New-York tribune., 1922-01-15
ON THE TRAIL
OF DRUGS
'cont1nucd from page two)

Duncn looked capable Of doing uboleeolo ,,n.
der at 10 cents Mex. head
One O'Clock came, and that was m,, .,.
to blow the whistle and bring the sb.,.;a,
posse. jumped off bunk in the o,dd,o
'ne moor and said as impressively az nossAto
You're all pinched. You are under sr,.st
-hoosegow. 'es'
Then blew the whistle r...
looked surprised and nothino ,,,bs,o.l,.
pened. blew the whistle again and no.s;r
"dppe"ed' and then ! looked surprised T.
seems the sleepy Sheriff had forgotten 81,
d"oue oeho'hR me a posse. It dawned an mol
'''a' was alone with as choice bunch Of IN
scrupulous nondescrlpts az ever escanod a.n..
ing. 1t dawncd on the rest Of the ~ ,4<,.
the same time. They ali began sboo...o.
once. had the whistle in nv left band .1d
revolver in my right ! could blow o;ta,. III
but what did was to blow right tbro,,,ssssss
second-story window in one head-ar.t ~
had no desire whatever TO ron,a;, .,ctoa1
away IN that room with thirty armed men ,n
blazing away at once.
W hen mt the ground lost the white
out felt better. It occurred to me thai
might disguise myself as a posse, and that = /
Kept running around that shack shoot.-
INTO 1t from different directions The hunrr
inside would think they were surrounded r,
the United States Army or something Tb,,
is just what did. ran around and aroa,d
was pumping lead into the shack and tho~
we're popping 1t out. I had it on them. II
that had the shack To shoot at and thr |
didn't know where they were shooting. OIL
bird tried to fly out and nipped him in I'll
leg. He crawled back in and after that \
had everything my own va. kept "a
whole bunch Of them inside the shacb.
Somehow or other uc made so much noi.
that we woke up the telegraph operator am
nc managed to get the Sheriff out of be
Ihc Sheriff remembered then that he bs
forgotten something and rounded up his mo,
hey all came to my assstance-a fine bund
OF young fellows. once you got them woke IN
We did not lose a prisoner. and from, some =
those arrested got the information vanta
That is all there was to it. except had SON
spots for days where | hit the ground after
diving out of that window | cut ,ovse1f
little, too--not much.
San Franciscos Chinese colony is tho lar,
est outside of China. The earthquake provs5
tnat the stories of underground tunnels and
passageways and spooky sliding panels are sot
mythical, but there is very logical reason fr
all this seemingly heathenisf atnlosuher
The Chinese on the Coast have been persar,+sa
and much nolested and unless thev hid tben
selves away safely they would have no mo.
privacy than Irwin Cobb's proverbial .,oh.
fsh. Like some Americans. they love to ram
BILE and they love privacy.
Inc Ihlnese are supposed to be mysterious
people That is their own fault They ere
a'eo tne air OF mystery as a come along"-I
oally-hoo to their business ventures. This
atmosphere OF mystery has attracted business
10 tne laundrleS, restaurants and rnercha ,jiS
establishments
knowing pretty we'll about the Chimes.
Ralph Oyler was able in San Franchises
Chinatown to stop a tong war, one Of those
seemingly uncanny Celestial feuds which al.
pear to spring from nothing to pursue short.
bloody, comet-like flight out of the unknown
and back into nothing. 1t was particularly
tantalizing tong fight in San Francisco in
1917 when Charlie Fong got his
Oyler was in San Francisco to clean up the
narcotic situation in Chinatown when the col
ony became hotbed of riot Every Chinese
II seemed, was carrying gun, and from -
shadows bullets would pop and men wd q
drop. There would be scurryng of paddN
feet, rooming house doors would open and
close and in two minutes policemen would find
serenity and blank countenances. The Chi
nese, it appeared, were having lot OF fun
and settling up lot of scores while they
were at it.
These fights are always among what would
be called in English gangsters. or the lower
element. Merchants and the better class Of
Chinese would have taken their troubles to q
tong court, but the less enlightened Chimes
sometimes lose their temper. They are not in
the least cowardly, and would just as soon die
to-day as tomorrow, so there you are.
The police could not get heel or pigta Of
this particular merry war. but Oyler, brows-
ing around Chinatown as a tourist in search
of adventure, found some clews which brought
several arrests
Charley Fong was an underworld character
who had been killed. Jealousy led to Charley
being shot out from under his newly affected
shell-rimmed glasses. This might have gone
unnoticed had it not been that another mem
Der of Charley Fongs Suey Ong Tong lost :
$4,000 bet at fantan to a member of the Big
kongs and the double insult was too uull
for the Suey Ongs, which gun-toting. sta1
eyed tribe started to mop up" the Big konas.
Ralph Oyler was not in deep sympathy WI