The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 66 - Tong Wars

Episode Date: March 16, 2015

Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the Tong Wars.SOURCESTOUR DATESREDBUBBLE MERCHPATREON

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these and we weren't recording and you did that and I thought we learned a lesson and you came back with it. We didn't learn a lesson. With another one. I felt like saying it again. You're listening to an American History podcast called The Dollop. Each week I, Dave Anthony, read a story from American history to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is about. Really? Yeah for the most part. I don't know what the topic is. Okay. I guess that's how... Sorry did you think you were at a different podcast? I guess that's how we're gonna do it. How? Not Gary Gareth. Dave, okay. Someone or something is tickling people.

Is it for fun? And this is not gonna come to tickling podcasts. Okay. You are queen fakie of made-up town. All hail Queen Shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle. And do what? Pray. Hi Gary. No. Is he dead my friend? No. Gary. Gareth. Gareth. And by the way the name Gary. Yeah I know. Hey by the way if anyone can send me a link to that story on Twitter that'd be fantastic. If any of people who has... It's really angry. Gary. Dude. 1784 brought the earliest trade relations of Americans with China. In 1815 the first Chinese person visited America a ship's cook. The first Chinese person visited America? That's what they

that's that's that's the record. That's the recorded record. Makes sense. But I mean there is there is some there are some people who believe that the the Chinese came over here. Discovered it. Before Columbus was like the eighth guy. Let's... Whoa whoa whoa buddy. Back the fuck off. What? Yeah. There are a lot of people rolling through this. He found a passage. He was looking for a passage to India bro. I'm really tired. 1492. Tired. Yeah a Chinese man was named Annam and he served of as as governor Pablo Solis Cook in Monterey and then he was baptized Antonio Maria de Jesus. So just to just to clarify a Chinese guy came

here. He had his own religion. They were like no you can't do that. Baptized him and named him Antonio Maria de Jesus. So they really fucked with that guy. Why did they go why did they go that route? Why did they not go more like Yankee Doodle dandy name? Was it just was it based on? I think then I think 1815 I think it was still Mexican territory. Okay. Yeah. In 1848 came the first importation of Chinese laborers to California then the Gold Rush. The Chinese laborers were imported for railroad building in the West. More than 322,000 Chinese came between 1815 and 1882. Jesus. And that's when

railroad construction began. They basically laid all the fucking railroad in America. Yeah. That was her deal. In 1882 the Exclusion Act was passed. By Congress barring further immigration and was extended until 1924. So between 1882 and 1924. No just not no immigration. Just no Chinese. Was it because it made him sleepy after they ate? The Chinese Exclusion Act was upheld by the Supreme Court showing giving more proof that our Supreme Court is fucking shit. Oh sorry you finished. The Sacramento Daily Union August 12th 1854 quote upon what ground it can be assumed that we are bound to admit

Chinaman to exercise the right of landing upon our shores by the thousands and then go where they please and engage in any business they please with no questions asked. We are under no national or individual obligation to do so. Whoa. I mean so they're just gonna come here and walk around and look at stuff? What they think that they can be like us who came here and took this place? Whoa, they can eat and not answer questions why? They get to open up stores and have businesses like their people. Oh I'm so mad. Alta Daily California that is a San Francisco paper August 20th 1854. Capitalized. Appalling. Wednesday last

over 1200 Chinese have landed in this city. Should they continue to arrive at this rate the majority of the inhabitants of this state will be Chinese. An outcome not devoutly to be wished. Man the paper is great. Put that in the paper. Yeah the paper really is the best way to get a sense of what the time was like. Oh it really is. Just horrible. Horrible vicious. Yeah. We have before called the attention of the people and the authorities of San Francisco to the fact that cholera was spreading over the United States among all the varying opinions held by medical men in regard to the nature of Kala all

agreed that one of the most effectual precautions is cleanliness. Some portions of our city are now disgustingly filthy particularly in those portions of the city occupied by Chinese. We find filth of every description emitting odors peculiar to Chinese filth. There we go. There it is. There's the weird specific. Should Kala reach here and get among these people we fear that our pure air would not be sufficient to stay the progress of the disease. We ought to have had long ago some systematic manner in cleaning the streets of this city. Now it's once or twice a year when the mud and filth becomes so deep as to

render the streets impassable. The street commissioner appears to wake from his long drows and we find huge range of mud mountains landing our street. The street commissioner huh. We hope we hope that particularly in the Chinese section of the city the ordinances in relation to public cleanliness be strictly enforced. Sure. Hose down the Chinese. It's just. Okay so a lot of Chinese came here and because they were unfamiliar with the economics and cultures and custom of America. Oh those stupid fucks. Another of societies were created. Some of them originally from the old country that

they brought here and they emerged to facilitate their survival in this new world. Family associations which admitted to membership all having the same surname. Okay. And merchant companies called Hui guns rose to prominence. Okay. All right. So they're basically they came over here that clearly Americans are being dicks. So they have to sort of set up their own shop. Which makes sense. The most powerful groups were the benevolent associations established initially to give help to newly arrived immigrants and represent all their members in negotiations with white authorities. In China towns across

America they provided hostels or rooming houses acted as bankers gave legal advice settled disputes between members and gave jobs to many of them. So there was a large measure of self government within the communities though this was unofficial at the top of the power structure in California. Were several associations that formed what was called the six companies. Okay. Then there were the tongs. A word literally meaning meeting hall. Some were incarnations of criminal triad gangs originating in China. Other tongs were less ominous organized among smaller family groups to defend themselves against the oppression

of larger family groups. Okay. It's bad to be from a small family. Yeah. So but okay. So that's tough. Still other. I think it's tribal. I mean I think the name thing is tribal. It just sounds tribal to me. That's a strange though in a world like you would just imagine that they would just be very inclusive. You would think so. But I think it would be even better if they went by the first name. So it was like a bunch of Jeffs or a bunch of friends. Which tong you and the steves. Yeah. Come on Steve. Let's get out of here. We're going to fight the marks tonight. Still other tongs were largely trade

assertions or workers guilds. Now the tongs were secret societies and not a great deal is publicly known about them. The illegal activities with which they were created may well have been exaggerated by the press who exploited them as another reason for condemning the Chinese. Right. Okay. There were some free media. There were some 50 such tongs in San Francisco. Many of them would links across the American continent and overseas. The tong took control of vice rings like gambling, prostitution, drug traffic and ramp protection rackets. Okay. Thus to some extent they resembled the Italian mafia and the tongs often fought

each other for control. These foolish tongs. Can't we all just get a tong? It's weird that this is what this is the word for what you used to get salad. Yeah. Yeah. What you flip your meats with on a grill. A tongue. Chicago historian writes a white patronized ethnic staffed vice industry developed in the Chinese community. White patronage probably doubled the volume of prostitution in Chinatown. Well there we go. So why do you like to fuck a Chinese? Yeah. And again that is like so yeah you can't how can you you can't you can't starve this problem. These horrible horrible people that really like to put my dick. Why is it

always that? It's always like the the height of racism but still like well but we'll fool the women. We'll fuck the women. We'll fuck the women. They have no rights. There's nothing good about them. They're less than us. But my god. But my god. Did they turn my crank? They really get me cooking. Did they say turn their crank? Oh yeah yeah. Just like starting the car. Turn that crank. From the California Illustrated Magazine 1892. These secret societies in California have grown of late to gigantic proportions. 20 or more societies have established a reign of terror in San Francisco that has become insufferable.

