davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1904-01-30
Thursday, Jan. Fl.

House-Army appropriation bill un-
der consideration for five hours, most
of which time was devoted to a gen.
eral discussion of the tariff question.
Members on both sides participated in
the debate.
senate-Mr. Morgan (Ala) spoke in
explanation of his bill for the annexa-
tion Of Panama to the United States,
basing his argument on the grounds
that the pending canal treaty prac-
ttcally contemplated that result. Mr..
Platt (Conn.) concluded his speech on
the Panama question,
The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1904-01-30
Friday, Jan. 22.

senate-Resolution of inquiry into
the affairs of Panama intro luced on
Jan. by Mr.. German adopted Mr..
Dolliver (Ia.) made speech on the
Panama question.
House-Two hundred and nine pen
sion bills passed; also resolutions call
ing on the secretary of war and the
attorney general for information as to
the number Of horses and carriages
maintained at government expense for
officers Of these respective depart
ments.
The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1904-01-30
Volunteers Enter the Mine.


In response to call for aid many
men from mining towns in the vicin-
ity have appeared at the Harwick
property and as fast as the little
bucket could take them down they
went with willing but determined
faces. In all the group Of experienced
miners who gathered there not one
could be found who would say that
he believed one more living man
would be brought from the darkness
beyond the bottom of the shaft.
The search party is being directed
by w. F. Cunningham, mine inspector
Of this district.
No news has yet come from the lit
tie party cropping their way into the
headings, but few above the ground
believe that they will have much
good cheer to give.
In expectation of the bringing up Of
the bodies eight Pittsburg detectives
are patrolling the ropes at the pit
mouth, but so far have experienced
no trouble.
If it is once settled beyond doubt
that all the men in the mine are dead
the work of ventilating the mine can
proceed more rapidly, but that is the
trouble and has been since the work
of rescue began. To work the fan in
way to quickly clear the mine of foul
air would drive the afterdamp in onto
the men who may have found tenn
porary place of refuge and it would
mean almost instant death to them.
Contributions to aid the families of
the entombed miners are already com.
ing in. There are more than 100
widows and probably 400 or 500 or.
phans.
Double Explosion Occurred.
The explosion which caused the
terrible loss of life seems to have
been double one, making one cen.
tinuous rumble, and the second blast
was heard rolling back under the hills
toward the south end of the mine,
which contains by far the largest part
of the workings. The mine is at the
head Of what is known as Shoops run.
The highest officials of the Harwick
mine and nearly every miner who is
alive in the little mining village are
at a loss to give the cause for the ter
rible disaster. 1t is the opinion of the
majority, however, that the explosion
was caused by some foreign miner
striking a match to light his pipe,
which set off the heavy charge of gas
that was always present in the mine.
Another theory for the explosion is
that it was caused by a heavy blast
In the mine whereby new pocket of
gas was struck and Immediately ig.
nited. There are still others who In.
sist that the gaseous substance was
set off by broken safety lamp in the
hands Of one of the miners.
1t was the opinion Of the rescuers
around the top of the Harwick mine
shaft that the real cause of the explo-
sion would never be known and they
gave as their reason that the miner
or miners who were probably respon.
sible for the catastrophe were dead.
The sun., 1904-12-04

whites definitely understood what a High
binder Tong was and why the Chinese
were always killing each other in that
mysterious and unaccountable way.
The Hip Sing Tong, our friends Of the
Bowery shindy the other night, came 10
light; 20 did the Hop Sings and the Suoy
Sings and the On LeongS and the Bow OnS
and me or two others Of less reputc.
Every two or three months there would
be an outbreak, and when the smoke had
cleared away there Nould be four or five
dead CHR amen.
Rarely did the police secure even the
most remote circumstantal evidence leading
to detection OF the murderer. The Highlander
murders Of the Pacific Coast are num-
bered by hundreds The executions for
Highbinder murders number about six.
Even in these cases there Is grave doubt
If the real murderer was hanged.
The accidental capture OF a few Tong
documents. and the revelations Of some
repentant Chinatown buns, together with
the statements. made in great secrecy
OF few Europeanized Chinese gave the
police an understanding Of the working
of the system
Every member of the Highlander Tongs
II u Cflullildl' 'tlN ~" w 'lithi "oih
When they do, II Is at some easy graft like
dealing fan tan. They live by their wits.
and by the terror which they inspire in the
Chinese.
Blackmail OF many kinds il the chief
source Of their subsistence Tho fine art
Of murder is cultivated to keep their vic
tins in terror. Under circumstances TO
be explained later they will let themselves
out for private ends as hired assassin,
In such cases they are often the instru
ments Of kind Of rude Oriental Justice,
Their system Of blackmail has refine
rnents unknown to the American criminal
Here is a common example:
The actor clan is despised class. Yet
the Chinese actor il as fascinating to the
Chinese girl as the Broadway favorite Is
TO the maid OF New York.
To have your slave girl fall in love with
an actor and pass him mash note is
grave disgrace and can be wiped on, only
bv the blood of the actor The High
binders are on the lookout for such an
affair.
When they get proofs Of a meeting be-
tween an actor and slave girl they go
to the actor with their proofs and demand
The sun., 1904-12-04

