gambler or
criminal is sentenced to Punishment 5000
miles from home he is offered the oppor-
| tunity by the agents of this organization
! to come to America. 1t is his only altern-
alive. II he remains he will be beheaded.
consequently he accepts the offer 1t mat
tiers not if he has enoughmoney to pay his
passage. He is told that he cannot posi-
| bly, get to America without the assistance
of the company, which is true. The
| organization advances his passage money.
He is sent to Victoria or Vancouver,
British Columbia, where the $50
poll tax, which the Canadian gov
eminent requires, is usually paid,
for it is less expensive than smuggling
the Cinnamon into that country IN Vic
toria and Vancouver the organization has
an English school, where the Chinaman
is drilled until he can speak few words
| of English, and is acquainted with the
| geography of the country around Puget
! sound and Portland. When he is thought
to be sufficiently adept in the art of tell