Assassination and acts of violence are occurring with a frequency that startles even California. All right. Just a little edge to that one. All right. Even these lunatics are a little worried. We get it. Yeah even the nuts of California. Men are shot down in broad daylight and and the murder usually escapes. The Chinese consulate and the six companies want to see the tongs crushed. The present condition of affairs must not be allowed and yet how the police are to suppress the the society under our laws is a problem. The Chinese government has been unable to cope with these secret societies in China and so it is hardly to be expected

that the police of San Francisco. Yeah. With their hands tied by by constitutional law should meet with better success. I think they're saying there that the police should have to follow the law. Yes. What they are saying when they're inferring there yes is that if the law didn't get it in the way who we could probably figure this out but now that the law is important. Yes. If we boil it down this sentence says we could take care of the Chinese problem if there weren't the fucking law. Yes. So you pick the soldiers of the tongs the ones who did the fighting were known as high binders. Interesting. Because of the long

ponytail they wore bound to the top of their head. They were also known as hatchet men. Hmm. I wonder how one gets that nickname. Harper's Weekly February 1886. The hatchet men are usually outlaws. Even the best of the Chinese have small regard for human life. All right. Wait. Even the best of the Chinese. Harper's Weekly. You can't write an article about the hatchet man and just be like yeah I mean it's just like a fucking Chinese. I mean all Chinese people don't care about your life. I mean these guys will have hatchets and they will murder you. What is it with the Chinese. They don't care about humanity.

Period. After we wrote an article highlighting one sect. Even the best of the Chinese have a small regard for human life as their laws tolerate the purchase of a substitute by a wealthy criminal condemned execution and the compromise of a murder by a money payment to the relatives of the victim. Wait what what does that mean. I think I think that I think what it's saying is is that under Chinese law at this time you could buy you could pay someone to be executed for you. Which sounds kind of cool. What's straight. Yeah. We'll get into that in a second DA. What is but it is strange that they have their own laws.

The Chinese. Yeah. So they have their own law. Well they they were. They've succeeded. If you're not allowed into society. True. This is what's happening in France with that. Yeah. Well this is the problem with exclusion. Yeah. Yeah. But. Okay. Chained in this way the high binder is as reckless of human life as the slave hunting Arab of the Sudan. We're just covering all the. Here we go. We're going after everybody. Is this like is there like do they get like a bonus if they pop like the like through 10 racist. All right you're in the green. The cheapness in which human life is held by these people is a constant marvel. Jesus

Christ. Cool. Cool. Cool. I mean this is a paper. You used to eat cereal and just be like God damn tiny. They're like wild Arabs. The high binder was almost beyond the grasp of American law. The police could not do anything to find wanted high binders in the closed society of Chinatown. When they were arrested they would have scores of witnesses to testify to anything on their behalf. High binder oath. This is from the San Francisco call in 1899. I swear to this is their oath. I swear to obey my parents. I swear to obey all the instructions of the head men of the society. And should I forget my vows. May I within

100 days die by being cut to pieces. Or in the five seas my flesh floating on the surface and my bones sinking to the bottom. So okay that's just for forgetting his vows. That's just for having a bad memory. That's just for forgetting the vows. Yeah it's a little intense. But the thing is you're not gonna forget those vows. No I yeah I would think that would help you remember. Yeah you'd be like oh no I remember you'll cut me into five pieces and I'll sink. If I forget this you'll cut me in a bunch of pieces. God I'm sorry what was the what was the last part again I can't. Bones. Water. Right my bones oh

fuck I gotta go do it now. Cut them up. The next 99 days are gonna be a party okay. I swear after entering the I swear after entering the Tongue to become one of the Tongue family and should I see a brother of the Tongue family fighting with my twin brother who is not a Tongue brother to do all in my power to separate them but to use no violence against my Tongue brother. If I break this oath may my intestines fall out or may thunder strike me or fire burn me to death. I mean the thunder strike is what you want out of those ones. So if he doesn't if he doesn't break up a fight he hopes his intestines fall out. Between his friend

and his twin brother his intestines fall out. There has to be like a window or something or a hole for your intestines to fall out. Yeah there's gotta be a guy who's like all right buddy stand over this wicker basket this is gonna get crazy. All right take care man. I also swear that where I had to see one of my Tongue brothers in the custody of the police or other government officers to do all in my power to rescue him. Well boy that's yeah. Oh boy. Should I disregard this rule may 100 you ready. Well may 100 days thunder strike me down dead in the road and may my bones perish in the rivers and seas. You can't what

about just like getting hit on the head. I'll die. What about just yeah. We're just simple and then I'll die. Lighten up. After ending the Tongue I promise not to attempt to raise myself to the position of incense burner until I have obeyed the laws of the Tongue as handed down to us and given five years of faithful service. You know the the incense burner is like why do I have to be shit on. This is just an oath. I'm just trying to burn some goddamn incense. It smells like musk. Whatever. Should I forget this oath. I expect my brothers to punish me with at least 108 blows. And if I twice forget my solemn promise may they cut

off both my ears. So they're a little intense the Tongue the high high binders are a little intense. I kind of like their style a little bit. Yeah I do. They really like make you go like don't fuck around. No don't don't. Otherwise you're going to be in testing list with thunder strikes unable to hear because your ears have been cut off. What. From the L.A. Herald. What. While Lieutenant and two policemen were on one side of the street and two policemen were on the other side a hatchet man walked up to his victim an old Chinese merchant and repeatedly plunged a knife 10 inches long into the old man's body.

