Woodward Daily Democrat (Woodward, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 122, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 25, 1910 Page: 4 of 10
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TALE
I THE LAST
FRONTIER
EARLY BORDER EXPERIENCE
Of A NOTED DETECTIVE I
THE WILES OF QUONG WONG
<Copyri*i!i. IS-n l)' VV «; i'lia|>ui*n.)
<Cup> right In Great linUiiU
-Editors not#: Francl* Kfiio, th*
•mi.or. »f • family «f P*:
#r..-.r* and nxluera. mil l» r«-UI«
to M«J Itrno of l’u#'»r Maaaacr# f»nv
Hi* earlier year# were sp* M In ll"’ ,ur'
frot! of frontier Ilf# In Arison.. »i - r- l>»
wo# for idim time -I rift and
later deputy United •loir- marshal, at
Tin «on HI# rlfort# In #nfonin* III# <Til
nr»e Et.lualon Art on I hr M. il' *« *•*■-
ilrr h#v» been highly roinnn nM >•'
Washington •nthurltlr!» ■ml re. -Bulled
bv thr Highbinders. who |*l»r»«l a prior
of $iono on hi# haad. whl< h stand# to-dsi
Of Ist# pairs h# hits In Id s highly ro
■ponslhls position with otir of tin* larg-at
bonk protertiv# sssm-lsttons in th# I'nlted
mates. snd as auperlnlepd-nt of It* sr-
rrst srrvir# has established an rnvlohlr
record of snrr#as In running down bank
burglars Thrsr stories am ronflned to
hla earlier experience* In tb# west, the
scenes of which arc laid In Arlxonu and
N#w Mexico near Ih# M-M.sn border
Thr tout Frontier. which until recent
years was wild and lawless, and tsl.er.
the typical "bad man" of pioneer days
mads hla laat stsn.lt
far uk you
responded;
OSTLY all rbtnanisn
_ look alike to me.” aald
4^1 7l Jim Baltlv in. shertlf of
1^/1 Iledlatids "Some are
A™ A just a trill.■ uglier than
others, but take 'em on
the whole there'a a
mighty strong family
resemblance between
them, and they ain't
what you could call
a hnmisouie type of
family either — not
without straining llie
type considerable "
“That may be so as
and I arc concerned." I
"but after all. It's hardly
fair to set our views up as the only
correct ones If we were In China,
now, the chances are that the natives
would look on us as mighty punk
specimens of humanity Ideas of
beauty vary In the different countries
like ti.e very devil. Jim.”
"Well, I'll hold to my own Idea of
what Is good looking.” returned Bald-
win. stubbornly; "and that same idea
don't cover the face of a yellow Chtnk.
not by any manner of means '
The foregoing conversation took
place In iny office at Tucson. Baldwin
having, as he expressed It. "dropped
In to pay a little visit to Uncle
Sam" as represented by my humble
self
"Don't imagine that I’m holding any
brief for Chinamen in general, I
said. "Ever since the Chinese exclu-
sion act went Into force they have
caused me too much trouble to make
lue hail fellow well n>*: with any of
the confounded heathens licit at that,
llaldy. It isn't exactly fair to judge
the nation as a whole by the speci-
mens we get over here. Old travelers
in the Orient tell roe that it's surpris-
ing wha’ fine looking chaps some of
the Chinks in the Interior are.”
' There may he something in that,
commented the sh-riff grudgingly.
*T remember one Chink 1 ran into who
was a heap smarter 'han any other
of his countrymen that 1 ever saw.
He used to work as cook for Brady
at the Blue Moon mine. Brady had
all kinds of trouble with cooks, and
the fellow he had there before the
Chink was probably the worst of the
bunch Brady picked him tip at
Phoenix, where he had gone to buy
some supplies. He was a tall, raw-
boned chaii about forty-five years old,
dark enough for a Greaser, and with a
long under lip that hung down like
a motherless colt. He goes up to
Brady and says:
“'I beard tell down to the SY Dia-
mond ranch that they was wantin' a
cook up to the Blue Moon mine, so 1
just pulled my freight to strike the
job. Know If It's so?'
