Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-04-20
Murderous Work of Highbinders in
Fresno, California.
THREE DEAD AND TWO WOUNDED
the Police Capture Nine of the
Desperate Thugs.
ORIGIN OF THE TROUBLE

! FRESNO, Cal, April 2O.-A fight that has
| been expected for some days broke out in
| Chinatown early today, and as a result
| three Mongolians occupy slabs in the
morgue, two more are at the county hos
pital mortally wounded and nine are in the
county Jail
The fight is q factionaI one between the
Bing kung Tonss and the Suey On Tongs.
The officers have anticipated an outbreak
for some time, it was known that large
numbers of hatchetmen had arrived here
| from SaT Francisco, but so cunning were
their plans that not an officer was close
enough to witness the opening of the battle
The Chinese had decOyed the policemen on
duty in that district to various quarters re-
mote from the scene of their intended on
| Slaught.
| Police on the Scene,
| Upon hearing the first shot policeman
who was a block away ran 20 the spot
where he saw two Cinnamon shooting at
the body of third, who lay at their ieet.
Further up the alley were at least a dozen
| Cinnamon running about and shooting at
each other. AS the policeman ran up an
| alley a Chnaman passed him, pursued by a
| highbinder. The fugitive made for Il door
way, but was dropped the steps by a
bullet from the highbinder's gun which
struck him in the head, killing him in
stantly
The policeman captured the murderer
who gave his name Wong Duck. An
other policeman. who was running to the
scene of the shooting. saw highbinder
run up TO a Chinaman named Chin Chi and
deliberately fire two shots at him, killing
him instantly.
The murderer Started to run and the po-
liceman shot him. The Chinaman is now q
the hospital, not expected to live.
More Trouble Expected.
The fight created much excitement, and
more trouble is feared in Chinatown. 1t is
remarkable that there Were no more vic
tins, fifty shots were fired. At one time
four Chinese highb;nders were standing al
a street corner discharging their revolvers
as fast as possible at the entrance of a
stairway leading to a room over the store
of the King Yick Company Only the
prompt action of the officers prevented
more serious riOting.
After quiet had been restored a raid on the
suspected haunts of the highbinders was
made, and in one place weTe found three
coats of mail and a small arsenal of re-
vOlvers, hatchets and knives. Nine
were arrested on suspicion. Three were
charged with vagrancy and three with
murder. One of them had a 45-caliber
pistol, five boxes of cartridges and pair
of brass knuckles on him a the time of his
arrest.
Three of the victims have been identified.
ONc Is All ldi d NtSctfIDlt ptuuttT ne
was probably shot by accident. One Of the
dead is Chin Chez, a well-known high
binder, and another IS Lee On Tong, ped
dler Their bodies present horrible spec
tacle, most of the fatal wounds having
been inflicted at close range.
Origin of the Trouble.
The trouble which led to the murders
commenced with the conviction of Tai
Choy, who was yesterday removed to San
Quentin to serve a ten years sentence for
murder in the second degree. The local
Tongs were sharply divided on the issue.
The matter was rendered more acute when
Gee Wing, who had evidently sold some
property on China alley for 5000, fled from
the state to escape his creditors. num-
ber of laborers and others, to whom he
owed sums ranging from $50 to $3.50, insu-
tuted criminal proceedings. Meanwhile the
hghbindcrs had taken the matter up, and
il is believed that one of their objects was
to blackmail Gee Wing or TO bring about
forcible settlement of the laborers' claims.