Jesus. This murder was of course caught red-handed but the incident showed that the high binder was obliged to kill his man without regard for the consequences. It's amazing. Hey now I see you guys. He's an old man. Exactly he's an old man. He's an old man. He's not going anywhere. The getaway you just you'll be able to like pinpoint him for five blocks and wait for the cops to all. All you do is lose a good high binder. Yeah situation. I agree. San Francisco call 1899. This is about Fresno. The first really successful fight ever put up by any tongue high binder society was the most disastrous of all. It happened in the old Chinese theater on

Jackson Street in the early 70s. I love that it's the 70s. Yeah. The diabolical things are crazy there man. Everyone was at studio 24. The diabolical scheme was evolved in the mind of the chief advisor of Auk Gong Tong. His plot was as follows. Certain members of the Tong were to enter the playhouse on a certain night when another rival Tong was to have a festival. These men were to take seats in the balcony and when the house became well filled they were ordered to throw some lighted papers saturated with oil down upon the heads of the audience below in the main portion of the auditorium. Jesus Christ. The result would be a

stampede and a general rush for the front door. Yeah you sure. The hatchet men were to be stationed near the exit. These bastards. And carefully watch for the men of men with whom the Tong had to deal. Incidentally those who were capable of good light fingered work were to pick the pockets of the frightened people who were trying to escape. Well I mean you're there. I mean you might as well. You've made the trip. Yeah you cover both sides. You just maybe orphan a couple of some bucks. Whatever. The scheme worked beyond expectation. As soon as the burning paper was thrown from the balcony there was a wild rush to the front

door. The only exit from the building. After the first few people had made their escape the springs with which the big doors were kept closed were coiled and they flew back into the faces of the next portion of the searching mob. With a fury born of desperation they forced the doors from the hinges threw them into the hallway. Failing to the floor those who had escaped ahead of them the result was a bridge over which the crowd rushed trampling the very lives out of the unfortunate creatures who were in the narrow death trap ahead of them. There was no public morgue in those days and it was the custom to farm out the

privilege of caring for the dead. Some enterprising undertaker. Can't we just get away from this for one of the dolls. Feels like the last three have been like and of course your body's gonna be raped by cows. When that official arrived at the scene of the disaster he found 13 cold bodies laid out on the sidewalk all had been robbed of their valuables. The weapons of the Highbinder. Oh boy. We're all brought from China with the exception of the hatchet and the pistol. Oh see that's fucked up right away you got to support this country when you're here. They had a weapon called the double sword. Two swords each about two feet long

worn in a single sheath. The Highbinders drew these one in each hand and chopped his way through a crowd of enemies. A crowd? Yeah. Only one side was sharpened but the blade had a razor edge. An effective weapon for fighting at closed quarters was the two edge knife. The handle was brass, generally richly ornamented. While the blade was of the finest steel most of the assassinations in Chinatown used this weapon. One blow would bring a mortal wound. The cleaver used by Highbinders was. We're in gear three. The cleaver used by the Highbinders was smaller and lighter than the ordinary butchers cleaver. The iron

club about a foot and a half long was enclosed in a sheath and worn at the side like a sword. The hatchet was American made but ground as sharp as a razor. Well all right as long as they're supporting America a little bit. No they bought Americans. Okay. They wore coats of chainmail heavily padded with layers of rice paper that made it bulletproof. This garment. Well that's just crazy because the second you know that you stop hating on them and you start to adopt that technology. I like these guys so much better in the Italian mafia. Yeah. Yeah. Bulletproof. Imagine the Sopranos that they're all wearing chainmail. Bulletproof.

Yeah. Yeah. Imagine bulletproof people in 1900. Tremendous. This garment was worn by Highbinders when they undertook a particularly dangerous assassination. They also had a leather wristlet. It came halfway up to the elbow and pieces of iron inserted in the leather served to ward off even a heavy stroke of a sword or hatchet. Okay. Some pretty good shit so far. Daily Altadena, California, June 9th, 1854. Celestial War. Celestial was the name for Chinese people. America called China the Celestial Empire. So they called them. Why can't we have more slurs that are kind of like. I know it's nice right. Based on fact like that. It's better. Oh these

Celestials. Yeah. It's better than Oriental or whatever horrible word. Yeah. On Tuesday my. I know your grandparents still use it. Okay. Yeah. Everyone's grandparents. Just want to make sure. Pretty terrific. Even when you're out to like having Chinese. Yeah. They'll be like that was a nice Oriental chef. Yeah. No it's crazy. Sit down and shut your mouth. Shut your mouth. Could you imagine? They go to Roscoe's. Why enjoy the Negro food? No. Come on. When I was a kid once my grandmother walked into the room when I was and I had like two buddies over. One was black and my grandma we were watching a basketball game. My grandma goes what's it the what's it the cool those again it starts with N.

I was like can I take you out here? I was like can I take you out here for two minutes. Can we sidebar out here for just two shakes? Talk to you real quick out here real quick. On Tuesday last the Chinese had a real bonafide battle in our streets. The weapons principally were stones. The number of combatants were over a hundred and the casualties about a dozen broke heads. The victory not decided as the authorities interfered and captured eight of their most valiant fighting men who were packed up in prison overnight tried the next day for riot and find the affair put about a hundred dollars in the town treasury. What? Yeah well they made some money off and they find them each they made about a hundred

clams. But is that. Yeah it may matter. And the Chinese in this vicinity haven't last settled their difficulties unfortunately without the loss of a single life. Did you hear that sound. Yeah. Yes. It said unfortunately without the loss of a single life. That's a newspaper in San Francisco writing about what happened in Fresno. Listen. And it says unfortunately balanced. Fair and balanced. Unfortunately. No Chinese people. Fair and balanced. You just you've been brainwashed. The San Francisco call of February 9th 1904 overconfident Chinese makes unusual request. According to Bret Hart the fairness. According to Bret Hart the quote heathen Chinese is peculiar. But Louis Landong of 322 commercial street evidently thinks the

powers of the emergency hospital physicians are not only peculiar but miraculous. Louis appeared at the central emergency hospital yesterday in a badly damaged condition. Three of his fingers and a portion of his hand had been cleanly severed and the Chinese brought the severed fingers to the hospital faithfully trusting in the ability of the surgeons to reunite them with his person. The attending surgeons informed the man that his digital members were gone forever but dressed the wounded hand owing to the long exposure of the wound it is feared that blood poisoning may set in the injured man claims that on Sunday afternoon a high binder entered his room and attacked him with a hatchet severing

his fingers. Wait. But wasn't that going to be a story about. That's a story about a guy coming in without part of his hand gone. Yeah. Saying can you put this back on and they went no. Okay. I was going to go somewhere else. Yeah. Yeah. No just a guy doesn't have any fingers wants him put back on a hatchet man came into his room. Yeah. Cut him off. Well what I also think is how they give out that to its address. Kind of like in case you want to fucking fuck this dude up. Back doors always open. This I love. Yeah. This was a time when you put the victims address in the paper. Big deal. The city. The city. San Francisco created a special squad led by Lieutenant

