1909

Bow Kum's murder led to the Chinatown gang war.

Born to a poor family in Guangdong, Bow Kum was sold by her parents for $40 and later bought by Lau He Dong, a member of the Snakehead gang in San Francisco, for $3,000.

Lau fell in love with her, but Bow Kum chose to marry a gardener and ran away with him to New York. Lau's love quickly turned to hate and he asked his gang to seek revenge. On August 15,1909, Bow Kum was brutally murdered. Her husband was also part of a Chinese gang and they fought back. The war between the Chinatown gangs lasted more than a year. On January 11,1910, the alleged killers, Lau He Dong and Lau Shong, were acquitted because each of their gangs produced contradictory evidence, and the jury could not decide who the real killers were.

The U.S. and the Chinese government brokered talks between the rival gangs at the end of 1910. New York's Chinatown eventually regained its peace in 1913.

甘苞(Bow Kum)是廣東窮人家的女兒,被父母以40美元的代價賣給人蛇,隨後又被以3,000 美元的高價,轉賣給舊金山幫派頭目劉喜東。劉喜東很快就愛上了美艷的甘苞,只是甘苞愛的是林姓園丁,並跟他私奔到紐約。劉喜東向紐約的協勝堂求援,協勝堂要求林姓園丁所屬的安良堂還錢或還人,但遭到拒絕。

1909815日,兩個殺手潛入甘苞家中將她謀殺。消息震驚了全紐約,一場血腥的幫派大戰就此展開。19101月,兇手被陪審團判無罪,因為兩派證人對兇手當時的行蹤供詞不一,陪審團因此無法將兇手定罪。1910年底,美國及中國政府正式出面,安排安良堂及協勝堂簽署停火協議,直到1913年,紐約中國城才恢復過往的繁榮。

The New York Times reported Bow Kum’s murder on August 16, 1909.

The New York Times reported the acquittal of Bow Kum’s killers.

Photo Credits: New York Times

 

 

 

///此展獻給邱彰律師摯愛的兒子陳澤民

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