The sun., 1919-08-10

nese from all parts OF the country,
they succeeded in arranging truces at
different times that stopped. for a
period at least, the murders. But it
was eventually the police and not the
Chinese themselves who made the
tongs behave. The police drove out
the gamblers from Chinatown, and
since the troubles OF the tongs were
based almost entirely on gambling
quarrels, these troubles naturally grew
less.
There were murders, to be sure. in
Chinatown between about 1906, when
the tongs finally agreed to be good and
when the police had begun to get the
gambling under control, and In 1908.
But there was not really bad tong
war until 1909, when a hatchet man
OF the On Leongs-at least the Four
Brothers Society always said the crime
was committed by an On Leong man
stole into the room IN II Mott street
on the night of August 15 and stabbed
Bow Kun to death as she slept. Then
the war between the Four Brothers
and tho On Leongs broke out. one Of
the most destructive wars ever fought
in Chinatown. resulting in the deaths
Of more than q score, the wounding Of
many more and the damaging of many
houses by bombs. For by that time
the Chinese had learned thing or
two from the Black Hand and were
using dynamite to a considerable ex-
tent.
Bow Kun, whose name means Sweet
WI VII f-f re
ton, and although she was only 10
when she was murdered she had in
that short space of life been the chat
tel OF many Cinnamon. Her father
sold her. and her owner brought her
to the United States, to the Chinatown
Of San Francisco. where she fetched
$4,000 in the open market-a fair
price for a China girl.
Low Hee Tong, a member of the
Four Brothers Society and a man high
in the councils OF the organization.
bought Bow Kun and lived with her
for four years. But he got into trou-
BILE with the San Francisco police, and
Bow Kun was taken away from him
and sent to a Chinese mission. And
there came Tchin Len. a truck gar
dener, and he married Bow Kun and
took her away from the mission, but
soon afterward appeared the girls
owner, Low Hee Tong. and demanded
that Tchin settle with him for the
price of the girl. Tchin Len refused
to pay, and to avoid trouble with Low
Hee Tong he sold his truck farm and
moved to New York, thinking himself
safe from the vengeance OF Low Hee
Tong and all OF the hatchet men of
the Four Brothers.
War Declared in Red ana Yellow.
But Low Hee Tong felt himself
abused. He could not comprehend
that Tchin Len could have been sc
/ dishonest as to try to beat him on,
of fair price for his property, for by
| all the unwritten laws and customs OF
China Low Hee Tong owned Bow
Kun body and soul. So he wrote tc
| the head men OF the Four Brothers ir
all the cities and laid his case before
/ them and asked for justice in hii
claim against Tchin Len. They found
Tchin Len and Bow Kun In New
York, and Tchin Len being an Or
| I.eong Tong, the Four Brothers hell
solemn conclave with the head men OF
the On Leongs and demanded thal
Tchin Len pay TO Low Hee Tong the
| $4,000 which was the price placed
! on the head Of Bow Kun. But tn,
On Leongs said that they were now II
The country Of the white devils, and
that the law OF the white devils haC
given Bow Kun to Tchin Len.
I'VE must obey the law OF the whit,
men," they told the Four Brothers.
And then the next day the walls o
Chinatown were plastered with stripi
OF red and yellow paper. the declara
ton OF war by the. Four Brothsrl