William Price to crack down on tongs and high binders. The Chinese console had made the request for the formation of the squad. Lieutenant Price told this story of high binders one evening a Chinese butcher in San Francisco threw a little clean water into the street and a Chinese high binder who was standing nearby got a little of the water on a sleeve. When I had passed by the high binder went into the butcher store and demanded $100 as a tonement for the offense. I learned of the demand and told the butcher not to pay the money but to arrange to meet the high binder at a certain place and I would be there. The butcher promised to do so and I left him. But before I returned to a store he had paid

the $100 out of fear for his life. So he got a little bit of water on a dude and he had to pay a hundred clams which sounds like $10,000 back then. Sure but still fair. At one time Lieutenant Price took 16 men in uniform and with axes they destroyed the rooms of five of the tongs. They literally cut the furniture to pieces making kindling wood of about $180,000 worth of property. Wherever the squad went it found arms, ammunition, bowy knives, two feet long and blade, iron bars done up in braided cord and chain and steel armor, the ladder being worn under the clothing. One statue was destroyed and had been brought from China and was worth $7,000 or $8,000. So they're just the prick brigade? Well the

paper's writing about how the cops just fucking went and destroyed the place. Like it's not like it's like yeah they went and just smashed a bunch of shit. Yeah but I like obviously this is gonna cost them money but wouldn't you like at some point be like should we get them? Like I feel like. No I think what we do we're cops we just fuck up their stuff right? Hey man duck down there's a hammock. In another building there were seven idols all of these were destroyed greatly alarming the friendly Chinaman who predicted the lieutenants death. In December 1898 lieutenants price adopted a new measure in dealing with the high binders. Two of his officers armed with cameras patrolled the streets and when a well

known hind binder appeared he was stopped and made to stand until his picture could be taken. Hey man can we get one of the two of us? That was like in 1898 where they'd be like hold still for 19 minutes. Yeah yeah. Alright one photographer may die on this. The photographs were placed in a book known as the high binder rogue gallery. Why not the high binder binder? He started the mug mug shot book. Yeah but still high binder binder that's right there. High binder binder is right there. Right there. The high binder? Just fucking sitting there just call it the high. Hey look can you get the high binder down for me? What are you looking for? High binders. I want to look at mug shots in the old high

binder. After each high binder had his picture taken he was notified that if found in the city after 10 days he would be arrested for vagrancy. The hatchet man began leaving the city in large numbers. Members of the Bing An and Ping Kong Tongs migrated to Fresno. I mean we can admit that that is. Ping Kong? Ping Kong? Hi Tong. Ping An and Ping Kong is pretty bad. And then you say Tong. Yeah. It sounds like you're rapping in Chinese. Ping Kong Tong. Ping An Tong. Dave Anthony's new number one hit. Ping Kong Tong. Very quickly the new high binders killed a local high binder so they moved into Fresno and then they started fighting other high binders. They're really unpredictable. The high binders in Fresno

then called on their brothers in San Francisco for help and the police were delighted to be rid of them so all the high binders at this point just fucking high binded it out of there. Really our policy has always been pretty similar which is just like get the fuck out of here we'll be fine. Lift that rug up give me that broom. In December 1898 Lieutenant Price put a stop to the free list at the Chinese theaters forcing high binders to pay or not dance. Before all the hatchet men had to do was present themselves at the door and they were admitted without paying. Okay. The doorkeepers and managers feared if they refused admittance the trouble would result. That's what I but a large portion

of the murders that occurred in the theater were done by the guys on the free list. So they stopped the free list. Listen yeah. Listen this is a risk you're going to have to take with the high binders. This is no different than when Giuliani stopped the guys from jumping fares at the subways. Yeah. In 1901 Lieutenant Price was removed from his rank in the police force and relieved of his duty as squad commander after being accused of corruption. He was removed after secret testimony in a police commission and without a public hearing. The San Francisco public was furious. It was pointed out that during a recent investigation by the assembly committee into the relations of the police with Chinese violators of the

law one of the Chinese witnesses swore that a large sum of money was raised by the high binders for the purpose of getting Price removed because he was so successful in suppressing vice. That evidence along with the fact that the police commission had removed Price using secret testimony testimony led citizens to believe in the existence of a conspiracy supported by Chinese money to procure the removal of a police officer solely because he was doing a good job which chief of police restored Price to the Chinatown beat with the chief of police did. Yeah. Okay. Well that's good. A week or so after being reinstated high binders claim they were being roughed up. Yeah. Right. Yeah. What'd you think was good. Yeah. Best.

What you also high binders shouldn't be complaining they're being roughed up. You're a fucking high. Yeah. It's part of the deal. It's happening. You knew the score. You knew what you signed up for. My God. You signed up for something that if you didn't do it right your intestines fall out. What are you complaining about. He pushed me. Do you remember your goddamn oath. Well I'm just saying he gave me a real shove. A thousand thunderstorms that could have strike you motherfucker. You'll have no goddamn ears. So a week after he was reinstated Police Lieutenant Price and his squad raided the headquarters of Hipsing Tong on Clay Street and drove all the suspected high binders from the place. The Chinese claim that the

policeman wielded their clubs and injured some of the occupants of the rooms. Ah Wong a fisherman says he was struck in the back and has since had hemorrhages of both of his lungs. He has been suffering for some time with consumption. Hong Zheng and Tong Ah Kuan who it is alleged were struck on the head could not be found last night and their friends say their wounds has have healed and that they've gone to Alaska. Whoa. Their friends might be liars too. But yeah. No no no no they're in Alaska. They said they wanted to crab fish. They said something about you know my head hurts I'm gonna go check out some big fish. Let me go to the hardest state to get to for us physically. That's why I will

head. Lieutenant Price denies his men use clubs except for two cases where they met armed high binders and they had to beat the shit out of them. The Tong Wars of New York. I mean honestly Tong Wars of New York could be a food network show right now. Mock Duck whose real name was Psy Wing Mock. Why would you why would you change it to Mock Duck? Why don't you just be Wing Mock? Fair question. Fair question. He arrived in the US during the late 1890s settling in New York's Chinatown. There he formed the Hipsing Tong a minor criminal organization. Within a few years Mock Duck would be known as the greatest warrior of Manhattan's early 20th century Chinatown and he challenged Tom Lee and the

on Leon Tong for control of criminal activities in Chinatown and for the political protection of Tammany Hall. In 1900 Mock Duck demanded half of Lee's revenue from illegal gambling operations. Lee refused. Well I'm shocked by this. This might cause friction. And one half. No. No. Oh okay I guess we're gonna do this. Well within 48 hours Mock Duck declared a Tong War against the again food network show. Leons. Hipsing's men set one of Lee's boarding houses on fire which resulted in the deaths of two men. In another incident an Ong Leong man was decapitated by two Hipsing hatchet men. One Chinatown historian described Mock Duck in 1904 as quote strutting around on Pell Street covered in diamonds. Well hello

