Hatchet Men: The Story of the Tong Wars in San Francisco’s Chinatown

by Richard H. Dillon

Richard Dillon, one of California’s premier historians, tells the compelling story of San Francisco’s exotic pre-1906 Chinatown when vicious hoodlum gangs held sway. Chinatown, as demonstrated by Dillon’s fast-paced narrative, became a cauldron of chaos teeming with thugs, prostitutes, gamblers, and warlords preying on scores of helpless victims. .

As the Tong Wars ripped through San Francisco’s Chinatown, the Chinese inhabitants lived under a reign of terror. Opium was abundant as were “slave girls,” women imported for the purpose of prostitution. Hatchet-wielding killers silenced any opposition.

It was a lurid and violent chapter in American history—and, in an era when the customs of an Asian people were considered foreign and frightening to begin with, the very word “Chinatown” came to suggest the mysterious, the sinister.

The truth that survived the earthquake of 1906 was both colorful and tragic. Richard Dillon exposes the plight of the Chinese “average man,” trapped between the Tongs that terrorized and cast their shadow over him, and a government that disastrously misunderstood him.

Richard H. Dillon has written more than 20 books about California and the West.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Crime

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Beth Cato · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another book read for the sake of novel research as I delve into San Francisco as it was before the 1906 earthquake. In particular, I wanted to learn more about the Tongs: their structure, their names, how they functioned, and so on. That information isn't available online.

Hatchet Men was originally published in 1962; it has now been re-released by a small press. There were numerous typographical errors throughout the book that sometimes distracted me as I read.

Did the book supply me with the information I wanted? Yes. It was a fascinating read and gave me the insights I wanted, down to hand signals, rituals, and Chinese phrases. I had no idea that the Tongs (or anyone else a century ago) used chain mail as bullet-proof vests! I can also use key words from the text to search more on my own.

It's by no means a perfect book, typos aside. It's a book written by a white man about Chinatown. He doesn't write with intimacy of the place or the people--more with a journalist's plain prose. It's not that he's outright anti-Chinese, more that it has the definite feel of an outsider looking in. Sometimes Hatchet Men felt repetitive, but it never bored me. I also worry about accuracy. At the end of the book, he quotes the propaganda figure for the death toll from the 1906 quake--a mere 450 fatalities. This is flat out wrong. There were probably singular buildings with death tolls that high.

That kind of "fact" makes me worry about the accuracy of other points, but the problem is that there just hasn't been much written on the specific subject of Tongs in San Francisco. I'm thankful for this resource and I'll have to follow up as much as I can.

[Bob Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

19thC. crime and criminality in San Francisco's Chinatown

The Great Earthquake of 1906 that leveled and burned Chinatown along with much of San Francisco put an end to the opium dens, whorehouses, and gang meeting houses that had marked the Chinese quarter of the city since 1852. When Chinatown was rebuilt, it was by American-Chinese who played by new rules, had different interests and wanted the `good life' as available in California in those days. "Hatchet men", like dinosaurs, trudged off into history.
Richard Dillon compiled a long-winded saga of the intricate relationships between legitimate Chinese companies (or benevolent societies), the American police, and Chinese gangs. He did it mainly by delving into newspapers and government inquiries, reports, and court ordinances of the second half of the 19th century. Turning up a huge amount of information, he ran into trouble trying to digest it for readers. The text contains too many names, too many details of too many crimes for anyone not engaged in research to keep straight. The basic theme is very interesting however. He examines the rise of Chinese criminality from 1852, when first there was a substantial Chinese population in the city, to the end of the century. In the early days, Chinese remained law-abiding residents of the USA for the most part, though they had two weaknesses---opium and what Dillon calls "slave girls", i.e. women imported for the purpose of prostitution. Slowly however, the rise of clan and village organizations that fought each other for mastery of criminal activities in Chinatown signaled a breakdown in law and order. Chinese lived under a reign of terror during the 1880s and `90s. Hatchet-wielding killers silenced any opposition to their sway. The police had a very difficult time dealing with the problem especially since the gangs were not slow to bribe inquiring officers. These gangs are called "tongs" in the text: the details of their names, activities, leaders, and victims are extremely numerous. Eventually, tighter police control and the increasing readiness of more-Americanized Chinese to speak out against their oppressors put an end to the warfare. But the "hatchet men" or hired killers had their day. If you are interested to know what it was like, you can read this book, though it could have been better organized.
In America, we have had or still have gangsters of many national origins. They mirror our population. The Italian mafia is well-known thanks to Hollywood, then we can count the Jews, the Vietnamese, the Jamaicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, and the Russians. I am sure this is not an exhaustive list. Why the Chinese should be seen as exotic is part of a larger question. They were just gangs operating in their own cultural style. Dillon attempted to place his study in the framework of the progress of tolerance to Asian settlement in California, but I think this theme got overwhelmed in the details of cops and killers.

[Damon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written over 50 years ago, this book gives a general history of gang wars in San Francisco's Chinatown from the mid 1800's until the earthquake of 1906. One thing that stood out for me was that this book does not age particularly well. Dillon gives numerous references to turn-of-the-century Californian figures without context, and uses antiquated terms to describe the Chinese in America. The book further lacks a notes or references section, which makes it ill-suited to use in further study of Chinatown's history. Beyond these deficiencies, I found the book to be an entertaining read at parts.

I would recommend a reader interested in the general topic instead pick up Tong Wars by Scott Seligman instead. While Dillon's expertise on California history underpins the narrative, his weak background on China issues shines through. Seligman, however, does not suffer from this, and does abetter job at researching the individuals and organizations involved in the gang wars of the time.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well done popular history about the Chinese gangsters during frontier era San Francisco.

[Sabrina Flynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for my research into San Francisco. I found it easy to read and very interesting. It wasn't just a sensational book on the tongs like some I've come across, but delved into the political and racial tensions festering in San Francisco, and reasons why the tongs flourished in the latter half of the 19th century. I also felt that the information was presented without prejudice, which I'm always conscious of when doing research since the newspaper archives of the time period are always rife with prejudice and agendas.

Edited to three stars. While this was super interesting, I found a number of errors after doing further research on at least two subjects. The Bubonic Plague and the death toll of SF. In the Hatchet Men, it says that the Bubonic Plague and subsequent quarantine of the Quarter was nothing but a scare and tells of an offer of 10,000 dollars to the Consul to remove the quarantine. While that did happen, the plague was very real, and lasted well after the 1906 earthquake.

It also lists the death toll of the earthquake as something around 500. That was once the belief. Now historians put the number at over 3,000, which considering the destruction seems much more accurate.

[Jarda Kubalik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rich in detail and well researched, but I just felt it would be written very differently nowadays. Maybe chose a central character, give it more action, humor.. anyway, every age has its own style and ways of using the facts.

[Xenophon Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

With the similarity of Chinese names to Western ears, it was difficult to keep track of what was going on. It would probably greatly help comprehension to read the book twice, but it isn't interesting enough to read twice.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful history of San Francisco hatchet wars. The life of the Chinese community and its effect on the city. I had no idea of how terrible it was back then. very interesting

[Seth Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Detailed but dry. Which I suppose is average for a single-topic history book. If it only had a citation section it would be a great jumping off point for research.