“ 'Why, yes,' says Brady. 'I'm man
ager of the Blue Moon. Can you
cook”
“ 'Yes,' says the chap, I can cook.
If you ain't too particular 1 ain't fond
of cookin', but I can do it 1 can fry
beef, make a tolerable sallyratus bis-
cuit and a middlin' fair pie outen most
anything mit 1 ain't enjoyed cookin'
much since I reformed. I used to be
as bad as any of 'em, but I got re-
ligion with a fellow I was herdin
sheep with four years ago'
•• 'Well.' says Brady, 1 guess we
can give you a trial I've got some
more business to uttend to before I
start hack to the mine, so If you hang
around here for a spell I'll meet you
In a couple of hours. Vt hat might
your name be?'
” 'They christened me Gustavus
Maine.' says the chap, but them as
knows me always calls me the Don.
Why 1 dunno; there ain't no foreign
blood In me.'
” All right. Don.' says Brady, laugh-
in'; 'take care of yoursell and I'll see
you later.*
"When Brady came hack ho found
that the new cool: had been takln'
care of himself In a regular rip-snort-
in' kind of way. He was as drunk as
a lord, and If It wasn't that they were
deaperate hard up for a cook at the
mine, he’d have called all bets off
right there. But he allowed he'd take
a chance on him, hoisted him Into his
•addle, and they started off For the
"■>*
in t fie
an the I loti grew a hit more sober and
began sitting his horse steadier, they
broke into a trot and were Tidin' along
very nice when, maktn' a sudden turn
in the road, around the point of mesa,
they caiue across a herd of burros,
driven by throe Mexicans, two boys
and an old man As they passed them
by the old fellow saluted very re-
speetful. ssyln': ‘Buenos dlas.
senores,'
They had passed the Mexicans ouiy
a few yards when the Don pulled up
and said to Brady
Did you see that Greaser makln'
faces at us? He Insulted two while
men, and I'm gotn' to rebuke hlui'
Before Brady could make a move to
stop him. the Don whips out his six-
shooter and fires straight at the old
Mexican It was a chance shot, of
course. Init I* bit the mark, and down
went the old man and the burro The
Don was just steadying himself to
take another shot at the party, when
llrady grabbed his bridle, laid bis
quirt over the horse's back, snd they
went Ilyin down the road and out of
sight around a turn. It turned out
afterwards that the burro was hit, hut
the old man was unhurt, except for
the fright he got.
.^xt day the Fhm was very down
e mouth over the had break he
made, rnd he took the tongue lash
In' Brady gave him an meek as a lauib.
Now that he was sober he turned out
to he a very quiet sort of chap, and
the hoys at the Blue Moon learned
lo like hint He had a queer way of
throwing off Scripture texts in his
talk that amused everyone, and while
he wasn't of much account as a cook,
still no one cacti to find fault with
him.
” Them biscuits have got consider-
able sallyratus in ’em. I guess.' he
used to say when he laid a pan of
heavy, yellow lumps of dough on the
table, ‘but it seems to take a heap
of it to oi»erate this flour. Fear ye not
death—ye won't mind it with a little
raw onion and plenty o( salt.'
"He had been at the Blue Muon
about two months, and Brady staod
for him all right As long as the cuss
keeps sober, he suits me,’ he said.
Then one fine day this Quong Wong
heathen showed up. Nobody knew
where he came from, but he was first
seen around the cook's shanty chat-
tering a", ay with Don. That was early
In the morning, and at the noon hour
the lad:: began chaffing Don about bis
new pal
' Thai's all right,' says he 'When-
ever 1 sees a chance to win ovfcr a
heathen soul I'm the boy to go after
it. I'm goin' to convert that heathen,
and give him religion, same as I've
got myself.'