fancy pants. Hello. Like he just bedazzles him. Yeah listen there's I'll tell you what's not illegal being fabulous. I mean that's amazing to be that brash about that shit. The big guy is coming through. Excuse me make way. Shining all the way down the street. Shining all the way down it. Shining. Mock Duck is firmly in control of the Hipsing. His sinister image bolstered by his long lethal looking fingernails which signal he is too grand to do the dirty work he assigns others. I mean that's just crazy. That's just gross. That's also there's more downside to that than up. I mean yeah like yes we get it you're not scrubbing floors but you also can't make your own fucking food. Hey Larry I gotta go

to the can. Oh boy. We'll help again. Oh for God's sake. Yeah you know I'd cut him but you know. I just don't do this sort of stuff. If I cut him then people know that I go to the bathroom by myself. Motherfucker. Mock Duck survived repeated attempts on his life and wore a chainmail vest. He was named by the press Clay Pigeon of Chinatown and the mayor of Chinatown. During several attempts on his life Mock Duck reportedly squatted down in the street and fired at his attackers with two handguns with his eyes closed. Well that. Yeah okay. I love that on one hand he made himself smaller. Yeah. But on the other hand he was like I'm just gonna shut my fucking eyes because who gives a shit. It is baffling.

I mean if you are like a guy like fighting him you're like what's the deal. His eyes are closed. Where the fuck is he. Jesus Christ. He's not gonna hit me. Yeah. You realize that if your eyes closed that means that I can see you but you can't see me right. Fire. Are you four years old. Their vision's based on movement. When I close my eyes they can't see me. I'm invisible you see. They could hear us. Do I see me go invisible. Oh I can. No my eyes are closed. See. I am God. Stab him. Mock Duck. I didn't like it didn't sound like they were using a lot of guns so it is nice to hear that now. Yeah they have guns. I think they use the you know I think they liked to use the blades. Yeah but it's just

when they're here you know if you're in the states you gotta compete. Mock Duck also broke the rules. The Chinese theater. Not my Mock Duck. Yeah. Doier Street was always considered neutral ground. No matter what wars or personal grievances were going on it was always safe for all Tong-men to go to the theater. Bury the hatchet and watch a show. Bury the hatchet. Yeah so to speak. Is that okay. I think I just threw that in there for. Well it's adorable. But anyway so it's like in Highlander they could go to a church. Yeah this is their place where they don't fuck with you. It's what I like to call. Let's have a theater night. It's called ghoul. It's ghoul. Ghoul. Yeah like in tag. Ghoul. Ghoul is one you know

the home base where you could touch something and you couldn't be tagged. Nope don't know what you're talking about. You don't know ghoul. We called that a we called it something else we didn't call it ghoul. I'll tell you in back of my ear it's different. I don't know what you guys. You're like Welsh. In 1905 Mock Duck brought in a man from the Wild West who was a veteran of West Coast Tong wars. Sing the scientific killer duck. On August the 7th Mock Duck went to the police station and argued with the precinct captain for locking up some men found gambling in his store. At the exact same time Sing Duck and other men entered the aisles of the old Chinese theater. Oh boy. One of the gun pressed the glowing

end of a cigarette to a fuse attached to firecrackers. The white smoke and sparks hissed from the fuse and the hatchet men hurled detonating explosives into the crowd. Well I mean the firecrackers. The crackling blasts were a signal for the gunmen to open fire. Pulling revolvers from their brown cloaks the Tong hitmen started pumping bullocks into the designated seating area of the rival on Leong Tong. Bullets ripped through the on Leong's blood splashed to elaborate Chinese murals on the wall. And by the time patrolman John Young entered the empty burning theater Lee Yuck, Yu Yuck, Ong Sming, and Wee, Yu Sing all members of the on Leong Tong were dead. After Lee put out a bounty on Mock Duck and

the rest of his Tong Mock Duck formed an alliance with the rival four brothers Tong and took advantage of the reform crusade by clerk started by clergyman Charles Park Harst. Duck posted businessmen and supplied information on the on Leong criminal operations to parkers. It's just fantastic what your mouth has to do with this. Including addresses the authorities raided on Leong Opium Den's gambling houses and so forth. However Mock Duck held back the addresses of the most lucrative Mock Street operations for leverage against Lee. The Warring Tong signed a truce in 1906 but they were at war again the following year. Mock Duck finally defeated Lee in the Baokum Tong War of 1909 1910. I'm familiar. He was arrested

several times during the next decade during which time a number of attempts were made on his life. But he was convicted only once in 1912 for operating a policy game and served two years imprisonment in Singsing. In 1932 Mock Duck agreed to an arrangement with the U.S. and Chinese governments to declare a peace among the Tongs of Chinatown and retired to Brooklyn where he lived until his death in July 1941. He retired. That's pretty. I mean I like that move. He's all tongued out. Yeah. Yeah. It was a swan tong. Now the Tongs also took hold in small California towns. Oh boy. The town of Weaverville California in the 1850s became home to around 2000 Chinese after gold was found there. Oh boy. They generally

take up a ban and claims and form little villages sometimes of a hundred persons. They communicate but little with the towns owing to the jealousy of American miners who regard them as nuisances and often drive them violently away from any rich diggings they may have happened upon. It is urged that the Chinese are of no benefit either by industry or trade to the community jealously hoarding every ounce of gold and returning to China with it. Who doesn't jealously hoard their gold. Yeah. I mean honestly like that's that it's like it's unfit. What the fuck do you think. What is the idea when you find gold. Hey everybody get over here grab a piece. Holy gosh. I think you're supposed to take it down to the saloon and fucking

buy whiskey and horse. Yeah. Now what you do is you go to the saloon they weigh it out you fuck a whore you get a whiskey and you do that for the rest of your life. They buy no American clothing generally bringing their own stock and living mainly upon rice which they also bring with them those motherfuckers. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. They bring their own food and clothing. Yeah. Well how are they. I mean my god. They won't buy jeans. How about a pair of dungarees. Would you like a cheeseburger and some jeans. The Chinese divided themselves in Weaverville into two factions known as the cantons and the Hongkongs to the whites. There was trouble between the Chinese factions one or more of the parties

would occasionally get some of their men hurt by the opposite faction. Finally the Hongkongs killed one of the cantons leading men and it's on. Wait you mean the canton on. Another reason for the conflicts were over a gold sluice and gambling disputes. The cantons challenged the Hongkongs to a battle in one month. I like what I like about them is their scheduling seems pretty good right like they give you like a little prep time to sort of like get your shit together kind of they want your best they want your best. You want to do tomorrow no no no no no let's do like a month I gotta get 30 days to get my affairs have some fun I'm gonna do I'm gonna do some bench I'm gonna live a montage. So the Canton bosses came

