The On Leong Tong in Chinatown began the war in 1899 with the Hip Sing and the Four Brothers Tongs, who had joined forces against the powerful On Leong, in a battle over the vast illegal profits generated in Chinatown by gambling and the drug trade. There were sporadic murders throughout the first decade of the 20th century, but blood began to flow more rapidly in 1909, sparked by the cruel murder of a Chinese slave named Bow Kum, known as “The Little Flower.”
Her father sold Kum for a measly yen in the Canton region of China, then took her to the United States, where he sold her in the San Francisco slave market for a whopping $3,000. The buyer was Low Hee Tong, a high-ranking member of Hip Sing and Four Brothers Tongs. Tong lived with Kum for four years, but then the San Francisco police discovered the illegal servitude. When Tong was unable to produce a marriage license, Kum was taken from him and placed on a Christian mission run by Donaldina Cameron, a Scotsman famous for helping Chinese slave girls escape the terrible tongs. Soon, gardener Tchin Lee, a member of On Leong Tong, married Kum and took her to New York City.
Tong was furious at the loss of his slave’s services, but even more furious at the loss of his three thousand dollars. As a result, Tong demanded that Lee pay him back the money he spent on buying Kum. Lee refused. Tong later listed his complaints in a letter to Hip Sing and Four Brother Tongs in New York City. Lee’s Tongs agreed with him and demanded that the On Leongs force Tong to return Lee’s money. His request was denied and immediately Hip Sing and the Four Brothers Tongs flew the red flag from their building on Pell Street, indicating that they were declaring war against On Leongs.
On August 15, 1909, a Hip Sing assassin broke into Tong’s apartment at 17 Mott Street. The assassin stabbed Kum three times in the chest, severed several fingers, and then mutilated his torso. This started a bloody war that resulted in more than fifty murders in just a few months.
In late 1909, Captain William Hodgins, commanding officer of the 5th Police Station on Elizabeth Street, interceded and tried to make peace between the warring factions. He first approached the On Leong and they agreed to end the war, but only if the other two tong gave them, in reparation, a Chinese flag, a roast pig, and ten thousand packets of fireworks. The two smaller tongs considered this a great insult and the killings intensified for another year.
In late 1910, the American government became involved, and the Chinese minister in Washington DC appointed a committee of forty Chinese merchants, teachers, and students to mediate the Tong Wars. An agreement was forged between the On Leongs and the Hip Sing Tongs, but the Four Brother Tong refused to participate, so the killings continued, but not at the same rate as before.
Kerosene was thrown on the fire when, in 1912, a new Tong, the Kim Lan Wui Saw Tong, suddenly appeared in New York City and, in a battle over illegal money, declared war on the other three tong. This was an exercise in futility, as the three elder Tongs, instead of fighting each other, poured all their venom into the long-maned upstart Kim Lan Wui Saw Tong.
Bodies continued to pile up in Chinatown, nearly bringing outside business to a halt in the area. Eventually, the Chinese government in mainland China, together with the New York City police, forced the warring factions to formally agree to a cessation of hostilities. The treaty was signed on May 22, 1913 by the China Merchants Association. Peace and prosperity returned to the Chinatown area, as tourists were no longer afraid to enter Chinatown and get caught in the crosshairs of daily gunfire.
That is, until 1924, when the bloody Tong Wars started again.