Word: tong
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...TONG WAR RENEWED? TONG DEATHS MOUNT?TONG CHIEFS... TONG HATE. . . TONG...
...sightseers know that tong means "Parlor." The implication of the word is a genial one, implying conversation, compromise, good cheer. Tongs were originally started as protective trade organizations. They became, by degrees, political bodies?compact, powerful, antagonistic. Thus was the word perverted. Now, when that word appears in print, it clangs like a terrible bronze bell summoning unseen hordes to war, sounding the knell of many pathetic, dingy little men who will die by violence, in secret places...
...Tong wars begin quickly, kindled by rivalry between two rich tea- merchants for the favors of one of those slender concubines that so vividly people the imaginations of sightseers; by a trade jealousy; a stolen opium shipment; in short, by almost any obscure betrayal of Oriental honor. Once begun, they are conducted on a system much re- sembling that which governs the game of chess. The purpose of each side is to wipe out the important leaders of the other. Hired assassins do the actual campaigning?tong gunmen who have originated many of the devices in favor with detective story...
...murder of a tong chief, a gunman may receive as much as $10,000; for a pawn or coolie, not more than $500. At the end of a war, the better shots are often rich men. Last week, obedient to the messages from Boston, they began business in a number of cities...
...Newark one Chin Hin, a member of the Hip Sing Tong, locked the thin door of his hall-bedroom, went to sleep. He was awakened by a soft repeated, terrifying knocking on the door. Summoning all his courage, he flung it open. There was no one outside. He returned to bed. An interval of silence; the sound began again. Once more Chin Hin, with cold sweat starting from him, threw open the door; once more he was met by vacancy. He turned his key; almost instantly, the knocking was resumed. Chin Hin, deranged by terror, jumped out of the window...