into a local blacksmith shop showed the blacksmith a pike pole and asked how much he would charge to make 100 out of steel. He said he said $1.50 each and they agreed about an hour later the boss of the Hongkongs came into the shop and asked how much for 100 pikes he was told $1.50 and he told the blacksmith if he would quit making them for the cantons and he would give he would give the blacksmith $2 each Jesus and the blacksmith said quote alright John a short time there's only one blacksmith I should know there's a bunch so this is this is one blacksmith reporting what happened a short time later the boss of the cantons came in and said if the blacksmith would quit the Hongkongs work he would give me he would

give two dollars and a half and then he would make him 300 so so he now he's up in the price and he's doing 300 and the blacksmith said alright John so he's just agreeing to everything yeah for three weeks he ran the blacksmith did a day and night making the Chinese weapons of war he made very heavy spears with three prongs others were made something like brush skites I don't know what that is sure the tongs would take them away from the shop before they were cold and pay for them well they should have waited they oh Jesus it will cool down John I will cool down John they had every blacksmith's shop in the county working on weapons in the meantime other Chinese were in the woods cutting poles 14 or 15 feet long bringing

them into town and dressing them up for handles for the instruments they were making after they got one or two hundred armed men on each side they would frequently drill in the streets Jesus boy weaverville has really changed since I was here just here is weaverville sort of different than it used to be it feels like there's like a Chinese army here now it feels like two different factions are training with spears in the road am I just crazy no I think you're right weaverville sort of gone to shit ever since the Chinese turned it into a civil war my crazy they employed 15 whites as drill instructors so they're creating jobs the blacksmith industry has never been more pop let's talk about them not creating jobs yeah and using

their own rice they're paying guys the they were the drill instructors were paid $10 daily along with all the food and whiskey they could drink but whenever you put that whiskey caveat into any like you that never worked 17 early like there was a thing back then 1900 to 1940 never worked it's not a good idea to just be like all right well how about this will pay you this and as much whiskey as you want you're gonna end up being like wait now how the fuck are we in the red one tongue had the upper end of town on court street and the other tongue had the lower end so there was very little danger of them coming together in town and the whites gave them to understand that if they got to fighting in the streets

and injured a white man the whites would kill every mother sons of them on both sides yeah the day was set for the fight in the meantime William M. Love the sheriff of the county came to the back blacksmiths and forbade them from making any more war instruments or delivering any that they had on hand finally a blacksmith asked what the penalty would be the sheriff said a fine of $100 a fine of $500 is that it said the blacksmith yeah and when will you enforce it when the grand jury meets Sheriff Lowe said I will have you indicted for sure all right Mr. Lowe I can afford to pay $500 and then come out a winner in this game the blacksmith went on making war weapons he was never indicted the day before the fight

the cantons made a grand demonstration through Main Street they turned out about 250 or 300 men all with a grand display of war with their dragon banner floating to the breeze they made a warlock appearance marching down the street the the day appointed for the battle arrived and the town was full of hostile high bender binders a complete gathering of the clans the white miners from all parts of the county came to see the fun I mean that I get at at the appointed time the hostile armies were face facing each other in battle array the Hong Kong's being divided into two grand divisions perhaps 100 yards apart while the cantons a smaller party maybe of around 150 we're in a compact body waiting for the onslaught

Jesus I would definitely if I was in this town be like let's fucking watch this yeah I would probably get on a rooftop bring some sandwiches get an umbrella a lawn chair let's see if you do what they do oh boy the battleground was full of people Sheriff Lowe was on the ground trying to summon a posse to stop the fight he would go up to man take his name and summon him to his aid the reply would be go to hello we came to see if the fight and we're gonna see it the understanding between the whites and Chinese was that there should be no firearms used in the fight that the fighting was to be done with their own weapons of war from blacksmith John Carr it was long after two o'clock and no fight yet the hostile armies

stood facing each other hallowing all sorts of slang at each other in their own language finally it began to be rumored that there was not going to be a fight that they were fooling the boys who had come so far to see it wait a second that was more than the honest miners could stand and they were not going to stand it either after waiting until patients was exhausted they started to drive the two armies together and make them fight whether they wanted to or not whoa so the Chinese were like yeah this is just a big show and then all the white I believe they're called white devils all the white devils were like with the guns no you're gonna fucking fight guns yeah cuz remember they said that they yeah the Chinese couldn't

have guns so all the white guys had fucking guns so it's just like when like you go outside and like of a bar and a couple dudes are about to fucking throw down and they sort of actually exchange words and you're like no the fuck no I closed my damn camp exactly right 40 or 50 the boys got behind each army and commenced throwing rocks and driving them together in the meantime another party of whites got between the two divisions of the Hong Kong's and would not let one division take part in the fight oh this left the big party really the smallest so they saw that the Hong Kong's had more fair so they really yeah when the Canton saw the turn things had taken in their favor they charged across the Gulch up the bank and into

the ranks of the Hong Kong's the Hong Kong stood there to their work like men and as soon as they crossed pikes with each other it commenced then commenced the popping of pistols oh I was standing with a number of others on a large log a short distance from the scene of the fight when the pistols started popping I turned around to jump off the log so as to get behind it a swede was standing on the same log with a six shooter in his hand shooting at the combatants indiscriminately just for the fun of it oh my god see like at least there was some code of honor to what they were going to do there was a total code of honor yeah but not with us never before I left anything that has different eyes before

I left the log he fell over with bullet through his brain oh my god he never knew what hurt him the fellow died immediately he was no doubt shot by a white man close by so he was shooting into the crowd another guy was like fuck that and shot him yeah another white dude who was like you're cheating the Hong Kong's was stood the onslaught until they saw their supports cut off by the whites they then broke and ran of course there were several of them wounded and lying on the field as the enemy passed them by each warrior of the cantons would stop and plunge his pike who lay into the guy who lay fallen no mercy there and some of the dead had at least 20 wounds in them oh god there were several killed on each side

but the Hong Kong's were the heaviest losers the whites acted unfairly in the matter they prevented the whites the whites yeah shocked to hear that they prevented one half of the Hong Kong's from taking part in the fight which discouraged the rest of them the cantons had pistols concealed and when in close quarters commenced using them with deadly effect after the fight the victorious cantons marched into town with all the pride and glory of Napoleon's guard talk about an asterix win at the headquarters on court street they had one grand jubilee and all were invited to partake of their hospitality brandy and liquors of all kinds flowed free the town was painted red and it was a grand day for the free whiskey

bum thus ended the china war for a time in trinity county jesus one paper reported ten were killed including one white man who went in for fun god god bless that white man spirit the san Francisco bulletin reported quote it was a very bad battle as so few were killed oh that's nice that's nice that they see it the right way through the prism of history jesus both the weaverville museum and the local daos temple have preserved some of the actual weapons from this battle today crude locally produced butterfly swords tritons and broadswords are in this collection these may be some of the earliest documented traditional chinese weapons in the united states a plaque marking the site of the battle is located next

