The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-05-20

LEE sAR BOWS DEsFERATE FIGHT.
was tie chief adviser of the Ok Gong
Tong, q society very popular at that time.
His plot to raise money was as follows:
Certain n bers of the tong were to
enter the playhouse on a certain night
when another rival society was to have a
festival. These picked men were to take
seats in the gallery, and when the house
became well filled they were ordered to
throw some lighted papers saturated with
Oil down upon the heads of the audience
seated below in the main portion Of the
auditorium. Immediately this was done
the others were to give an alarm of fire.
He explained that The result would be a
stampede and a general rush for the front
door The Ratchet men were to be sta
toned near that exit and carefully watch
for the men with whom the tong had to
deal. Incidentally those who we're capable
of good light fingered work were to pick
the pockets of the frightened people who
were trying to escape the flames.
The scheme worked beyond expectation.
As soon as the burning paper was thrown
from the gallery there was a wild rush for
the front door, the only exit from the
building. Leading from the theater prop
er was a long and somewhat narrow hall
way fully 40 feet in length, and at the
auditorium end of this passage were a pair
of heavy wooden swinging DOORS After
the first few people who we're seated or
standing near the doors had made their es-
cape the springs with which the big doors
were kept closed recoiled, and they few
back into the faces of the next portion of
the surging mob. With a fury born of
desperation they forced the doors from their
hinges and threw them into the hallway,
telling to the floor those who had escaped
ahead of them. The result was a bridge
over which the rest rushed, trampling the
very lives ont of the unfortunate creatures
who were IN the narrow death trap ahead
of them.
There was no public morgue in those
days, and it was the custom to farm out
the privilege of caring for the dead to
some ~enterprising undertaken. When that
official arrived at the scene of the disaster,
he found IS cold, repulsipe bodies laid out
on the sidewalk, and all had been robbed
of their valuables.
The job had been done in a most careful,
w-orkmanlike manner, and the Ok Gong
Tong was avenged. When the history Of
the highbinders in this city is put into
types, it will record a sanguinary tale that
lulGuU well [kIk WILL any VI AK S1OUE
some stories of Edgar Allan Poe or other
clever writers of fiction who have depend
ed upon imagination for their material.
The heroic stand made by Lee Sar Bow
in Cum Cook alley when he was pursued
by his many enemies from n of the
buildings facing ON that narrow thorough
fare is worthy OF mention.
Bow was one of the boldest of fighters
ever known in the Chinese quarter. He
declared to his dying day that he had new
er taken a human life unless he was con-
WINGED that the act was necessary to save
his own.
On this particular occasion Bow had
been wanted for some months by members
of a rival tong. He had been in hiding
in one of the flash houses in the alley for
several days, protected by the woman who
remained true to him una the end came.
A careful watch was kept on the house
day and night by his enemies.
Finally, through lack of provisions,
Bow was Obliged to make a trip to the
shops to replenish the larder. He had
scarcely reached the second dark landing
of the crooked stairway leading from his
quarters on the top floor when the sharp
crack OF a revolver and the whiz OF a bull
let told him that he was discovered.
Bow flew to the street, for experience
had taught him that i5 was useless to
fight highbinders in the dark On his way
to the street he loosened his six shooter
from it's fastenings under his jacket and
prepared TO sell his life as dearly as posi-
BILE.
No sooner had he stepped into the open
snan batteries were opened on him rom
ali sides Never did man make a holder
stand. With his six shooter resting across
his arm, that he might get a more steady
aim. this heather stood as firm as a rock
and never turned a hair. His enemies
were steadily peppering him from all
points of the compass, but he remained as
calm as if he were taking a quiet observa-
tion Of the sky in search OF some 1ndlca-
ton of q change in the weather. ne .urn-
Cd deliberately from right to left while his
six shooter pt splitting away. The police
soon took 4 hSzMin the game. but not