Along about four o'clock Hill Cham-
bers told the rest of the gang that
he had peeked Into the shanty and see
Don and the Chinaman drinkin' some-
thing out of a bottle Kd. Martin al-
lowed that was a lie. because he
didn't believe that the Don would
lower himself by makin' that tree
with a Chink; out the words wasnt
out of his mouth when they hear a
mad yelling, and Don comes capering
out of the shanty, flourishing liis gun
and taking snap shots at the atmos-
phere The boys ducked for cover,
not knowing but that Don might take
a fancy to shooting at some of them
same as be had at the old Mexican
Presently they see him make a bee
line for the building where the horses
was. and soon he comes out leading
the old plug he came to the Blue
Moon on. mounts Into the saddle and
away with him. Nobody tried to In
terfere, and Brady being away at the
time didn't hear of the affair until
later on that afternoon Then he
wanted to know wliat became of the
Chink, and one of the hoys goes to the
shanty and finds him sitting there
alone. Whatever Don bad been drink-
ing, It didn’t look as If the Chinaman
had hit up the stuff to any extent for
he was as sober as a judge. The boys
brought hint to Brady, who began ask
ing him s.uestions as to how he came
there and what he was after. The
Chink was a much bigger man than
the general run of bis kind, and spoke
pretty good English, too But all that
Brady could get out of him was that
he could do American cooking and
thought he might he able to get a job
helping the cook.
•"Well,' says Brady. 'I don't know-
hut what you're responsible for get-
ting Don off on this tear. You look
like a foxy reptile. But anyway we've
got to have some one to dish up the
food, and a Chink can't be much worse
than a dunken lunatic. You can
take hold and let us see what you can
do Maybe Don'll show up again "
"But that's just wbat Don filled to
do. He never even came hack to get
the trifle of wages due him. and no-
body knows to this day where he
made tracks to. Meanwhile the Chink
got the job and made good He could
ce-talnly cook some, and the Blue
Moon boys learned to enjoy the best
kind of feeding. Still, they didn't take
iirtka af th# tasstry la wear m4
ikm feat af that kraal At tba
aaasa tisua thaw vasal aay Mhartiaa
tskaa with hla. far saaakow. CMak
though ha aha. ha p># yaa tha Ua-
preaaloa af haiag a mb that It
aould ha alar to toa ra a lea# Tbara'a
some people that nature aoema to
have put a danger stamp un aad
that's how It ana with this Quoag
Wong I ana him one day ahaa I
dropped 1a to the ramp to are Brady
or some buslae#at aad I couldn't help
but notice the queer gleaui la his lit-
tle pig eyes
“1 ain't stuck oa your aea cook,'
saya 1 to Brady. 'Muatly them hind of
lieople are haiiuless enough except
when they get to using the hatchet oa
each other; but that chap has got
something bad bid under all his quiet
ways I'd bet my head he's one of
the high mucks In a Tong society, or
something of that kind, and it just
lying low here account of somebody
he's butchered up l-os Angeles or
Frisco way.'
” Maybe so,' says Itrady, ‘but that
ain't none of my business All 1
know Is that he Is n lightning cook,
and could make a fine stew out of old
shoes If he had to Walt till you
taste some of the stuff be serves up
and you won't care If he belonged to
all the Tongs from here to China I'll
iaaw at aay axil—»>■' It that —Id harn hat MMb my noumrwi —.
whoa ha palaat^H ka»a >■■■■ Jaat wham tn pat Mr N* •*V-
ag. H# sura turaod out hands m tha atari. «***fTT
"I IMhd that
goratod aay
chink's cart
a satisfactory at
night, aad I left
charitable to hla lift la sank
ataata than I would ham supposed
possible drill It waaa't luag before
I was to boar af a racket at the Blue
Moon that made m# fancy that ay
ortgtaal Ideas about Mr. Wong s
amusements sere the correct ones.
"Aa I said before, the gang didn't
ration very kindly to the <*htnk. for
nil I hat he was auch aa extra fine
chock provider There was n fellow
named Jim Blackburn la particular
who had It In (or Wong, and never let
a chance go by of making him feel It.