to weaverville elementary school oh perfect we've a village elementary school the fighting tongs of weaverville fong ching named little pete by san Francisco press was born in khao gong canton china in 1864 he came to san francisco ten years later he attended the sunday school of methodist chinese mission and learned to speak english language fluently two of the largest associations in chinatown were the sam yups and the sea yups you can see why they didn't get along yeah i mean it's so different this i mean it's so different okay gotcha now there's a big rivalry between them in the past pete joined the sam yups and became the society's interpreter and conducted all of their business so far as their dealings

with americans were concerned he's very handsome and always immaculate in parents and he had a wife and child was he covered in diamonds he took well he took excellent care of his health and indulged in no vices he had a cunning to rare degree and combined with it the ability to adapt to white conditions he was extremely ambitious and even when he was receiving just ten dollars a month while while employed in a shoe store he contributed towards the support of his relatives when pete acquired a sufficient knowledge of the shoe business he borrowed a few hundred dollars and established himself in that business under the name of fc peters and company to appeal to white customers he went on to become one of the greatest tong

leaders of all time in nineteen oh nine article where a turk describes knowing little pete i wish people could see how much spit just came out of my lip what i mean i saw it yeah okay all right go ahead little pete was the leading high binder of north america he lived in opulence of luxury in san francisco's china town and the only people living on the west coast of the united states during little pete's day you didn't know all about him were inmates of the deaf dumb and blind asylums okay the outfit of high binders of which little pete was the grand ma mogle was steadily at war with another gang of high binders who thirsted for little pete's gore with parched consuming thirst jesus i wouldn't use thirst like that

i like overlap i'm like that it's a strong it's a strong way of putting it i would not use the second thirst i would not use thirst enough and the two gangs fit and fought in around san francisco with frosty and speed that forced the chinese undertakers of that town to put in three eight hour shifts i don't know if i believe that yeah little pete marked some important chink individual of the sweet nice cute of the rival high binder outfit for death and the rival was found with nary a mark of violence on his deceased person but with about 50 yards of very fine piano wire beautifully coiled around his neck oh so he killed he killed him pretty sure i mentioned this fact in order to contrast it with the comparatively

coarse lumpy executionary work of little pete's rival band of high binders who did all their thinning of little pete's ranks with hatchets through all this carnage little pete walked as unconcerned as a deacon passing the plate a thousand hatchets were waiting for him every hour of the day and night but the dead game little chink proud the heedless unafraid he had yeah he had 30 wives and no sorry yeah no he had 30 wives and 30 servants in his uh china town home jesus this is a lot of i mean at that there's gonna be like 10 servants who are like i mean shit can i get can i go can i go can i get cut no we're gonna need you to pick up the thing there's nobody everybody's picked up the god damn thing there's 30 there's

30 wives so that we need one of the one of you guys for each but we always do is pick up one thing a day okay but pick it up please fuck he was a millionaire uh being the backer of about half the phantom games in town and other games of his breeding okay as a matter of fact there's a lot of words we don't use anymore because they're horrible like phantom as a matter of fact little pete didn't have much time to speculate as to how long the other gangs of high binders intended to let him live for he was too busy speculating on the ponies the turk described the dinner at little pete's house quote at a glance from little pete to the head waiter all troop of beautiful chinese women primed within an inch

of their lives hobbled in on their shortened little feet uh they kowtowed first a little pete their husband and then to little pete's guest after which they tippy-toed to their well they had no option of any other way to walk i thought they didn't tippy toes yeah they didn't tippy they healy healed their whole foot was a tippy toe yeah yeah uh they went to their place at the table and looked a mirror and picked daintly at their queer looking chinese dinner boy you're a great guest yeah you're a have one little pete asked me i thought he meant what i have an olive for you appear to be looking at the olive dish thanks no i said i don't eat them he looked at me with sort of a grave surprise and asked will you have

a wife or maybe two whoa then this syrupy smile crept back onto his face and he waved his hand down the line of little made up chinese women silently eating that came close to knocking me clean off the bench but i didn't let little pete see that i didn't know what he was playing along for but i did know that i didn't require one or two wives just then chinese or other next time i said next time i'll have one of them while yep little pete's regular payoffs to city officials particularly charles a buckley commits rivals of little pete's influence in san francisco little pete's tongue was so successful that another faction of criminals organized naming their tongue the boss and sear there was great hostility between the

organizations and pete was constantly outwitting them it was decided the only way to conquer pete was to kill him and pete learning this immediately employed a chinese man lay named lee chuck to act as his bodyguard lee procured a heavy coat of mail which weighed 35 pounds geez shaped like a vest at a mass of small steel chains on one occasion when he was attacked by members of the rival sui ontong little pete wearing steel reinforced hat i mean i'm i understand that's crazy but i feel like he's gonna do something with the hat no but i know i just want to stop on steel reinforced hat it's not bad it's a helmet but it's like a hat helmet his neck his poor neck he's got a he's only little he's got a fedora a fedora with a metal

in it we managed to fight the men armed with hatchets and clubs driving them off and soon throughout china town he was considered invincible on may 28 pizza bodyguard lee chuck met yin yun a high binder of the rival tong at the corner or whatever it doesn't matter after exchange of words lee chuck pulled the pistol and shot his opponent five times killing him instantly officers pursued lee chuck who shot at them but the gun jammed and he was disarmed shortly after the arrest of lee chuck little pete approached officer martin and offered him a bribe of four hundred dollars if he had perched himself and give testimony he was then arrested for bribing an officer and he spent four years in fulsome wow at that point he was 25

years old and it was believed he'd killed 25 tong members it's fair one a year fairer number upon his relief release in september 1890 the police were on the watch in china town and on the lookout for more shooting they were afraid that little pete would take steps to punish some of the chinese who testified against him so they followed the members of the bo sing sears society and he just continued about his tong business sure 1896 he hired a bodyguard who was a white man interesting and on january 23rd 1890 sounds like a cable show pete yeah yeah pete and the white guy pete and the whitey pete and his bodyguard went into a chinese barber's shop half a block away from his home at this point the high binder board was forgotten but little pete

was still cautious not once in those eight months that he showed himself without an armed man at his side little pete chatted with his bodyguard as the barber lathered his forehead uh-oh that can't be right lathered his forehead yeah well he lathered his head as he lay in the chair maybe it's a red flag you're like you're gonna kill me maybe get a really hairy forehead oh please take some off the eyebrow why are you lathering my eyes here we go oh i gotta get my forehead shaved as you lay in the chair news i'm a werewolf as you lay in the chair newsboy reached the corner 50 feet away with the sporting edition of the evening paper say jim said little pete does body guard just go out there and get the paper will you i put a big bet on the last race the body guard