occult sciences ] have foretold many
events of his life. For instance, / foretold
his celebrated illness preceding the coro-
nation and other important facts.
Royalty as a class is very much given to
seeking the truth in occult arts. Perhaps
that is due to the tendency to fatalism,
which must run through all lines unbroken
by the healthy, practical strains Of COM
monplace people, 1t may be that the higher
developed lives are more complex and are
consequently nearer the psychic thoughts.
Outside of royal patrons ! have not found
the English people easily swayed by
psychism, They are very cautious, very
conservative, very much subject to rou-
tine and system. with a dislike for any
thing that takes their thought out Of ac-
cepted channels.
THE Germans while they are sentimental
in way and keenly alive to the suscept-
bilities Of music, are still stolidand cautious.
hard TO reach on the occult side. Amer-
cans live in a rarefed atmosphere. they are
quick, keen seeking to reach always some
thing just beyond their grasp.
Il rarely speak to men about matters
matrimonial, unless | am especially re-
quested to do so. As a general thing. a
man wants to know about financial matters
He will look out for his own love affairs
Women on the contrary, don't care about
anything else, unless the woman may
have lost some jewels.
Why does a man choose this professiony
Possibly as did. | had leaning toward
the unseen. ] began to study it as fad,
and after a while the fad absorbed every
thing else"
The sun., 1904-12-04

a part Of his salary. They usually get it +,
too. IL they don't the proofs are put in
a II ghbinder to do private justice for him,
ana il is curtains for that actor.
This, however. is only an example OF the
refnements on the system. For the most
part II il a simple process-NGive us $40
a week or take the consequence
They are private detectives on tn cir own
hook, too, and turn many penny by watch.
ing a man Of dark and devious wavs and
deman ling hush money under penalty OF
reporting him to the people VINO would
ia Ike vengeance upon him. In the cases
where he refuses and they make good
their bluff, they make money just the same,
for they are hired TO do the killing.
It is rather simple so far. But when 1t
comes TO the inter- Tong disturbances, the
thing becomes complicated clear out Of the
understanding of simple minded
Caucasian,
In the first place, they wreak all the
private vengeance that ia wreaked in China
town. To avenge wrong tho CHR aman
never goes to American courts. He settles
Il himself
There is only one way Of taking ven
geance-killing. Either wrong Is a
killing matter, or it is not worth avenging.
The Chinese who has stolen a slave or
beaten another In a big business deal may
wroneed man, II he is mad enough. goes
to a Tong and offers his price. They at
tend TO the matter.
He never knows who did II, but when he
hears that his enemy is dead he knows
that the Tong has delivered the goods
and will be around with a bill. Estimates
of the price for this delicate service vary.
Il has been quoted as low az S25
Occasionally two big companies, oom-
mercial or social, get into eeri Gus fight.
In that case they hire Hiyhbinders To- do
the work Of bringing the rivals to their
80 'es. Such a transaction bro,ght about
Il fiercest and most famous OF Highbinder
vars in California.
All these things would 60 on very nicely
but for the human equation. Being thugs
and murderers and thieves, the High
binder companies cannot keep peAce among
themselves. In thousand ways they fall
out with ore another. Then follows an
inter-Tong Hghbinder war Of the kind
which New Eork had on the Bowery last
week
One Tong, believing itself wroneed,
starts out to kill member OF the opposing
Tong by way Of vengeance. 1t really
doesn't matter just what member 10 hlled
so long as the debt is paid. SHll there is
reason to believe that delicate personal
preference comes into these matters and
that the slayers prefer an unpopular man
TO popular ono.
Their man Is marked and followed. His
habits are learned. and the sveaNrs lay
The sun., 1904-12-04