And one night Blackburn and a couple
of his pals who bad been bitting up
the whisky bottle pretty free, made up
their minds to pay Wong a visit and
hale him a little hit They knew noth
Ing about the snake, for Itrady had
kept his mouth abut regarding the
Chink's pet, not wlshiug to make him
any more unpopular than he was I
always believed to this day that
Wong. In some way got wise to their
kind Intentions. At any rate, when
his three conspiring neighbors stole
up to bis shanty quietly in the dark,
Wong was lying snugly wrapped in •
aa tha
Thda was my hnrtaaan.
aad I last aa Uaa la gn
Quong W'aag. aha I fait
mlxad ap la tha dart Bat art a
ward could wa got out of that baalhaa
that aauM help ua aay Ha simply
•toad pat aad dwclaivd his innocence
What triad ma move than anything
else was tha stand that Brady took.
Ha aald I was prejudiced agaiaat the
Chink, and that there waaa't aa atom
of evidence to connect him with tha
robbery. In the long run I was
obliged to let the yellow reptile go;
snd If you'll believe me, the first
think that lirady did was to put hltu
hack as cook at the mine And we
didn't get any trace of the robbers,
either A* for Wong, he stayed oa at
the Blue Moon for several months and
then quit, saying that he was going to
'Frisco to live.”
"Didn't you ever hear anything
more about him?" I queried, as Bald-
win finished his tale
"Not me,” said the sheriff, rising
and slrolltug over lo the window; "and
what's more, I don't care If I never
saw his ugly face again He made me
look like a fool ooce aad— Buffering
snakes. Reno, come here "
\t\
vM,
■m
K4
mm
mm
n /1
Jv
/
'JZlT" ■
ti, ,
There was Hr. Wong- SQuattfrg- on fhe floor
with a kind of flute fn his moufh — /
/Me fun.’1 '
Orst mnes tbev went slow; then, to the new cook, which I suppose was
:
admit that he has some add fancies,
though. He keeps a bis rattlesnake
lor a pet In that shanty where he
sleeps that seems to know him like
a dog does his master.'
“ 'How can you tell?' ! asked.
" Well, It was like this,' says
Brady. 'Yon see, he doesn't sleep In
the bunk house with the rest of the
gang. I guessed that the boys
wouldn't care about having a Chink
put In with them, and so to keep
things peaceful I rigged him up a
place In an old shanty where he could
be by himself. One night I was pass-
ing by there, when I heard a kind of
queer whistling music and looked in
the door. There was Mr. Wong
squatting on the floor with a kind of
flute In his mouth, playing away like
fun, and right In front of him was a
four-foot rattler swaying his yellow-
barred iiody in circles from side to
side in time with the music. It made
my hair stand straight on my head
for a moment. It was such an unex-
pected sight Wong heard me gasp,
looked up and stopped playing The
instant he did so the rattler stopped
swaying and remained with half Its
lx>dy erect, and poised In the air as
though stiffened to stone. The Chink
made a motion with his flute, and it
dropped like a flash and glided away
into a narrow wooden box that lay In
a corner of the shanty
" Wong didn't seem in the least dis-
turbed over my visit. When I hinted
that I didn't quite upprove of such
dangerous pets around the premises
he merely grinned, and assured me
that he had the snake under perfect
control and It would never leave the
shnnty unless he permitted It. Of
course, I didn't care to press the mat-
ter any further, as the Chink Is the
only decent cook that I have bad
• round here for the laat two years,
and If he wanta to play with poison
snakes that's hit own funeral.
“ •Well.' said I, ‘It's all a matter of
taste, but I think I'd sooner put up
with a little bum cooking than hnva
blanket on the far side of the build-
ing. He explained afterward that he
was bothered by the heat and lay
down outside for the purpose of keep-
ing cool.
"Blackburn was in the lead, pushed
open the door of the shanty and stole
In with his pals close behind him.
He calk*] Wong by name, but there
was no answer. Then one of them
struck a match and lit a lantern they
carried. They looked around, hut the
shanty was empty.
" Hell.' says Blackburn, 'the blasted
Chink alnt here Wonder what he's
got hidden away In that box?'
"He went over to the box that lay
In the corner and raised the lid. The
next minute the head of the snake
darted out, rattling like mad. and
Blackburn gave a frightful howl
‘"I'm a dead man, boys,' he yelled;
'the snake's bitten me!'
