Evening star., 1924-10-14
SAY TONG PLANNED
|. MACHINE GUN WAR
Police Declare Pitched Battle
on Pennsylvania Avenue
Was Contemplated.

Amazing revelations tending to in
dicate that a great climactic battle of
the nationally warning Chinese Hip
Sing and On Leong tongs was about
to be launched in Washington's China
town. with the United States Capitol
as background and historic Penn
sylvania avenue as the battle-ground,
have been unearthed by the police
department
Even blase headquarters detectives
were astounded when they learned
that members of one of the incensed
factions had gone so far in their
preparations as to negotiate for the
acquisition of regulation machine
guns and ammunition. in addition to
arming themselves secretly with au
tomatoes and other deadly weapons.
Prompt action by Mai. Daniel Sui
livan, chief of police, and In pector
Clifford !. Grant chief of detectives.
is believed to have frustrated at least
for the time being. one of the most
gruesome Oriental feuds ever enact
ed in this country. and planned with
the National Capital as a stage.
Police Are silent.
The police. for obvious reasons
We're reticent in disclosing details
of the plotting in Washington's color
ful Chinese section on lower Penn
syIvanla avenue and they refused to
dlvulge with whom the Chinese were
making negotiations for the machine
guns.
All / can say is that one of the
tongs was negotiating for the guns with
certain parties when the police stepped
III and took a hand" Inspector Grant
said today. We believe we have nipped
the uprising in the bud, and We are not
going to cease our investigation of the
whole business until We have run every
angle down. ] went personally into the
tong district yesterday and told those
fellows plainly that if there was going
TO be any shooting around here the Po-
lice Department was going to do it,"
All Appears Quiet.
Meanwhile all appeared TRANQUIL on
the surface in Chinatown today. with
scarcely a ripple to indicate the tur-
bulency that had threatened Sunday
TO develop into a whirlpool Of m
der-coVer warfare
Alert police, detectives and Federal
immigration authorities continued to
scan the local China Sea" however
coSnlZant of the fact that these tides
OF Oriental bloodshed ofttimes reach
a. crest without heralding sign TO
warn those on the lookout.
Withal there was a marked air OF
tension lowering over the 300 block
OF the Avenue Chinese stores. ordi
narily wide open to customers. kent
their doors closed and their inner
lights dimmed. Tongmen stood at the
doors to let in persons they knew
and keep out undesirables A police
man strolled up and down in front
or the headquarters of the two tongs
and nodded now and then to those
who passed silently into the portals
OF the two buildings, only several
doors apart.
The On Leong Tong, embracing the
more prosperous of the local Chinese
business men, and said to be led by
charlie 500. proprietor of a Ninth
street restaurant, advertised its head
quarters to the public with an attrac-
tive sign: On Leong Merchants As
sociation.' The sign was over tho
doorway at 335 Pennsylvania avenue.
The opposing clans Headquarters. re-
puted to be in a dingy-looking i'm
porting establishment at 325. five
doors away. bore no sign to indicate
that 1t was other than a Chinese i'm
porters' office. Here the Hip Sing
group, headed by George F.. Lee. is
said to hold sway
Blame Each Other.
The factions blame each other for
the trouble in this city 500 is so
fearful of his life that he asked that
a policeman be put on guard night
Continued on Page 9, Column e.