New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-02-05

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pencd i'm the narrow streets, with their
swinging black and gold signs and
their bland, innocent, wholly cunning
population. there were no eyewitnesses.
The crackle Of revolver shots, and the
ehrieked tong war cry, "Ahg ollsh,
would bring the patrolman on the run.
The dead man would be there and no
one else. If the tong member was shot
in house the Inhabitants would dis
appear and the police would search
an empty dwelling for witnesses.
Chinatown Changed.
Conditions have changed now, and
with their changing the squalor that
vas Chinatown has passed away.
: Three things were the foundation of
life TO the Chinese colony gambling,
onlum smoking and the tong govern
ment. Under Wakefield all these have
gone. and, following them, the Chinese
are leaving by scores and hundreds,
seeking ciimes where the policeman IS
not omnipresent.
Gambling has always been the pri-
mai passion of the Chinese. Thousands
OF dollars changed hands nightly
across the green fan-tan tables behind
the MASSIVE wooden doors Practical
~ every house had its fortified room,
win trap doors leading TO cellars con-
hccted by carefully concealed passage
ways with long tunnels through which
the raided gamblers might fee, TO re-
appear, the picture of unconcerned in
nocence. n half block away.
The police have killed gambling.
Theirs have not been the methods OF
the "strong-arm squad" Il has been
systematic destruction, coupled with
p cleverness in varying their method
Of surveillance, that has wrought the
change which is wiping out Chinatown.
The "iceboX" doors are no more. They
are being burned for kindling IN Chi
ncSe stoves, after having been split to
pieces by the axes of the police.
More than 100 fan-tsn tables have
been burned in the last eighteen
months. With detectives everywhere,
with Chinese plainclothes man and
two Japanese stool pigeons working
for Wakefield in Chinatown. the
chances for the Oriental gambler are
slim. Rather than remain under these
conditions, he has emigrated 70 the
more favorable climes of Newark and
Paterson.
For little while the gambling spirit
fingered. The Oriental plunger got a
semblsnce Of action through betting
on the number of pips an orange or
apple contained. The price of fruit
scared in Chinatown, and then dropped
when the police placed the ban on this
amusement. The fan-tan rooms are
empty now and the erstwhile players
seek the society OF some fortunate
friend who owns a stove and sufficient
3.
they sit all evening and play dominoes,
after the fashion OF the war strate
Gists OF the rural general store.
GrOtesque Splendor Gone.
Even the atmosphere OF the Chinese
colony has changed. The sour reek
o! opium smoke no longer hangs in
the mir. The parchment-faced, dull
eyed slave Of the poppy no longer
sinks through the streets, driven by
his yen" toward the narrow bunk, the
pesnut-oil fame. the pill o. hop" and
the pipe. Some those who were
able 10 conquer the habit remained.
The others have left for cities in Jer-
sey where the drug trsffc laws are
less stringent
All that once stood for Chinatown
is Of the past now. With the gro
tesque splendor Of the yellow dragon
banner have disappeared all the vices
ard picturesque evils which made Pell
and Mott and Doyers SITS. haven for
sightseerS. The white women have
been driven forth long since. The
building which once housed the Chi
ucse Theatre is empty now. The tongs
are broken OF their power. Opium
and gambling are not TO be found.
Italians are creeping into the build
ings and shops of the quarter. The
restaurants are failing.
Boston Charlie, a power in the On
Leong tong in former days, one-time
gambling magnatp and mighty mer-
chant Of Chinatown, could not be seen
last night. He was At moving picture
show