Bowie Knife Stabbing in Chinatown (1892)

The start of the California gold rush saw the arrival of thousands of immigrants from China, who either worked in the gold fields or provided goods and services to those who did. In 1849 there were 54 Chinese inhabitants of California; by 1871 there were 116,000.

Language and cultural differences, as well as racial prejudice, kept the Chinese a community apart. There was only one section of San Francisco in which the Chinese were allowed to bequeath property to their heirs--this became Chinatown. The first wave of Chinese immigration was almost entirely men, and along with it came a criminal element that ran brothels, opium dens, and gambling halls.

News coverage of activities in Chinatown was scanty, and generally presented with an element of "ethnic humor" as in the following from the San Francisco Chronicle of February 16, 1892. The term "highbinders" refers to Chinese gangsters.

A MURDEROUS MONGOL

Luie Fook Stabs Leong Chuen -- The Dagger Left Sticking in the Wound -- War Again Declared by the Chinese Highbinders and More Blood to Flow.

War was renewed among the Chinese highbinders last night, and the first victim was Leong Chuen, who was severely stabbed by Luie Fook. The murderous highbinder was arrested, and his victim was taken to the receiving hospital. The wound is an inch wide and six inches deep. The knife entered just above the hipbone on the left side and ploughed its way inward and upward among the intestines. The surgeons said that the sufferer was likely to die.
   
The stabbing took place at 6:40 o'clock on the stairway at 1016 Stockton Street. Chuen, who was employed at that place as a workman on overalls for Sam Kee, was walking upstairs with a large bundle of overalls on his shoulder. He stepped aside to allow a man to pass. This man, however, instead of going by peacefully, plunged a six-inch bowie knife into Chuen's side, left the knife sticking in and fled into the street. Chuen drew the blood-covered blade from his side and started in pursuit of his assailant. Charles Reardon, James White and A. Brazziolars were passing at the time the fugitive emerged from the door, and to them Chuen cried, “Stop, catchee! Him man he cuttee me!”

The three citizens joined in the chase, and one blew a police whistle. The fleeing Chinese turned down Washington street and ran into the arms of Officers Conway and Adams, who were attracted by the whistle. Chuen handed them the knife and explained what had taken place. They all started to the Chinatown police station. On the corner of Waverly Place the prisoner slipped his hand under his blouse and drew a pistol which he tried to drop on the street to avoid being charged with carrying a concealed weapon. In so doing the hammer became caught in his clothing and exploded a cartridge in the weapon. The bullet struck his left leg and ploughed a deep furrow along the calf and struck and struck the sidewalk within an inch of Officer Adams' foot. Both officers were so frightened that they jumped almost as high as their prisoner's head, and when they returned to mother earth they found the prisoner's pistol at their feet in the gutter.
   
About five minutes after the stabbing Officer Gibson of the Chinatown squad visited the premises at 1016 Stockton Street and found at the head of the stairs another large bowie knife. It is suspected that one of the prisoner's friends threw this knife where it was found, so that a plea of self-defense could be set up when the case comes up for trial.

Due to the relatively narrow width of the wound described, it is likely that the crime was committed with the ubiquitous bowie knife. However, Chinese gangsters might occasionally be armed with the traditional Chinese butterfly sword, which would likely be described as a bowie knife by Westerners.

Perils of Gold-Rush California, Bowie Knives Among Them

When gold was discovered in California, footloose fortune-seeking men from all over the world converged on that undeveloped territory. Great Britain had only terminated Australia's status as a penal colony a year before, and many Australians, among them ex-convicts, flocked to the port of San Francisco. Perhaps out of concern that the land down under might quickly depopulate, an article appeared in the Hobart, Tasmania Courier on August 1, 1849, exaggerating the perils of California:

A WORD OF ADVICE CONCERNING THE NEW GOLD REGIONS.

Mr. Ross Cox, the author of the amusing adventures on the Columbia River, writes as follows to a friend in Ireland touching California, a country in which he is well acquainted:--"I am strongly opposed to any of our countrymen proceeding to California. If the country were in a settled state, and that law and order prevailed, their knowledge, sobriety, and industry might undoubtedly soon realise their dreams; but the contrary is notoriously the fact. The territory has been only lately acquired by the United States, and there is no protection for either life or property in it. I know the reckless and daring character of the American back woodsmen; many of them have made their way to the golden valley of the Sacramento. They are all dead shots with the rifle, and when that fails, their close quarters with the bowie knife generally prove fatal. Every native of our islands who should think of going thither should be armed with a rifle, a brace of pistols, a dirk, and a couple of bowie knives. They should go in bands of from 60 to 100--appoint a captain and subalterns--keep watch and ward--study all species of fighting, offensive and, defensive—make themselves perfect masters of the rifle, and provide a good commissariat, with chests for their treasure, etc. Such parties may succeed, but I have no hesitation in saying that straggling adventurers or small isolated parties, ignorant of the country, and of the mode of fighting or robbing practised there, will be shot down like deer or prairie hens."

It's a wonder that anyone made it out of there alive! Actually, the facts suggest that gold-rush era California was not such a dangerous place as long as one stayed out of saloons, avoided mean drunks and psychos, and didn't flash your cash, pick fights, or act like a sore loser in poker games. In other words, observe the Rule of the Three Stupids:

Don't go to stupid places. 
Don't hang out with stupid people.
Don't do stupid things.

An Armed Society is a Polite Society

Stephen Johnson Field (1816 – 1899) was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1863 to 1897, and prior to that, the 5th Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. In his autobiography, Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California,  Judge Field described his habit of carrying arms in California in the early 1850s:

I have said that in those days everyone went armed; it would be more correct to say that this was true in the mining regions of the State and when travelling. I, myself, carried a Derringer pistol and a Bowie-knife until the Summer of 1854, though of course out of sight. I did so by the advice of Judge Mott, of the District Court, who remarked that, though I never abused a witness or a juror, or was discourteous to any one in court, there were desperate men in the country, and no one could know to what extremity they might go, as I would not be deterred by any considerations from the discharge of my whole duty to my clients. So, until the Summer of 1854, I carried weapons. And yet they were not such provocatives of difficulty as some of our Eastern friends are accustomed to think. On the contrary, I found that a knowledge that they were worn generally created a wholesome courtesy of manner and language.