The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-07-01
A Chinese Vendetta.
~~~~~~~

THE Hop Sing Tong and the Bing
Kung Tong were fighting, in their
velvet-footed fashion, in the streets and
alleys of the Chinese quarters Such
is the mold of the celestial mind, those
same streets and alleys were empty to
hollow ness, and the sergeant, as he
tramped his round, wished with, bit
ter oath that the hatchetmen would
come out and batter each other out of
life like lnen of thicker blood.
The orange banner of the Bling Kung
Tong, outlined against the evening sky,
dropped its silken triangle sullenly
against it's staff high above the red
and green fortress of brick in which
its henchmen hived. A stones throw
away, across narrow alley and an I'M
even surface of huddled roofs, the yell
low dragon of the Hop Sing Tong
tapped lazy defiance, lifted by va
grant zephyr which drjfted up oppress-
i've with the unclassihed odors of the
street. The golden sun sank behind
the gate, and the lights blinked in the
shops and glared from the windows.
The appearance of a fitting Chinaman,
now and then, emphasized the warning
which had long before been carried to
the temple and kitchen, that death
was skul]<ing in the shadows, and that
fear was everywhere. Everywhere eX
cept in the clubhouse of the Hop Sing
Tong. There delayed triumphal feast
was in noisy progress. A Bing Kung
son of a dog had been killed, and the he
roes of the slaughter were being suit
ably congratulated.
For months these Hop Sings had lost
ground before the Bing Kungs. 1t was
not matter of courage, but of COM
merce. The clientage and wealth of
the Bing kung Tong had steadily in
creased under the more active and ag
gressive system Of blacklnail promoted
by it's elders. If opulence wasted their
courage, it sharpened their cunning
the ether was always to be had for the
buying, and in cheap market. With
the growth Of riches more and more
rept.lian high 1jndels had been engaged
to protect the property Of the Tong and
TO carry the Ratchet against the reIent-
less assassin Of the Hop Sing faction,
who chafed Under the strengthening
supremacy OF rlleir rivals and grew thin
and sallow under the growing rewards
posted ior their preca:ious lives.
Then the Bing Kings became ar
rogant, and the slu1nberiog feud bed
broken OH On one cloudy evening,
when yney Foo and two companions
met ii LIN strol.ipg careless]y near the
Bing hung habitations, and volleyed
their pistols after him as he traiied his
queue in terror from the spot. With
praiseworthy enterprise, Ii Din, with
Leu suey and Lucy Sing Tie, promptly
sailed out of convenient cellar-way,
and, slipping across the alley to Foo's
brothers "joint," silently cracked Lucy
Ning's skull with muffled iron bar
and planted sharp little Ratchet in his
quivering neck.
i Chinatown in flash had been thrown
anto a wild uproar, which as quickly
had subsidized into a restless quiet that
bodied i'll for peace and told of hasty
councils at the headquarters, of fright
cned merchants barring doors, and of
nervous arnling for the patient ambus-
cade or the sudden fray. The sergeant
and his squad investigated, but had dis
covered nothing. The Bop Sings had
barricaded their doors for week, while
the furious hatchetmen of the Bing
Kung Tong nightly ranged the streets,
armed cap-a-pie, daring their enemies
been an industrious furnishing up of
weapons and armor, of dirks and
hatchets and daggers, of tiny cleavers
and heavy pistols and queer, handle
less, "sawed-ofr' shotguns, and of red
r;bboned lengths of gas-pipe, all nicely
arrangeable in capacious sleeves. The
pawnshops had been emrtied of their
owners rusting weapons. There had
been examining of doors and practic-
ing Of signals. During, the days,
ominous quiet had reigned over empty
streets, while su'len, staggering fight
ing men thronged to their household al
..tars, burning punks and candles before
K the great war-god, Kwan Chung-the
Roland and st. George of Chinese cliy-
alry-paying their blood-money iber-
ally for blessings, and kowtowing,
and whining prayers to all the josses OF
their ancient faith. -, 5 81 2 {.
"A i But now an air of expectancy was
abroad, and in the Hop Sing Tong the
(. music and revelry told of relaxed vigi-
+ lance and contempt for their foes. Al
the banquet-board, clients and retain.
! ers, gorged with food, were fercely
1. shouting and gesticulatin counting
In their after-dinner game of odd-or.
1 even. The room was filled with babel
of Il high-pitched voices. The whining
falsetto of the singer was rising now
and again into a shrek Of some indie.
scribable emotion as his voice took its
part in the orchestra's Wagnerian din
S5or rivaled the droning fiddle in solo;
there was the intermitten bang Of brass
the shrilling Of flutes and the rumbline
81 rattle Of the drum. Cigar and pipe
a ming lied their smoke with the clouds
K that drifted in from the joss altar