The San Francisco call., 1897-02-02


CHINESE QUARrER-M. F. T., City There has
been census of the inhabitants of the
Chinese quarter of San Francisco for several
years, but IL is estimated that the population
there at this time is between Is, 900 and
20,0U0
TRADEMARK. w, City. If you wish to
protect an article of commerce, avail yourself
of the trademark law. The Government fee
for securing trademark is $25. Then there
is the fee OF an attorney who would have to Sc
cure it for you.
LANDS IN SAN JoAoUIN-Reader, City. If you
will write to the United States Land Office in
Stockton, the officer n charge will for 81, send
you plat OF eli the Government land in San
Joaquin County and all such information as
you may desire.
SECOND PAPERs-A.iB., City. When analien ap-
plies for his second papers his witnesses must
be citizens of the United States, but the law
does not require that they shall be property
owners. They must have the knowledge that
the applicant has resided in the United States
the required length of time 10 entitle him TO
his papers.
HIGHBNDER-X. 7. T., City. The latest die
tionaries say that "highbinder is q slang term
OF no special meaning" 1t was probably used
in the sense of high as high in "high links" or
"high old time," and "binder'' is probably a
transition from "bender," which was used to
describe going on a spree. In the general
acceptation 1T Is used to desi gnate bold row.
STEERING rowdy such as in California is desip-
mated as hoodlum. The Century Dictionary
says: "Highbinders, so called, were known
in New York, Baltimore and other cities be-
fore 1S49. In that year and subsequently,
they became familiar in California. At present
the name is used only as 10 members of a
Chinese secret society, band or gang, said to
exist in California and other parts of the
United States, associated for the purpose of
blackmailing and even for assassination in
The interest and pay of societies or indt-
viduals." The dictionary then quotes the
following from the New York Semi-weekly
Tribune of May 20, 1887, 10 show the fl rst nea
OF the word in the sense described:
Suey Gum, the Chinese woman. was fn.1Iv 70
leased from the embezzlement charge broneht
against her by the high binders.
The term highbinder may. have been in use
in New York, Baltimore and other Eastern
cities prior TO 1S49, but in the early davs of
California 1T was unknown, aud in none of the
histories oil any rowdyism in 1S49 and few
years thereafter does the term appear.
An extract from The testimony taken before
the joint SPECIAL committee that held its in
yesIlgatlon In the Palace Hotel in this City in
1876, in October, shows that the term was
used as applied to Chinese prior TO the date of
the Tribune extract quoted. On the Goth OF
october Thomas Il. King. merchant, testified
auo used the Woid highbinder, as appears
rom the following, on page "a OF the repert OF
the committee:
What do you mean by "highblnder?" asked
Sena. or Sargent.
mean men who are employe ed by the Chinese
companies here TO hound and spy upou the hi
hese ana pursue them. have often heard i. ap-
pied 10 bad men: Sometimes they are employ ed
to assassin ate Chinese. II . Chinamap has broken
contract and attempts TO leave san Francisco he
VIII oe hnally stopped at the steamer on the day
OF saliing by the large fotce Of the companys high
plnders who can always be seen guarding them.
The use OF the word ,highbnder applied to
Chinese in San francisco goes back further
than that. In 1869 or 10 Delos Woodruff,
then special in Chinatown, in later years
County Judgs OF Josephine County, Or, was
witness in the Police Court in case when he
declared that "a lot of highbinders came
around" and being asked by the Judge to ex-
plain that term, said that it was name that
was given 10 Chinese rowdies robbers and
murderers-men who wore stiff fiai-rimmed
black hats and were known as "hatchet-men''
among the Chinese. The term had been in
use in the Chinese quarter by officers for some
time before that.
Highbinder has also been used in England
to designate an athlete, such as a circus tum-
bier and jumper. The term WAS also applied
to horses that jump hurdles and bitches, or
steeplechas ers.