The Washington bee., 1899-06-24
chinatown WHITE DEVL"
Lieut. VIM Price of the San
Francisco Police Force Hon.
ored With That Name.
DESCRIBES HIS WORK.
Never Fights Highbinders Twice inthe
Same Way-Secret Signals Travel
Ahead of Officers and Birds Fit.

man 10 to Mako q Rush-Dangsr Al
ny Cords or springs-TrsaeherousR Roof
Fighting.
Lieut.. William Price Of the San
Francisco police force has been fight
ing the 'hatchetmen" of Chinatown in
that city for ten years. He has thus
described his work and that of his
enemies:
The only way to fight a pack of de-
mons is to be demon yourself, 1
guess. Ten years ago the highbinders
called me their white devil" LII there
is anything In a name, all right. |
would rather have them believe / am
q devil than an angel.
How do l fight highbinders? Never
twice in the same way. Ii you set
trap for a hatchetman and he gets
caught in it you will never bag anoth-
er one that way. II there were l 500
highhinders in the quarter everyone
would know it in less than five min
utes. When / walk down kearney
street and up toward Chinatown these
men have signalmen who carry the
news on ahead of me, just as If some
one had my picture on a banner going
on in advance. And these signals trav-
ell like a flash. A certain wave OF
the hand goes from block to block and
these hands are well paid, too.
But if they should fail in their duty
and some highlander should be caught
redbanded all the punk sticks n
Chinatown could not save the er-fng
| signalman. A price would be placed
| on his head before an hour.
Resides this system thsre are secret
wires and alarms leading to attics and
| underground dens where the highbind-
ers hold their meetings. remember a
| big raid we made one midnight in
| Ross Alley. We had located twenty
| hatchetmen in a deep cellar, but the
! next thing was to get them handcuffed.
/ knew we had the right men and that
signals were being used. Little Pete"
| had Just been murdered and over his
| grave vengeance had been sworn. Our
only hope was to reach the signals or
| wires. A block distant from the den
was Chinese butcher, on the street
| corner, and his stall was open so he
could look in three directions. He had
| a suspicious look whenever / came
about and always began to cut up
meat. We watched him. He always
went to the same block and began cut
ting Two minutes before the raid L
jumped around the street corner and
into his stall. He moved toward the
block, but clicked a gun in his face.
1t was not a block at all,-simply a
board rounded to look like one, and
the slightest weight upon il would
press Il button below and ring the high
binders hell block away. / clipped
the wire carefully, handcuffed my man
to an iron railing outside and soon had
a wagon load of men from Ross alley
on the way to the central police STA
ton. They were murderous looking
fellows. but we covered them all with
guns as soon as the door was opened.
The only safe way of getting high
binder is to make a rush. He always
has six OF eight doors at his disposal.
besides secret hiding places. blind
doors and windows. l have known
some of them to leap into dumb
waiter or secret elevator and shoot up
to the attic and jump through hole
in the roof All this in few seconds.
Right here is the danger in hunting
the highhinder A policeman is liable
TO step upon concealed trap door IN
the hallway or the rooms of the build
ing and fall into some dark. foul base
ment twenty feet below. We have to
look cut for this when we do the rush
act" Not many weeks ago Tom Nay
lor was pursuing a desperate fellow
through an old lodging house on
Stockton street. and was just about to
grab him by the ''pigtair' when the
highbinder ran up trick ladder to
hole in the roof Tom followed him
and when near the top of the criminal
pulled out a nail. jerked a wire and
Naylor fell twenty feet to the floor.
while his man ran out over the roof.
Naylor then had to give it up.
The roof fighting is the most treach-
erous of all in raiding highbinders-
man is good target in such place,
and it is impossible to tell where the
shot was fired. But that isn't all.
On all these roofs there are trap doors.
An officer is liable to step on one ut
any minute, while the hatchetmen
know them all at glance. 1t is a
bad thing to fall through these doors.
You don't know where or how far you
are going to journey, nor just what
kind of company you're going to find
at the bottom. The doors are opera
ted by cords or springs.
l nave SurprlSeu mdHy gang Dy
sliding down a rope right into their
midst. Anything sudden is always
best. Sometimes a shot fired above
: their heads the moment you enter the
room will have the desired effect. You
must show them right from the start
that you mean business. Sometimes
squad can surprise the guards and
lookouts by jumping out of carriages
, before the door or from the opposite
side of a crowded street car.
When a highbinders' society meets
to sci prices upon mems heads and de
termiIe which among them shall dc
the deed the utmost caution is oh
served. II their wires are clipped
they are still safe. AT least three
guards stand near the entrance. tive
} of them on the opposite side of the
street. At the approach of an Officer
the men inside scatter or begin playing
dominoes. The bylaws and the bow
with the "black button" are put in
chute and sent above or below
where some man is always in readi
poSS IN racoivo tborn When all iS O11ipt