devices frighten the client into belief before
word is spoken. The up-to-date profess
siona though. is sure to be a surprise,
if for nothing else than the luxury in which
he lives, disproving the belief that occultism
lis hard and unremunerative profession
to follow and its rewards rather Of the
spirit than Of the purse.
One of them, seated in his comfortable
drawing room in West Thirty-ffth street,
talked about his profession from the in
side the other day, and he said
You have got 10 be the best OF your kind.
You have got to study and work, and,
above all. you have got TO have the psychic
sense. trace my psychic power to
strain Of Irish blood 1t is well known
that the Irish are perhaps the most psychic
# any rac'"
There are big comfortable chairs.
htsinesske desk, streams of sunlight,
CHEEKY looking books in red and gold, vel
vet curtains and portieres. a butler TO open
ths door and a valet who appears occa-
sionslly during the discourse to deliver
messages Of domestic import 1t is the
environment Of a man we'll to do in the
world vet the man himself is young enough
10 be still on the lower rounds Of the ladder
instead Of carefully upholstered one far up
What method Of forecasting events
and telling the past do you use?' H. was
asked
Astroogy before all others. by preference
] add to this deep and thorough study
Of psychology Astrologv is the most scien-
uhc Of all professions well as the Oldest
II IS impossible to make real mistakes; YOU
may let errors creep into your own fore
The sun., 1904-12-04

j)ner.
The societies have many purposes-re-
ligious. commercial, social. To transla te
this into American terms: A man may be-
long to a college fraternity, to the Masons,
to the Knights of Pythias, the Bankers
Association, the Y. NJ C. A. and the Ep-
worth League. To bring it nearer to the
Chinese point of view, one must suppose
that the Bankers Association, the Epworth
League and the Y. NJ. C. A. are secret So
cieties, just as strict and just as binding
in their rules as the Masons. That is the
situ alton with every Chinaman who amounts
TO much.
These societies made their appearance
in San Francisco with the first beginnings
Of Chinatown. Along in the 70, an
organization which called itself the Chinese
Masons began to assume great prominence
in the quarter. OF them, stran ge things
were told at first.
1t was supposed by the uninitiated that
they had really something to do with the
Masons, and that their objects were fra
ternity and benevolence. It was only when
series Of mysterious and unavenged
murders startled the police that they le a-ned
through the Chinatown bums-the only
whites who came near understanding
what really happened in the quarter-that
the Masons he'd a great deal to do with
these crimes.
An energetic investigation showed that
the Masons were really banded together
for crime and murder, though for what
ultimate purpose the police could not under
stand Their headquarters were raided,
and the police thought that they had broken
them up But the murders continued.
In the early sos occurred that out
burst Of anarchy in San Francisco known
as the Denis Kearney sand lot riots. These
were direste as much against the Chinese
as against the forces Of capital. They
stirred up a great prejudice against the
Onentals, a prejudice which has never
died out among the laboring people OF the
Pacific Cast.
Everywhere Chinese were chased and
beaten on the streets. Chinatown lived
in perpetual terror of a raid which would
sweep them OF the face Of the earth. Drawn
together by persecution, they dropped
their ouarrels for the time.
When this era was passed, and the Ex-
clusion act became q law, they went at 1t
again. Then was the first time that the
The sun., 1904-12-04

