The San Francisco call., 1909-11-25
HIGH CHINESE
INDICTED FOR
TONG MURDERS
President of On Yicks and Editor
of Chinese Free Press to
Face Trial
Grand Jury Takes Drastic Ac-
ton to Prevent Further Ac=
tivity of Hatchetmen

tIOllAlCS HSSlGiQdy " DIliiS W OH Gnu
the tong war now raging in Chinatown
The grand jury held another session
and examined several additional wit
nesses. with the result that indictments
We're returned against six Chinese, in
cluding two of the most prominent
Chinese in this country
Gee Hong On, president of the On
Yiek tong. which is engaged in the
murderous warfare with the Yee
family, and Tong Hing Chong, head of
Masons, editor of the Chinese Daily
Free Press and right hand man of the
noted revolutionist, DR.. Sun Yat Sen,
were the two local notables against
whom true bills were returned. The
formal charge against them was that
they were accessories to the murder
of Yee Fun Wah, in that they were
cognizant of and ordered the killing.
DIRECT CHARGE OF MURDER
Similar accusations were made in in
dictments returned against Lee SUIT.
interpreter for the On Yick tong, and
Chun Lit treasurer of the tong, who
are also well known in Chinatown.
The other indictments were against
Buck Hew, alias All Joe, and Gin You.
and contained the direct charge of
murder. Buck Hew, Gin You and Lee
sat are already under arrest on war
rants issued from the police court
charging them with the murder of Yee
Fun Wah.
The news of the grand jury's action,
especially with reference to Tong
King Chong and Gee Hong On, caused
a sensation in Chinatown last night.
The prominence of the men and the
fact that an order of the superior court
was made denying them bail if ar
rested was sufficient to set the COM
munity in an uproar. A meeting of
the Chinese Six companies was hur-
riedly called last night and the situa-
ton was the subject of discussion
that lasted until a late hour.
CONSUL GENERAL PRESENT
Both the Chinese consul general and
the vice consul were present at the
meeting of the Six Companies, as were
Attorneys Carroll Cook and Porter
Ashe, representing the Yee family. and
Attorney Grant Carpenter, representing
the On Yicks. An attempt was made
TO devise some means of bringing hos
ulities between the warning factions
to an end, but final settlement was
Yicks
1t was explained that the On Yicks
were not represented because of their
belief that secret warrants had been
issued for the arrest of number of
their members on trumped up charges
and their fear that an attempt would
be made to take any On Yick who
might appear into custody on a John
Doe warrant
A representative of the Yee family.
authorized to speak for his side, de-
elared that the Yees were willing and
ready TO enter into q peace pact and
would like to hear what terms the On
ficks would be willing to offer. Attor-
ney Grant Carpenter was asked by the
attorney for the Yees to see his clients
and secure from them a statement in
writing setting forth what they would
countenance in the way of a settle
ment He promised to do so, and an
adjournment was taken until FRIDAY
night. when this proposal will be re-
eeived and considered.
OF the six men indicted only Buck
Hew, Gin You and Lee Sut are under
arrest and they have been in iail for
several days on police court warrants
charging them with the murder of Yee
run Wah. Warrants sworn to by Yee
Fun, charging Tong King Chong and
Gee Hong On with murder have also
oeen out for several days. but these
two men have remained in hiding and
have avoided every effort made to ar
rest them. Chun Lit, the treasurer of
the On flck tong, received the news of
the action taken by the grand iury
against him in time to make his es
cape and is also in hiding
INVESTIGATIONS Only BEGUN
The Investigations of the grand iprv
have only begun, for all the inSict,
ments returned yesterday related to
single case-the killing of Yee Fun
Wah November 2, which was the first
of the series of tong was murders. II
was a bad day for the On Yicks. for
all the men against whom action was
taken are connected with that tong.
ana the fees were naturally jubilant.
AT. the same time that the On Yicks
were indicted by the grand jury Yee
YIN, member of the Yee family. was
set free by Police Judge Shortall. who
dismissed the case against him based
on warrant charging him with the
murder of Ow Yung Gum November 10
The dismissal was ordered on motion
of Attorney John J. Greeley on the
ground that there was insufficient evil
dence to warrant the holding of Yee
Vim for trial
Judge Shortall reviewed the evidence
and declared the testimony of Policeman
Saemann, who arrested the defendant.
was absolutely worthless. Saemann
admitted that at no time was he within
100 feet of the man who fired the fatal
shot.
The fact that Attorney Carpenter
has threatened to take this case be-
fore the grand jury" asserted the
judge. will not intimidate me into
doing what / do NOT consider my duty.
and / may say that the district attor-
ney agrees with me that there is no
case against the defendant here
Carpenter, who is the attorney for
the On Yicks. was special prosecutor
IN the case of Yee YIN He declared
that wholesale arrests of On Yicks
were being made without evidence to
support the charges against them.
Judge Shortall himself signed the war
rants for the arrest of Tong King
Chong, Gee Hong On and Lee Sut with
out the complaints having been sane
toned by the district attorneys office
The cases of Buck Hew and Gin You
growing out of the warrants against
them Were put over by Judge Deasy
for similar reason. The case of Yee
Wing, charged with assault with a
deadly weapon on complaint of Paul
Schmidt of Morse's patrol, was dis
missed by Judge Deasy.
Ell Paso Feels Tong War