By Parker Anderson
It is well known that Northern Arizona, including Prescott, had a very large population of Chinese residents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, since then, that community has all but disappeared from this area. The local Chinese have become the stuff of legend, often talked about but little documented.
Many Chinese communities in America were also beset by Tong activity. Now, Chinese Tongs were believed to be secret societies and/or gangs of Orientals who were extremely powerful and were believed, at least by non-Chinese, to be involved in criminal activity. Historians disagree as to the reach and scope of the Tongs, but many believed them to be virtually invincible. Much Tong activity is recorded by history in cities such as San Francisco. Tongs were considered to be very deadly, and they were often the subject of dime novels and old movies with anti-Oriental viewpoints in the early 20th century. Probably the best remembered American movie of the era to utilize the Tong theme was THE HATCHET MAN (1932) with Edward G. Robinson, but the subject still crept into cinema as late as 1963, with the British-made TERROR OF THE TONGS, starring Christopher Lee. Implied Tong activity existed in the films and novels about the fictional Oriental crime-lord Fu Manchu as well. But these glorified accounts were generally unrealistic, and the deadly reality of Tong violence in the nation's Chinese communities was still mostly only whispered about, along with speculative newspaper accounts when Tong violence actually broke out.
As with all gangs, violence often erupted between the rival Tongs, who often sent out "hatchet men" (assassins to dispatch their enemies). It was not widely believed that the Tongs reached into Arizona's Chinese communities until October 20, 1926. On that fateful day, Tom King, a Chinese immigrant of long residence in Kingman, was peeling potatoes in the kitchen of the American Kitchen restaurant, which he operated, when five other Orientals burst through the door with guns, opening fire, and killing King instantly.
Mohave County authorities hit the trail of the murderers, and caught up with them near the California State line. The five men were identified as B.W.L. Sam, Shew Chin, Jew Har, Gee King Long, and Wong Lung. All five were further identified as hatchet men for the Bing Kong Tong. The deceased Tom King was revealed to have been a long-standing member of the Hop Sing Tong. Both Tongs had been warring in the larger cities for years.
The Hop Sing Tong was regarded as one of the most powerful in America. Alarmed by the outbreak of Tong activity in their area, Sheriff Mahoney of Mohave County ordered a general "shakedown" of all Chinese residents, confiscating guns, and ordering several of them to leave Kingman. He also asked Yavapai County to take the five Tong killers to jail in Prescott, ostensibly as a safeguard of attempts on their lives by other hatchet men. The five men were lodged in jail in Prescott shortly after that.
In December of 1926, the Tong killers went on trial. Marring the proceedings were the sudden and mysterious disappearance of Don On, a restaurant customer who had been the only eyewitness to Tom King's murder. He was never found. Also raising apprehension was the arrival in Kingman of three other Tong members, ostensibly to witness the trial. Sheriff Mahoney placed them under arrest, even though they had caused no disturbance.
Despite these setbacks, juries found the Tong men guilty of first-degree murder, and they were sentenced to hang at the State Prison in Florence. Their lawyers, most likely paid for by the Bing Kong Tong, immediately appealed to the State Supreme Court. This delayed the executions for quite awhile. The possibility of a successful appeal alarmed the Hop Sing Tong, who dispatched their top attorney to Arizona from Chicago. The Tong attorney, J.N. Young arrived in Prescott on March 22, 1927, and immediately employed several prominent local attorneys (including Judge E. Elmo Bollinger of the Mohave County Superior Court, Yavapai County Attorney W.E. Paterson, and Assistent Yavapai County Attorney John J. Sweeney) to represent the Tong during the appeals process. Attorney Young told the Prescott Courier that the Hop Sing Tong had over one million dollars to spend to insure that the killers' appeals would not be successful. Young announced that there were twenty Chinese businessmen in Prescott who were members of the Hop Sing Tong.
The Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of the Tong men, but their hanging was postponed further when Frank Craig, another witness at the trial, recanted his testimony and claimed that he had been bribed by Attorney J.N. Young to testify as he did. After extensive wrangling and debating among the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, the execution date was set again, this time for June 23, 1928. At the last minute, Wong Lung's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because of his age: the Tong hatchet man was 17. On June 23, the other four assassins went to the gallows at Florence State Prison, one right after the other.
In retrospect, it is surprising that the Tong murder case is not better remembered. It was also unusual for the prison to go through with a quadruple hanging. The story has a chill to it that resonates to this day, nearly eighty years later. In fact, this author was a bit apprehensive in writing about it.
Do Chinese Tongs still exist? This has been debated by historians of Chinese culture. Many contend that they eventually died out due to the modernizing of times, while others suspect that they still exist, but that they keep a much lower profile than they used to. We may never know for sure.
(Parker Anderson is a dedicated researcher at the Sharlot Hall Museum.)
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(st149pb)
Reuse only by permission.
The Chinese Joss House served as the center of Prescott's Chinatown.