Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1891 — THE HIGHBINDERS. [ARTICLE]

THE HIGHBINDERS.

They Date From an Association of Buddhist Monks. Tho name highbinder is said to have been used by a policeman in court and had no significance whatever, but the term tickled the public and is now a part of the English language. The true name of these ruffians in Chinese menus “Hatchet Boj-s,” the peculiar appropriateness of which title is at once apparent. The highbinders trace their organization back several centuries. They claim to be a part of the association known in China as the “Triad Society.” The founders of this society were some Buddhist monks. They put down the rebellion in Quong Si province, and were offered rewards in titles and estates by the Government. They refused the rewards. Afterward the Manchu soldiers became jealous of the monks; the Government also becamo suspicious and accused the powerful monks of treason. A monastery was blown up and only five out of one hundred and twenty monks escaped alive. Those five became the founders of the Triad Society. The vow of the members is that they shall never rest until tho present reigning dynasty is overthrown and the Ming native dynasty is restored to the dragon throne. It has numbered at times more than 100,000, and still includes many who have no sympathy with the diabolical practices which made the name a terror. It has an elaborate initiatory ceremony —signs, grips, words and tokens, by which its members may recognize each other and hold communication. Within the society is a military organization of salaried soldiers, who are bound by the most solemn oaths to execute orders, even to killing those who fall under its ban. The Tie Ping rebellion was instigated by the Triads, and after ten years’ duration was suppressed by the late General Gordon. The rebols fled abroad to save their necks and started the Choe Tung Kong. The headquarters of the society on this coast were in Spofford Alley, where they were raided by the police February 2. At that time one of the rituals fell into the hands of Police (Sergeant Prince, and has been translated by Mr. Masters. From it and from two converted Chinese who had passed to the honor of grand officers in the society he derived his knowledge. Some of tho initiation ceremonies of this society are-interesting. A candidate pricks his fingers until the blood flows into a cup of wine. Tho cup is passed around the assembly to be sipped so that a blood fellowship may be established. Tho candidate swears eternal loyalty to the society in thirty-five different oaths, during which ceremony a rooster’s head is cut off, and while the blood flows the candidate imprecates death upon himself should he prove a traitor. A certain twist of the queue marks a member of the highbinder societies.—[San FranciscoCall.