went out five seconds later as they reached the corner allegedly lim jung and chuten gop two tong assassins ran down the steps of the barber shop drew revolvers from the sleeves of their shirts one grabbed peep by the hair and they both shot their guns little pete sank back in the chair with a hole in his forehead while his murders disappeared his freshly shorned forehead yes i mean it looked good the bodyguard rushing back with the paper in his hand found little pete dead and the murders gone the uh the two assassins returned to china rich men pete's widow collected $50,000 in insurance money that's nice at least on the day of the funeral they came by the thousands from adjoining towns to pay their last respects and it was estimated there were at least 30,000

mongolians in the chinese headquarters while the services were being conducted all factions suspended business and so that's good yeah they could agree on that day off the san francisco earthquake on april 18th 1906 killed about 3,000 people and its obscured fires destroyed chinatown and its gambling halls and brothels this was the beginning of the end for the warring tongs as many of their sources of income never were able to come back most tongs just simply went away with the old chinatown in 1925 cleveland was the nation's largest city filling with new immigrants it's 8800,000 people lived in neighborhoods dotted with speakeasies and gambling joints and protected by bribe cops cleveland safety director edwin d berry sent out axe swads to destroy illegal

slot machines he later joined in liquorades and fired lazy and cricket policemen an irish man with a fleshy face he was so loud his nickname was bury the roar bury the roar in september 1925 yi chak a member of the cleveland chapter of the long long tong in new york city was murdered in his ontario street room chak leanna's bunk his head nearly severed from his body blood darkened knives hammers and a cleaver littered his tiny attic room a wooden plank dotted with bloody fingerprints stood against the wall the tong wards had claimed another victim this tong year this tong war had gone on a whole year and it circled the country face with the chinatown murt murder berry wanted to drive the tongs out of the city and ordered

the police chief to arrest every china man in the city of cleveland well there we go gotta be safe drop the atom bomb yeah it doesn't matter it doesn't matter count the cat the body's after get every one of them boys everyone that's our 100 method the cops rushed to ontario street bursting the stores and apartments and hauled away every chinese hey does that sound like anything jesus christ they arrested every chinese person they found word spreaded hundreds of clevelanders came to watch the raids every few minutes a shot would go up they've got another the cleveland times reported and in a few minutes later a policeman would come from one of the buildings dragging a frightened chinese person to be transferred to the city jail photographers from the city's

four newspapers climbed fire escapes to shoot the scene police filled their wagons and shut down every chinese business in the city because a guy got killed yeah a chinese guy by the way camps the chinese are a clannish sort berry told the reporter oh yeah there's such a clannish sort they're kind of like their own culture it's really crazy unlike what we're doing yeah it's no use questioning them because they can't talk english but they know who did the killing and every china man we got our hands on is going to stay in jail until he the slayers are turned up all right gonna be a while you're all going to jail gawkers rushed to ontario street empty buildings to see secrets of mysterious china town so now that now every fucking chinese place is empty so now

everyone's like let's go in and look around hey let's go there room to be filled with hidden passageways and opium dens but when they went inside they found none uh it's just okay well police and and they also went and looted the places police arrested 612 of the city 700 chinese i mean the the lucky 88 at the central police station that night cells were packed with restaurant workers merchants junior high school boys laundromat and college students with no room to lie down they spent the night standing others waiting to be booked slept on benches in a spare courtroom all were fingerprinted and photographed and federal agents interrogated them about their immigration status it's a shame they didn't have one of those mattresses from earlier a judge

i'd release them the next day on ontario street berry led fire wardens and police through the stores and tea shops berry ordered the entire ontario street china town torn to the ground these buildings will be condemned he promised most of them should have been condemned a long time ago we'll force out of the country every chinese who cannot show he was born in the us yeah these colors don't run we're through trying to make peace enough is enough i mean we're through trying to make we don't get you get out great line yeah berry figured he could do it because anti-immigrant rage was at its peak the clan was wildly popular and controlled a voting block in the state legislature cool congress had borrowed barred asian women from entering the country

that's interesting that's a weird call interesting because they couldn't be because they wouldn't be able to help themselves from fucking you exactly berry figured this was his time outrage cleveland clevelanders protested the mass arrests and all foreign newspapers denounced the raids in editorials 150 chinese residents issued a manifesto quote men women and children student teachers merchants were arrested and treated in a manner worse than that dealt the criminal suspects they called for berry to be fired for city manager william hopkins to apologize to all chinese not part of a tongue for the police to destroy the fingerprints and photos they collected and for merchants to be compensated for damages to their rated businesses

barry and hopkins refused to apologize shocking after negotiations mediated by the chamber of converse hopkins said only that he was sorry college students had been rounded up and claimed 90 of the city's chinese residents belonged to a tongue it sounds like bill mar and muslim yeah yeah berry insisted he'd had a perfectly sound reason to arrest 612 chinese to compare all their fingerprints to the bloody marks on the stick christ yeah that's that's fair right that's fair the judges who'd let the prisoners go had kept police from catching the real killer berry proclaimed this guy cleveland's on terry this guy this guy just amazing cleveland's on terry street china town saved from barry's condemnation by the landowners prompt lawsuits was torn down

in 1929 to make room for a post office building cleveland never saw another tongue war and that was the last battle between the on leong and the hip sing in any city cleveland's chinese never got the apology they demanded though the police did destroy their fingerprints oh that's sweet the bloodshed was the the last the chinese historian a chinese historian in 1982 quote by now these organizations have so declined in authority that they serve little purpose other than the preservation of chinese culture most of their earlier service functions have taken over by the american social security system the civil rights movement of course the white schools that are attended now by chinese children although new york's on leong tong was charged with murder

and racketeering activity in the 1990s interesting so we had a dormant tong what you're saying kind of like the june bug a sleepy tongue have you heard the song where did my tongue go where my tongue at i've heard the tong song how about that shit it's normal it's totally normal i loved it in california in a tiny little city there was just war i guess what are you compared to now i guess you just kind of compared to the gang violence right but it's not even i mean the gang violence yeah but the just the outright 150 guys it gets 150 guys in a field that's amazing maybe in the movie the wanderers but it's not happening anywhere else

no no it's completely insane yeah and yet i want to travel back in time and watch it well i would say i mean it would be very entertaining to be like in a you know if you're in weaverville yeah we're not good no yeah but if you're like and like two communities over you'd be like let's go to weaverville let's go check out the fight watch the shit show down in weaverville um yeah yeah girl now you know yeah finally tong now i know about the tong wars which by the way i just since we've been doing this podcast i just sold tong wars to the food network already yeah and i we've already aired that oh congratulations the ratings are bad oh yeah that's so weird sorry is it just chinese guys killing each other or is it it's basically what

it is is it's like two chinese chefs compete uh you know with a secret ingredient and whichever one loses the winner gets to kill him oh fair i would watch that i would tell you yeah it's great it sounds i mean the crew is amazing it's a phenomenal real melting pot too all right bye dav