"One of his pals turned bis gun
loose and blew the head off the rat-
tler. and then they began pouring
whisky Into Blackburn to try and save
his life, latcky for him, he had been
well filled up with the stuff before
he ever came In the shanty, or It
would have been all day with him.
Even as It was It wns louch and go
with hltn, and he only cheated the
coroner by the closest kind of a shnve.
"You can Imagine that this Incident
didn't help towards making Wong any
more of a favorite with the crowd. At
that there was some of them said
Blackburn only got what he deserved,
and Brady, who Is a very obstinate
kind of a cuss when he gets his mind
made up, said right out that the Chink
wasn't to blame. I took a different
view of the affair, for I figured that
the yellow man lust naturally laid a
trap for them fellows. Hut Brady was
boss of the Blue Moon, and It wasn't
really any of my buslnesa. so long ax
there hadn't heea any fatal results.
"About eight weeks arter this the
Blue Moon wus robbed, and robbed by
someone who knew the lay of the land
around there, for they got away with
I joined h!:n at the window, and he
pointed to the figure of an-einusually
tall Chinaman who was passing on
the opposite side of the street.
"There's the identical cuss I was
telling you about," he said, excitedly.
N'ov what is he up to here In Tuc-
son ?"
I looked, ana indulged In a whistle
of surprise.
"Why," 1 exclaimed, "that Is a well-
known Chinese merchant and gambler
who has been located here for the
past six months. He Is named Quong
Wong, all right enough, but those
Chink names are so much alike that
1 never thought of him when you were
telling me your story. A mighty smart
Celestial, too. If all they say about
him Is true."
“Well," growled Baldwin, disgust-
edly, "It don't make any difference to
me now. The Blue Moon robbery Is
ancient history, and If I couldn't get
the goods on him then It ain't likely
I'd stnnd much chance at this stage
of the game. I only wish he'd do
something that 'ud get the federal
government after him, and land the
skunk In the pen."
"Stranger things have happened,” I
laughed. "We'll hope for the best,
Huldy."
Three days later 1 received a tele-
gram from I-os Angeles which caused
me to look upon myself In the light
of an inspired prophet. It contained
Instructions from Attorney General
Knox to place under Brrost one Quong
Wong, on a charge of aiding and abet-
ting the unlawful entry of certain of
lila countrymen Into the United States
I hastened to the store where Mr.
Wong dealt the commodities of hls
native land—only to find the bird
flown. Evidently some of hls numer-
ous friends had obtained Information
of hls Indictment by the federal court
and given him warning.
I went to l-os Angeles and Inter-
viewed l'nltcd States Marshal Os-
borne, and was sworn In as specJal
deputy for the South district of Call-
«i tba tan*
art tba aaart anrtaa
af tba artrtaa tbrt mw
takas rafng# la tha Lam
a. Aa I was a warn
; knew aw by sight- K «•
la RiriTl with eitreasa
caution, tha aaosw aa aa. (raw «hal
Baldwin had tart aw.
skoa I was la searefc was giftad with
talents af no waaa ardar.
Accordingly, a Chiaawaa aawad
Law Tung, eaiptoyad la the Unllwd
State# ear ret service emigration d»
part went, was seat for aad ordarnd
to place himself at my disposal Imm .
a to report to me at tha Third
street entrance of tba Holland Bach
hotel at two p. m. I was 'o waar a
white ribbon la wy left button halo
at a means of identification Fromptr
ly at two o'clock a Chinaman clad la
American garments aad wearing a
Fedora liat made his appearance. Aa
he passed me he raised his hat. tha
signal agreed upon. 1 walked into tha
hotel lobby and entered tha elevator
followed by the celestial stranger.
Entering my room I closed the door
and my assistant produced hla creden-
tials from the secret service depart-
ment. I then told him what vna
wanted and he Inquired If 1 knew
what the suspect's family name *11.
It ia an Invariable rule with Chinn-
men residing in America to go under
different names from thoae by which
they are known In their own eountry.
