Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-03
qlRDID CHINATOWN,
WALLOW1NG IN VICE,
KNOWN HERE NO MORE
nslirium of the Gambling
Fever, Smell of the Pipe
and Scurrying Feet of the
Tongs Gone for Good.
Credit Goes to Police.

49,. be written into the record OF
~ ~ under Lieutenant Smiley, OF
" ,,,h and Winter streets police sta
w 1bs old Chinatown, delirious with
ah,,ng fever. stepped in opium smoke,
ksn,,t !, hich the lowest sediment of the
asey,s VICE settled, is dead, and the police,
w w. lie axes which demolish the Ice
boxr doors Of tne sariDiiis ioOins' are
building It's CONN
y,r Tai the war god, guiding deity
We ,ons hatchetmen. still squats on
~. sbrine AT the Joss house.
pis ths slinking, blue-bloused figure
o,as sssd 10 bend over him to burn In
w. snd biood-red prayer papers,
S- hsrrsled revolver up his sleeve
lons N,a5y f,r the murder which is TO follow,
Is not there
~ famous "House of Hundred
,coms with it's black Railways, sub
fsyranean passages, false doors and oof-
.tto rooms. where more than 70
Sh,nese we're shot down in the On Leong-
I'M sing feuds. where scores Of raids
were made by the police In former years
,rlthout one arrest resulting. has been re-
modelled into a modern factory building.
END CAME FIVE YEARS AGO.
n has been Ave years since the tongs
those secret societies that ruled China
tovn nv the law of the feud and the
nigh, OF their hatchetmen or execu-
toners. passed out of being.
They had reigned supreme for more
than no years unseen forces for the most
mart apparent now and then In the drone
Of the Chinese bagpipe that gave the sig
nal for the fusillade In the dark, the
ratike scurry of flight through the trap
doors and over roofs and the sprawling
figure In the hallway or street which
greeted the police, One murder always
meant that others would follow. That
was the law of the tongs. Two lives
must pay for the death of a member.
In former days Chinatown was left
pretty much to its own devices as far as
government was concerned. The way of
the Chinese was unknown to the police
men II seemed that no matter what
happened in the street there was never
any eye-witnesses. TIE crack of re-
volver shots and the shrleked tong war
cry, "Ahg ollah," would bring the pa
troman on the run The dead man would
be there, but no one else. If the tong
member would be shot in q house, the
Inhabitants would disappear and the
police would search an empty dwelling
for witnesses.
CONDITIONS CHANGED NOW.
Conditions have changed now, and with
their changing the squalor that was
Chinatown has passed away. Three
things we're the foundation OF life to the
Chinese colony OF that day-gambling,
opium smoking and the tong government.
All these have gone. and, following them,
the Chinese have left by the scores for
cllmes where the policeman is not omni-
present.
Gambling has always been the principal
passion OF the Chinese. Thousands of
dollars changed hands nightly across the
green fantan tables behind the massive
wooden doors. Practically every house
had its fortified room, with trapdoors
leading to cellars connected by carefully |
concealed passageways with long tunnels |
through which the gamblers might flee,
only to reappear, the picture of uncon-
oerned innocence, half block away.
The police have killed gambling. But |
tney did not do 1t by means of the |
strong-arm" method. 1t has been sys-
tematic destruction coupled with a clever |
ness In varying their method of surveil- |
lance that has wrought the change which |
Is wiping out Chinatown.
For a little while the gambling spirit |
fingered. The plungers got a semblanoe |
Of action through betting on the number
OF seeds an apple or orange contained.
The price of fruit scared In Chinatown
Is a result, and then dropped when the
police placed ban on this amusement.
The fantan rooms are empty now, and /
he erstwhile players seek the society |
u some fortunate friend who owns a
tore Here they sit all evening dis
usslng HE probabilities of thel1 country
ntering the European conflict,
EVEN THE ATMOSPHERE DIFFERS.
Even the atmosphere of Chinatown has
Undergone a change. The sour reek of
plum smoke no longer hangs in the |
ir The parchment-faced. dull-eyed
lave Of the poppy no longer sinks
through the streets, driven by his yen"
oward the narrow bunk, the peanut-oil
anne the pill Of hop" and the pipe.