A Violent Reckoning at a Seattle Import Shop
After embezzling over $600 from his partners, a treasurer at a local Chinese merchant firm attempted to strike down his employer with a sword-knife, sparking a chaotic pursuit through the city streets.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
King Hip, treasurer of the Tong Chong Company, dealers in Chinese merchandise on Washington Street, near the corner of South Sixth Street, being foiled in an attempt to steal $625 from the company, last evening tried to kill the senior member of the firm, Tong Chong. He was captured at 11 o'clock and is now in the city jail.
An examination of the accounts showed a shortage of $1,016, and King Hip was accused of embezzling the money. Last evening, he was seen taking $625 from a buckskin purse in the company's cash drawer. He was attempting to leave the store when Tong Chong seized him. A struggle ensued in which Hip was thrown to the floor. He sprang to his feet, seized a Chinese sword-knife—a weapon about three feet long—and made a rush for Chong. The latter retreated across the rooms, scattering boxes of rice, bales of dried catfish, and light merchandise in all directions. Before Hip reached him, he was disarmed by three coolies who rushed to their master's rescue.
Hip broke away and caught up a Chinese ebony chair, hurling it at Chong. The chair whistled over Chong's head, and in revolving, one of the legs struck him beside the right ear, knocking him senseless. The sight of blood frightened Hip, who took to his heels. Detective Charles Phillips tracked Hip on West Street as far north as Pine Street before losing the trail. Finally, at 11 o'clock, Lieutenant Sullivan found him sneaking along in the shadow of the Kinnear block. He was searched, but the $625 was not found on him; he had just 10 cents and several Chinese letters.
“The latter retreated across the rooms, scattering boxes of rice, bales of dried catfish, and light merchandise in all directions.”
This incident highlights the precarious nature of early Chinese-run businesses in Seattle, which faced both internal economic pressures and external discriminatory policing. The intersection of Washington and Sixth (now near the Pioneer Square district) remains a historic core of Seattle, echoing a time when immigrant entrepreneurs struggled for autonomy within a hostile legal landscape.
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