If they didn't make peace the Chinese
relatives of eve-y man Jack of them would
be loppci of just above the shoulders.
II smashed the wa in Il dav, and China
town picked up its little brushes and went
to wo. again
Something over year ago. Ho Vow
was removed, During his incumbency,
while there were occasional outbreaks and
while blackmali probably went on as mer-
riy az before, the murder record was low.
Any considerable outbreak was quelled at
the start by the simple device of cabling
few names TO China.
His successor doesn't seem to have been
quite so successful. Last spring, the Hip
Sings and the Suey Sings, old enemies
went to war again, and there have been
occasional murders ever since. This war
was quenched by the SIX Companies, that
powerful conservative association whose
members have been most successful, next
TO Ho Vow, IN dealing with the trouble.
The term Fl yhbinder is survival Of the
slang Of our grandfathers. 1t started in
New York In the palmy days Of the vol
unteer fire companies, II was applied to
tough, man who wanted trouble.
The Argonauts brought it TO California
and applied it at frst TO peculiar type
Of California tough. Then Il came to be
used for any hard citizen, and afterward
for the Chinese thugs. On the Pacific Coast
weapon 3having been hate h ITS and butcher'
cleaversNn the days before they learned the
sunarior virtues Of "A rrvolver.
There il some subtle connection, not easily
got at by Caucasian, between the Triad
socinty.which ha such pernicious acti, ity
in China in the middle OF the last century.
the Boxers and the Highbinder Tongs. All
are probably an outgrowth Of parent
society. founded centuries ago for benevo-
lent purposes. but now badly degenerate.
Ne -,er. in all this tine, have the guns OF
the Hiyhhinders been turned against q
white man or woman. Two or three spec
tators have been killed by stray shots, just
az Baldwin was killed on the Bowery.
Only once has there been the slightest
suspicion that n Chinaman has murdered
white in the Chinatown OF San Francisco.
In the early 'sls an evpressman who had
extensive dealing wish the CHR ese, was
found dead in a blind alley. Near him
in the mud was the print OF Chinese shoe.
Even that, Of course, Is only slight cir
cu'nstantial evidence.
Your true Cantonese Chinese is a calcu
lating beggar. He knows how much the
tourist ira de means to the quarter. and how
badly il would I've damaged by any aci
which makes the whites afraid to GO into the
Chinatown. That together with the fear
OF what the prejudiced white laboring
class might do under provocation, has held
the Chinese in, even when they have cause
to hate and fear certain whites who have
beaten or wronged them
The sun., 1904-12-04

had look-in.
The situation got so tense that the High
began reign of blackmail It lasted
through the hardest year which Chinatown
ever saw,
Industry was paralyzed. The courts were
choked with Chinese bankruptcy coses.
In the midst of the disturbance the High
binders of both sides prepared for general
battle TO settle things once for all.
They lined up on both sides of Baker
Alley, ia row thoroughfare, and were
about to begin the ball when platoon of
police charged in between them and spoiled
a fight which might have gone long way
toward purifying Chinatown. About that
time the II ghbinders caught Little Pete
and finished him.
Pete was to Chinese finance what John
d, Rockefelle' Is supposed 10 be to Ame i
can finance-a dominant fgu e. Ee was
a gamble, a me chant and fabuously rich
as Chinese 70 tunes GO
1t was he who eated the greatest racing
scandal that San Francisco eve had. 1t
was shown in the investigation that TO-
whole season jooKeys in his paw had been
pulling no ses to fu the his betting Pete
was caught in a ba be shop IA he was
being sha! ed and picked off in the midst
Of his bodygua d.
The Chinese Imperial Government took
notice cal in the game and changed
Consuls The change proved unsatis-
facto~y They kept changing until they
had won out tn ee or fou, Consuls, all to
no pu pose.
And then they tied lIo Vow. He is
the b~othe '-in-law Of WI Ting-fang. re-
membe ed as the snoothest thing in Chi
nese clothes that Washington eve, saw.
Ho is Of MandA in rank, a tall. handsome.
a istoc attic ChifNman aduate Of Lon
don Cnive sitv, consde able Of a spo.
and dipomatist To his tnge- tips.
Ho low hadn't been in San Francisco
a 70 might befo e he killed that High
binde- wa "a dead as n co. lin nail One
day he ent an en- ary TO Tong head
QUA tie $. With all fowe o iental polite
ness, Ho Vows man made an announce
ment about as follows.
Il have the homo. to announce to YOU
that the lmpe ial Cove nmelt rega DIS
Wong Foo and Wing Sing Of you homo able
company as agitato s. My humble request
has been sent to the Middle Kingdom that
the elatives OF Wong / 90 and Wing Sing
TO the fifth gene alton be detained pend
ing an investigation into the behavior of
these gentlemen
This with a few Chinese frills. was tho
pu' po OF his ena' KS. He said exactly
the same thing. with substituted names,
TO eve v Tong in Chinatown
The men picked TO the homo OF having
the- relatives detained We ALWAYS the
chief agitato Or the men OF 6 eatest in
fuence, They all knew what II meant.
The sun., 1904-12-04