I said I would wire n Chinaman la
Tuscan with whom I was acquainted
and try to obtain the desired Inform*
lion In the meantime Lem Tong aiv
ranged to do a little scouting on hla
own account In Chinatown, and wa
parted, with the understanding that
he a as to meet me at six o'clock oa
the following afternoon When ha
again reported he Informed me that
ha had discovered our man's family
name to lie Wong On.
1 had not yet received a reply to my
telegram to Tusron, and until I did. I
would not authorise l-eni Tong to go
ahead with hls search. This was
merely a precaution on my part be-
cause I did not know l-em. and could
not be sun- whether he would play ma
false. Despite the fact that ha Ml
employed by the secret service depart-
ment It was advisable to move slow-
ly. The Occidental can never quits
fathom the subtle thoughts of tha
wily Oriental inlnd, and a man of
Quong Wong's wealth and tnfluenca
among hls own countrymen might pos-
sibly he able to win my Celestial a»
slstunt's favor by means of a bribe.
Consequently 1 told l-em to meet
me the following morning when I
would deride definitely wliat steps wa
would take In the matter. But that
night iny doubts were set at rest by
the rerelpt of a telegram from Tuscon
declaring the family name of my sus-
pect to he Wong On l-em's Informa-
tion being thus rnnlirmrd I started
him on the trail, and having assumed
the ordinary garb of hls countrymen
he plunged Into the winding ways of
Chinatown *
Early the next morning l-em ap
peured before me smiling triumphant-
ly. Ills quest had been a successful
one. and he was able to report that
the much sought for Quong Wong
could be found on the third floor ol
a building at 817 Clay street. San
Francisco. In room 18. living with a
Chinaman named Ah Ben
To understand properly what a
rapid piece of detec tive work this was
on the part of Lem Tong. It must bs
remembered that there are over 8.000
celestials In Los Angeles Chinatown,
all of them as like as two peas, and
hound by tin- oaths of their respective
tongs to hinder by every meaus in
their power the arrest of a criminal. |
1 lost no time In wiring the local buJ
reau of emigration at San Francisco,
giving a detailed description ol
Quong Wong and ordering hls arresll
The federal authorities do not allot)
grass to grow under their feet when
engaged on Uncle Sam s business, and
two hours later I received a messag4
which read: {
"Have Quong Wong in custody;
come and get him." ,
I left at once for San Francisco, g
trip of isu miles, and on the followi
Ing night Mr. Wong was delivered
into my hands On the rsturn Journey
I endeavored to draw my prisoner into
a discussion of the Blue MAon rob
bery, hut without avail. Whenever
the conversation took this turn he im
mediately forgot hls English, and a»
sumed a look of stupidity that would
have done credit to n hopeless Imbe-
cile. None the less I felt convinced
that Mr. Wong could. If he chose
throw light on the subject. He wal
undoubtedly the best educated China
man that it was ever my fortune tt
meet, and 1 fancy that at one lime hf
must have been a person of eonsid
crable consequence In the Celcatla
empire. 1 have always found China
men to be most tractable prisoners
The Oriental belief in the all-powerful
decrees of Fute. which they deem l|
useless to resist, prevents them efr
factually from taking the desperatd
chances for escape which a whit}
man might avail himself of when In
the toils Quong Wong proved to bs
no exception to the rule, but with tha
memory ol Baldwin s snake story still
fresh tn my mind I was disposed to
keep a wary eye on hltu.
As a matter of fact I carried my
caution so far as to compel him to
wenr handcuffs from the moment I
took him Into custody until I landed
him safely In the lock-no, a precaution
I would never have dreamed of em-
ploying where an ordinary specimen
of hls race was concerned. In dua
course of time Quong Wong was tried,
convicted .and sentenced to the peni-
tentiary lor a term of turee years—a
climax to his ambitious career which
proved a source of Intense satisfac-
tion tn my redoubtable friend, Sheri I
Jim Baldwin.
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Woodward Daily Democrat (Woodward, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 122, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 25, 1910, newspaper, January 25, 1910; Woodward, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc848023/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.