The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-12-31
WHY A CH|NAMAN
PAID DEATH
PENALTY
Mystery of the Murder of Wong
FOok on Steamer Korea
Is Solved.
HELPED SLAVE GIRL ESCAPE
Slayer, Who Is in Oahu Prison,
Believed to Be Official
Executioner.
HELPED SLAVE GIRL ESCAPE

Shrouded in mystery, made doubly
puzzling by the apparent lack of any
motive, the cause for the murder of
| Wong Fook on board of the Pacific
Mail liner Korea the day before tina
steamer rea he'd Honolulu on its recent
voyage to the Orient from Sar Fran.
cisco, has now been unearthed as Il re-
suit of sensational raid in San Fran.
csco's Chinatown on the night of De-
cember II.
In broad daylight, on the crowded
Storage deck of the Korea, Wong Fook
was shot three times and another China
man wounded, by Lee Hing Jou,
Young Chinaman well known as a high
binder of one of the tongs of the Bay
City. Apparently the killing was the
result of quarrel over a game of poker,
but in reality it was at the orders of
the tong which is now reported to have
employed Lee Hong Jou as its official
executioner.
In the greatest raid ever carried out
in San Francisco, in which over one
hundred federal officers and municipal
police took part, led by United
States District Attorney McNab, stsel
doors were battered down, and fom
story brick house at No. l6 Portola
alley was taken by storm.
Five Chinese slave girls were cap
tured, as well as many inmates This
raid was planned and carried out as the
result of information obtained from two
widely separated quarters. First, n
confession by an escaped slave girl as
to conditions in Chinatown; second, the
address of the mysterious brick house
in Portola alley sent to San Francisco
by The Advertiser, which secured the
} number from United States Marshal
lIendry of Honolulu the day that Lee
Hing Jou was arrested by him for the
murder of Wong Fook. The address
was sent by wireless in n dispatch
The girl who gave information was
zee Nee Ho, whose escape from slavery
was made with the assistance of Wong
Fook. But when his part in the affair
was discovered by his countrymen he
: was marked for slaughter. Knowing
I this he gathered up his wealth, some
6 $500, and fed secretly for China on
the Korea.
V But the vengeful tong, whose slave
It girl had been rescued by Wong Fook
/. learned at the last moment of his flight
anu utIdlltu IItt mug JOu 10 1DllON
IL and take toll of his life, not only in
\. revenge, but also as a good business
,e move, one which would prevent other
a lovers of slave girls from assisting
m them to escape from the gaudy prison
IL cells where they are kept Gagged in tn,
vice dens of the Oriental underworld.
But Wong Fook was cautious a
~ first. He knew the ways of the tong
ST and feared that even on the bosom o.
a the broad Pacific his life was in dan
L. ger and so he kept himself secluded dur
10 ing the early days of passage. Blu
when six days had passed and Diamond
Dr. Head was almost in sight he felt con
N fident that he had eluded his pursuer
n and mingled with his fellow passengers
n Then it was that while playing
ID game of cards one of the players, nance
Lee Hing Jou, suddenly got into rage
called Wong Fook some vile names AM
then suddenly disappeared. But he re
ie turned almost Immediately and opene,
u u, fire with a revolver, killing his man an,
~ wounding one of the Chinese crew il
a the leg.
u A score of eyewitnesses saw the kill
~ ing, but not a single Chinese interfered
II A moment later, however, officers o
IN the Korea took the murderer into Gus
tody and placed him in irons, and Unit
ie ed States Marshal Hendry took charg
III of him upon arrival of the vessel il
e. Honolulu.
T. Lee Hing Jou is now held in Jail on
charge of murder on the high seas, blu
of as yet no action has been taken for hi
IL trial, although witnesses are being he'll
vs. here at considerable expense to testify
rs Only as the result of the raid on TIL
Dnrfn1o o1lay l.