Ting Tong Sang
Authorities throughout the country tried hard last week to end the animosity of the two great Tongs—the On Leong and the Hip Sing—which broke out two weeks ago (TIME, Sept. 7). In Manhattan, the District Attorney (one Banton) managed to bring together high officials of the Tongs.
First a fine assemblage of Chinese notables, all urging peace, met in the District Attorney's office. There was Ziang Ling Chang, the Chinese Consul, Lee Kee, President of the Chinese Benevolent Association, Leong du Ching, Chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chu Man Sing, Secretary of the Four Brothers' Association, Professor Guy Main of Columbia, Ong Gong Yee, potentate of Chinese Freemasons, Lou You, head of the Chinese Citizens' Alliance. A most august assemblage—all urging peace in the good name of their country and their race.
Then came the negotiators—Henry Moy, International Secretary of On Leong, surrounded by a group of followers, all of them surrounded by a protective cordon of detectives. Henry Moy protested in advance that although five members of his Tong had been slain in a few days, no reprisals had been taken or would be taken: "We shall not do so, unless driven to it in self-defence. Our society is anxious to obey the law. Hip Sings are law-breakers and cannot be depended on to follow out any instructions given by the authorities toward the suppression of disorder."
Shortly Wong Get, International Secretary of Hip Sing, arrived. Detectives ringed him 'round to preserve him from violence. He preserved a suave silence.
Then the District Attorney talked turkey: The electric chair for murderers, deportation for gun-toters, direct responsibility to be placed on the leaders of the Tongs for any killings. The gathered potentates expressed themselves. Ziang Ling Chang advised moderation. Chu Man Sing asked peace. Ong Gong Yee spoke in conciliatory accents.
So Messrs. Henry Moy and Wong Get agreed to meet privately for a discussion of the District Attorney's agenda. The meeting took place that afternoon. A temporary truce was patched up.
The next afternoon police raided a barber shop in Manhattan's Chinatown. They rushed up the stairs and heard feet pattering on the roof. They opened the hatch and saw no one. They went out on the roof to search and a fusillade of shots fell about them from a roof across the streets. Forty shots were fired but no one was hurt. In a safe below they found ten new automatics, 1,000 rounds of ammunition and six steel vests. Henry Moy, his brother Frank and other prominent On Leongs stood across the street watching the proceedings.
That night Que Yee, a Hip Sing, was met by three pellets of steel as he walked upstairs in his house. He rolled to the bottom and died. Wong Hong, a young Hip Sing gunman, was entering his lodging house. A hatchet came down on his head from behind and his brains were crushed. They found a revolver lashed inside his vest.
In Chicago Joe Mong, an On Leong, was found beaten unconscious in a gutter.