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Title: Hatchet Men by Richard H. Dillon ISBN: 0-89174-027-9 Publisher: Comstock Book Distributors Pub. Date: June, 1977 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $3.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Dated classic contains important historical details, color
Comment: Richard Dillon's examination of Chinatown and crime (pre-1906) is a classic, a colorful thrill ride culled primarily from old San Francisco newspaper accounts. The details are a treasure trove. It must, however, be pointed out that Dillon's book, written in 1962, approached Chinatown (and the confluence of factors faced by the Chinese diaspora--poverty, clan rivalries, secret society conflicts, corruption, after-effects of China ravaged by war and turmoil, violent racism, and the criminal milieu of San Francisco that was NOT limited to Chinatown) from the standpoint of a Caucasian "tourist". The lurid details are presented. Very little of the reason for the violence is given. did a better job than most historians of his generation, but clearly had no sensitivity to the deeper cultural factors. More recent explorations of Chinese-American history, which benefit from a modern outlook and more recent information (from China itself, for instance) do a better job explaining the "why" behind the violence of old Chinatown (which Dillon for the most part does not do). Still, this is an important history, and still one of the few that have focused specifically on the subject. It deserves a spot on the shelf next to Herbert Asbury's "Barbary Coast".

Rating: 3
Summary: 19thC. crime and criminality in San Francisco's Chinatown
Comment: 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.