The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-08-08
SHOT ~ CHINESE THEATRE
Three Killed in New York City's
Celestial Quarter.
Rivalry Retween Two Secret societies Of
Cninamen the Cause OF the
Trouble.

were killed and possibly score
wounded with bullets in the Chinese
Theatre at Z Doyers street at night
The Hip Sing Tong league of so-calied
reform ers. of whom Mock Duck is
leader. fired upon the On Leong longs,
of whom Tom Lee is leader. Mock
Duck. who has been figuring in the
courts and police cases for months,
was arrested Two Of the On Leong
longs charged him with engineering
the slaughter,
The trouble was started with the
firing of some big fire crackers near
the stage of the theatre, which was
crowded by 400 Cinnamon. 1t was
quelled by the appearance Of reserves
| from the downtown police precincts.
Pistols We're freely used, but how
many were actually injured III the af-
fray could not be ascertained. owing
TO the fact that as soon as the police
appeared on the scene the participants
fled
The theatre was damned when the
firing began. A very popular Celestial
drama was being played. BY some
maneuvring it had come about that
the members of the Hip Sing Tong
League occupied the front and the rear
seats, while the On Leong Tongs We're
in the body of the theatre.
Shortly after 10 O'clock, while the
seventh act of the drama was ON, the
play was interrupted by the explosion
of two punches of giant fire crackers
little to the left Of the stage. Immedi-
alsly the entire audience was in q
panic. A rush was made for the doors.
simultaneously with the explosion
Of the fire crackers the Hip Sing
Tongs sprang up at the front and rear
of the theatre, and, drawing revolvers
of large calibre, the favorite weapon
of the Westernized Cinnamon, barred
the exit and retreat of the On Leong
longs.
The next moment there was a battle
on in the theatre. Shots rang out from
both sides until the place was envel-
oped in dense clouds Of powder smoke,
through which came shouts, yells and
curses.
The two rival factions clenched and
for ten minutes before the police ar
rived upon the scene the theatre was
full of the CLEAN of knives and the
nashes of revolver fire. The rioting
soon spread, too to the streets, which
The clamor of the fight awakened
all the Bowery from Chatham Square
to Houston street. The shots of the
battle stirred the sleeping reserves of
the Elizabeth street station even be-
fore the policemen on post could reach
the scene of the fray.
The moment the alarm was given
and the police precincts informed OF
In IN
town. reserves were hurried from all
sections, and in half an hour Mott.
Peli and Doyers streets we're full of
police. The Cinnamon, at the first
sign of the laws interference, mad fed
t their homes, carrying with them
those who were more or less injured.
In the theatre, however, the police
found four men unconscious Oh the
floor. The seats. curtains and scenery
were riddled with lead. The floor was
Uttered with pigtails, pistols hats.
coats and debris which had been shot
from the ceiling and walls. In this
pile lay the four unconscious men,
These were attended by doctors and
hurried by two ambulances TO the Hud-
son Street Hospital
All of the four men were alive when
picked up, but two died on the way to
the hospital; a third died soon after
his arrival The dead were: Lee Yuck,
Lee Yee Sing and Yu Yuck.
The motive for the whole affair, ac-
cording to Gin Yum, who told the po-
lice he was the secretary of the On
Leong Tongs was the jealousy exist
ing between the rival factions of Chi
natown Their hatred, he said, had
been growing for years. He said that
recently it had been accentuated by the
fact that the On Leong Tongs had tes-
tilted against Mock Duck and his fol-
lowers in a gambling case. Gin Yum
told Captain Titus that Mock Duck
personally had been. responsible for
the posting Of the Hip Sing Tongs at
| the front and rear of the theatre, and
also that the fire crackers had been the
pre-arranged signal for the battle to
| begin