The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-02-14
Chinese Hui Offers Taylor Fourteen Hundred
Dollars a Week for Protection
and Monopoly.


Fourteen hundred dollars week, for
every week, has been offered A. P. Tay-
lor, chief of the detective bureau, to
allow a certain Chinese hui to open
gambling games under his protection in
the city of Honolulu and to guarantee
them a monopoly of the gambling busi-
ness This offer was made during the
past two weeks, the proposal Of the
bribe offerers being that they were to
be allowed to open two pakapio banks
now, for the protection of which Taylor
was to be paid one hundred dollars
day. payment to be made every night
after the lottery drawings Later,
within a few days, two che-fa banks
Were to be established, the price of pro-
lection for these to be four hundred
dollars a week, payable at the end of
every three days, and two fan-tan
games. for which to be conveniently
blind the head of the detective force
would receive three hundred dollars
week. making a grand total. as soon
as the gambling business of the hui
was flourishing through the suppression
of all the independent gambling houses.
OF fourteen hundred dollars every
week
In addition to this amount of money
the hui offered to supply Taylor with
list of all the gambling houses and
games in Honolulu and the vicinity and
put at his disposal a force of Chinese
detectives, whose business it would be
10 ferret out all the games being run
outside of the ring and to act as in
formers in securing the arrest and con-
viction of the players and proprietors
of these games. This was to serve
double purpose, to allow Taylor to
make good in his crusade against
lhe gamblers for the eyes of the public
and also to force out of business any
opposition to the hui's banks and
tables.
According to the proposition made by
the Chinese go-between, the game of
pakapio was to have opened last night
and the amount of hush money for the
first three days, three hundred dollars,
was to be paid to Taylor on Saturday
night. AS a proof that business was
meant the go-between advanced to
Taylor on Saturday night last fifty dol
lars in gold, or one-nalf of the first
days receipts. This was to bind the
bargain.
To these proposals and to the accep-
1ance of the advance of fifty dollars
OF the bribe money Taylor submitted,
acting under the advice of Attorney
General Peters, Sheriff Iaukea, w. A
Kinney and Walter G. Smith, to whom
every move made in the whole pro-
ceeding was submitted. The intention
has been TO see to what lengths the
audacity of the Chinese gamblers of
Honolulu would carry them in their
efforts to prevent justice and bribe the
public officials of the community. Now,
still acting under the advice of his
chief and friends, Taylor has resolved
to expose the conspiracy and the at
tempts made to seduce him through the
offers of large sums of money from the
path of his duty, bribes offered with
the assurance that hitherto other Off
cials had accepted equally large sums
of money under the same conditions.
The first advances came to him
through a newspaper friend. then
through a member OF his family, In
both instances the movement being
made in such a way that while a lot
was intimated nothing discriminating
was actually said. These advances
We're reported by Taylor to the ones
mentioned above and he was advised, |
as stated, to carry the matter as far
as ii would go.
Acting on this advice he had a meet |
ing arranged being taken to the store |
OF Yuen Chong. on King street, between \
Maunakea and Smith streets, where he |
was introduced to Lee Tong and Lee
Let. two of the leading Chinese mer.
chants and business men of the city.
After some desultory talk Lee Tong
withdrew leaving Taylor and Lee Let
alone. Then the direct bribe was Of
fered, Taylor pretending to fall in with
the scheme of the briber. Lee Let ad-
mitted that he had been familiar with
the big gambling hui which had before
operated in the city, naming the con-
ditions under which they had before
been protected some of the conditions
being that the bribed official had not
only to let the games run free of mo-
leStation, but was pledged to use his
influence with the prosecuting attorney
and the magistrate to let any protect
ed gamblers of as lightly as possible,
TO pay their fines and legal expenses
out of the protection fund and to pay