In 1909, Chinese-American comedian Ah Hoon was a well-known actor, performing regularly at the Chinese Theater. Located at 5-7 Doyers Street (pictured below in 1909), the theater was a popular venue for Chinese- and English-speaking audiences, who enjoyed the trip to exotic Chinatown.Â
Ah Hoon belonged to the On Leong Tong, and he had a habit of making jabs at rival Tongs the Four Brothers and the Hip Sings while on stage.
Bad timing. A Tong war had just broken out, and rival Tong leaders didn’t like the jabs. So they decided Ah Hoon had to be killed. They warned him of his fate and even told him which day would be his last—December 30.
Ah Hoon took them seriously. He had a police presence on stage with him at the Chinese Theater that night, and he escaped to his nearby boardinghouse through a tunnel. On Leong members guarded the boardinghouse entrance.
Still, he was found shot in the heart the next day in his room. How did the rival Tongs get in? Apparently they lowered a gang member on a boatswain’s chair off the roof and into a window in Ah Hoon’s room. He murdered the comedian using a silencer.
Tags: Ah Hoon, Chinatown gangs, Chinatown Tong War, Chinatown Tongs, Chinese Theater, Doyers Street, Four Brothers, Hip Sing, murder in Chinatown, On Leong
September 8, 2009 at 9:05 pm |
Obviously, the Tongs were on the cutting edge of technology because the silencer or Maxim Silencer, named after the inventor, Hiram P Maxim, was invented in 1909.
September 8, 2009 at 9:30 pm |
Ricky, I did not know you were so knowledgeable about guns!
September 9, 2009 at 1:09 pm |
If this is the place I am thinking of I was told that Irving Berlin was once a waiter at the Theater. Isn’t it now a post office?
September 9, 2009 at 2:08 pm |
I think it’s a store or restaurant of some kind. I’ve heard Irving Berlin was a singing waiter in Chinatown…does anyone know where?
September 9, 2009 at 5:47 pm |
Just about all the online pages about Irving Berlin show it as Pelham’s Cafe in 1906. I have not found an exact address — just many references to Chinatown district.
September 13, 2009 at 2:13 am |
Tongs still exist and actually have offices: On Leong Tong on Mott and Hip Sing on Pell.
December 30, 2011 at 7:54 am |
great comedian charlie…
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