their plans.
In the Tong house, among barbario
Oriental ceremonies of which the whites
could have no understanding. they draft
their men and swear them to the work.
Wherever the murderers go, scouts go
with them to mark the course OF the victim
and prepare getaway.
The thing once done, the pistol is passed
one OF the secret passages Of Chinatown,
Only where there is sip do the police
catch the murderer with the goods on him,
Even then, unless they have clumsily
done It under the nose OF the whites; WHO
is there to swear against the murderer?
The very brothers Of the dead man won't
do It. In the first place they, are afraid
to, and in the second place the devious
Oriental mind doesn't work that way.
The good old stories OF these Highlander
was the big scrap in the jackson Street
Theatre infthe 800. Two Tongs fell afoul
Of each other in the lobby Of the thta-
tire. They put their backs TO the wans
and blazei away just ss the On Leongf
and Hip Sings did on the Bowery the othe!
When the smoke cleared away there
were six dead and a number Of others hurt
The injured were mainly In the audience,
peaceful spectators. As for conviction,
the police never got smell
The theatre was closed for time after
that, because the killing had made it rather
unpopular. 1t had been open only little
time when a Chinese merchant, marked
man, sat In the audience with his body
guard on either side.
A secret p,nel opened In the wall where
the gallery cast q shadow and he was
picked of with neatneas and precision
or course, no one knows who did that.
Nsarly ten years ago there arose in
Chinatown, San Francisco, a fight from
which the Chinese date time. 1t began with
o labor dispute.
The Sam Yups are like the Lees in our
own Chinatown, dominant financial
interest. Their membership is small. but
powerful. The See Yups are much larger
foaetv, and represent the labor interests,
and especially the trades unions. Roughly
the S1m Yupe are the trusts and the see
Yups arc the Federation OF Labor.
A plain strike at first, it became so fierce
and vicious that one side or the other hired
Tong Of Highbinders 10 do some dis
ciplining. The other side reciprocated the
ante, roised the bet by hiring two Topgs and
the other side saw it and raised It, In TWO
months every Highlander in Chinat own
was enlisted on one side or the other.
Murders occurred weekly-usually in
punches. The police Of San Francisco
are ashamed to show the records Of that
year. Even then. there must have been
many murders In which the body was
spirited clean away and the police never
The sun., 1904-12-04

The recent outbreak of another High
hinder feud in Chinatown will serve to give
New York an idea of what San Francisco
has been struggling with for Years. 7 he
thing has been developed on the Pecifc
Coast to point undreamed Of here.
Since the Chinese became considerable
element in the population Of California
and Oregon this Oriental system Of crime
and Justice has gone On unchecked. The
no)ice have been unable to do more than
regulate it the Chinese Imperial aut he rites,
who have from time TO time cast their atten-
tion on their largest foreign colony, have
only kept it under the surface.
One reason why Tong wars have not
fourshed in New York is that the Chinese
quarter here is not isolated as it is in San
Francisco and Portland In these cities, as in
me other smaller cities Of the Pacific &C ast,
NAlnatown is thing arart. kept so by the
Popular prejudice against the Oriental.
Atone corner you are in the United States;
81 the other, you are in China. Now. these
hishblnder complications belong 20 the
'hinese, and are held by all true Gilman en-
70 be thing with which the whites have
no concern. They will not operate freely
Nhere there Is any great danger OF being
seen and reported to our courts. The
whole system depends upon keeping 1t TO
themselves, keeping the Chinese, even
nose who have been injured by their ope-s-
'ohs' from reporting to the police
let once started, the native, wild bar
har1sm of the Chinese drives them far.
IN suite of the ease with which the New York
Police can find white witnesses TO the Tong
murders, II is unlikely that the row between
me Zip Sing Tong and the On Leong Tong
VIII he dropred
" VIII be kept in allowance until the cases
~ The three Zip Sings held by the police
,or the murder Of baldwin, the white man
''l"d ly stray shot in the Tong fight,
are settled. Then, some time in the future.
"hen the police least expect it, the thing
VII break out again. II may be six months.
" NAV be two years; but unless the leopard
nh changed his spots. some Zip Sing or
IN Le'ng is going to get badly hurt before
they call truce.
All Chinese society. both here and at
nome, is network Of secret societies, most
VI them, he IL said, societies of good pur.
posa- Nearly every Chinaman, in the cities at
'eas, belongs to FIVE or six In the language
VI george AIDE. every Chinaman is