- At least two highly publicized pitched
battles between Chinese had captured the Western imagination.
A pitched battle occurred in 1854 in Tuolumne County, California
over a mining claim between the Yum Wo and Sam Yup Companies.
The pitched battle with gongs and drums, pikes and shields involved
more than 500 Chinese and 2,000 spectators. A similar battle
occurred in Virginia City, Montana in 1881, again in a dispute
over a mining claim.
Because they made good newspaper copy, many conflicts between
Chinese, even crimes with Chinese victims were labeled as tong
wars.
A brief item in the August 22, 1901 edition of the Anaconda Standard
titled "Good-Bye to Pigtails," mentioned the formation
of a Chinese Reform Society of Butte to educate members of the
Chinese community on "modern ways" which included cutting
off queues and wearing their shirts tucked into their pants.
It wasn't long until a major issue facing the Chinese was the
growing gap between traditional Chinese and the first generation
of Chinese-Americans to have lived their lives in America and
in Butte.
A murder in China Alley over a gambling dispute and a trial in
1909 exposed how wide the rift had grown between them by then.
According to the coverage of the trial provided by the Butte
Miner on November 14, 1909, "In its last stages the trial
seemed to resolve itself into a fight between the educated Chinese
wearing American clothes and no queues and the Chinese who understood
little English and preserved most of their national characteristics."
A witness for the defense, a modern Chinese identified as Waugh
Gee who had been educated in American schools was able to turn
the County Attorney into his straight man when the prosecutor
tried to discredit his testimony for the defense. Under examination,
Gee referred to the murder victim as "the deceased."
When County Attorney Walker asked Gee who told him to use the
word deceased, in an effort to find out who had been "trimming
up that testimony" Gee replied over the objections of the
defense attorney, "I went to American schools for seven
years, and there is where I learned it."
When Walker retorted, "I went to school longer than that
before I learned that rather technical word," Gee shot back
with a smile "I guess you did not go to the same school
that I did."
In the same newspaper account the reporter, intending to describe
the victim as an opium addict instead describes him in the subhead
for the section as a "Victim of Opinion" which may
have been closer to the truth.
Public violence flared again in 1912 as a result of a dispute
over gambling. According to a report in the November 30, 1912
edition of the Butte Miner, "Reform Movement Hits Butte's
Chinatown," six Chinese filed suit against gambling operations
after learning that they could petition to recover gambling losses.
The story reports that the lines are clearly drawn between the
pro-gambling and anti-gambling groups.
"The two factions in Chinatown have been taking issue on
many subjects during the past 18 months. A factional fight has
occurred on everything where difference of opinion has occurred,
and the lines have been sharply drawn."
As the legal wrangling continued, and at least one judgement
went against the pro-gambling faction, a terrific explosion rocked
Chinatown on the night of November 8, 1914.
The story in the November 9 edition of the Anaconda Standard
describes in graphic detail how a Dr. Hum Mon Tau was blown up
by his own bomb as he showed it to a friend less than 30 minutes
after arriving in Butte by train from Omaha. From the nature
of the crime scene, police surmised that he was showing the bomb
that he had brought in an old telescope when the nitroglycerin
exploded.
The doctor was a relative of Hum Yen who was a defendant in three
civil suits and one criminal case that had resulted from the
gambling dispute. The article also reveals that the anti-gambling
faction had been aiding the police by providing details about
gambling operations for raids and in identifying opium dealers.
Most likely, the bomb was intended for the leaders of the anti-gambling
faction but exploded prematurely.
Butte's Tong War
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- The long standing dispute erupted in
violence again in 1921 although its specific origins are not
clear.
Most likely this long standing factional dispute within the community
over gambling mushroomed into a Tong War with national repercussions.
As established Tong organizations were drawn into the dispute,
the two rival groups struggled for the allegiance and financial
support of Butte's Chinese.
There is a story in a 1928 thesis by Ching Chao Wu, that the
tong war erupted when a rival tong, the Bing Kung Tong tried
to establish itself in Butte over the objections of the established
Hip Sing Tong. Wu tells a bloody tale of how one after another
four newly elected presidents of the Bing Kung Tong were gunned
down on the street as they emerged from the election meeting.
All four were murdered between 7 and 11 pm. Both Tongs had been
notified in Seattle by long distance telephone and the next morning
three Hip Sing Tong members had been killed in Seattle. By 9
am, the whole country was in a Tong War.
This story is repeated by Rose Hum Lee in her book about Butte's
Chinatown and attributed to Wu. Unfortunately, I can't find any
evidence in the papers of the day that such a fantastic bloodbath
ever took place.
Instead, what the papers show is that the Tong War began with
the murder of Chong Sing, a Chinese businessman who had begun
organizing independent Chinese businesses who were not interested
in tithing to the Hip Sing Tong. According to one account, this
group had formed a group called the Canton Club.
Either it was a rumor or he was really organizing a chapter of
the Bing Kung, but either way he paid for his independence on
the night of October 13, 1921, when he was shot dead outside
his shop at 222 S. Wyoming Street.
When the court appointed another Chinese man, Hum Mon Sen, to
handle Chong Sing's estate, the murderers assumed that he would
carry on in the effort to establish a chapter of the Bing Kung
tong. On the night of February 13, 1922, Hum Mon Sen was shot
in front of his herb shop in China Alley by a highbinder who
witnesses said wore a beaver cowboy hat.
The Butte Miner reported on February 17, 1922 titled "All
Butte in Chinese Tong War" that "men may go shirtless
or sockless and clean waists for the women folks will be an utter
impossibility for a week or more."
On April 20th, 1922 another murder took place in the Wah Chong
Tai Company as Lum Mon stood among several others inside the
busy mercantile. A young man behind Lum Mon said, "You're
just the man I want to see."
When Lum Mon turned, the man grabbed his coat and shot him as
he leaned against a counter. A suspect was soon arrested and
the police were able to piece together what happened. The murder
had been a revenge killing amongst Bing Kung members. Lum Mon,
a member of the Bing Kung tong, was believed to have "sold
out" to the Hip Sing tong and was condemned to death for
that betrayal by his own tong fellows.
Another shooting in Billings was attributed to this dispute and
27 murders in all in San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, and Chicago
were linked to the dispute between the Bing Kung and the Hip
Sing that began with the murder of Chong Sing in Butte. In June
of 1922 the Bing Kung and the Hip Sing announced that they had
established a truce.
For several years later every crime that involved a Chinese victim
was said to be a new flare-up of a Tong War.
In 1927, a recurrence of Tong violence was feared when Toy Sing,
allied with the Hip Sings, was shot to death in his living quarters
directly across the street from the Wah Chong Tai Company at
16 West Mercury Street.
Both the Bing Kung and Hip Sings made a highly public display
by holding separate feasts and then visiting one another to celebrate
the Chinese New Year to allay public fears that another Tong
War may be erupting.
By then, only a few more than 200 Chinese remained in Butte and
that population would continue to shrink as more moved to coastal
cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle. This
reflected a trend in the overall population of Butte which by
1920 had dropped to 60,313. Thousands more would leave in the
following decade.
In Rose Hum Lee's 1960 book, The Chinese in the United States
of America, she wrote, "The Chinese are in the final analysis
human beings with likes and dislikes, fears and hostilities,
bold schemes and shameful conspiracies, enterprising ventures
and unfulfilled aims."
In other words, they had much in common with all of us.
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