Wikipedia

Leung Ying

Leung Ying (also known as Loy Yeung) was a Chinese mass murderer who killed 11 people on a farm near Fairfield, California, on August 22, 1928, before escaping the scene. He was arrested by police the next day and sentenced to death on August 31. Ying killed himself in his prison cell on October 22, about two weeks before his set execution date.

Leung Ying
梁穎
Leung Ying, pictured shortly after his arrest[2]
Born
Leung Ying

c. 1899
British Hong Kong
Died (aged 29)
San Quentin Prison, San Quentin, California, U.S.
Cause of deathSuicide by hanging
Other namesLoy Yeung
Wong Gay
Lim Onn
Occupation(s)Fruit picker
Cook
Criminal statusDeceased
Conviction(s)First degree murder
Criminal penaltyDeath
Details
DateAugust 22, 1928
CountryUnited States
Location(s)Rockville, California
Target(s)Bryan ranch residents
Killed11 (2 by axe, 9 by gunfire)
Injured4
Weapons

This was the worst case of mass murder in California history at that time, surpassing the killing of six persons each by James Dunham on a farm in Santa Clara County in 1896, and by John Goins in Stockton and Galt in 1926.[3][4]

Life

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Ying, who also went by the names Wong Gay and Lim Onn,[3] had been arrested by San Francisco police in 1924 as a gunman and narcotics peddler. He had a reputation as a killer, boasting he had killed three people in a tong war, and was generally regarded as a "bad" person.[1] For some time he lived in San Jose, working there at a local packing plant before moving to Oakland.[4] He was a member of the Hop Sing Tong, until he was expelled due to his excessive use of narcotics.[3] Reports directly after the killings described contradictory ages for Ying, typically as 32 years old, and once as 35,[4][5] but the majority of articles after his arrest give his age as 29.

In the spring of 1928, he was employed for about three months as a cook and fruit picker at the Bryan ranch in unincorporated Solano County, near Rockville,[6] five miles from Fairfield. The Bryan ranch was run by Wong Gee (also known as Wong Fook Hong), who had a 40-year lease on the property and was previously a foreman at the A.T. Hatch ranch in Suisun Valley.[7][8] Ying was eventually dismissed in June for attacking and attempting to rape Wong Gee's daughter Nellie, though he would later claim that it was a consensual affair. Ying repeatedly tried to reapply for a job at the ranch, but was turned down each time.[9]

On September 15, 1937, eleven months prior to Leung Ying's attack, another Chinese worker, 38-year-old Jung Lee Fong, had run amok on the Bryan ranch with an axe and set fire to two buildings, before he was shot by Wong Gee.[8][10] Wong was released the next day and the killing was later declared an act of self-defense by the superior court.[11]

Murders

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In the morning hours of August 22, 1928, Ying, armed with a rifle (also described as a sawn-off shotgun)[12] a hatchet, and under the influence of cocaine,[13] returned to the ranch and attacked the residents and workers there.

According to reports, Ying first entered what was variously identified as an underground gambling room, or a dugout, where Wong Gee was reportedly smoking an opium pipe before he was about to wake two farm hands.[1][11] He shot Wong Gee through the heart and also killed worker Cheung Yueng. Both were later found by police lying fully dressed on a bed. The other farm laborer, Wa Wey, was fatally wounded by a shot in the back, when he was trying to run away.[11]

Next the killer went to the laundry house, where Wong Gee's brother, Wong Hueng, lived. Ying could not enter as the occupant had locked himself and attempted to hide under a bed, but Ying shot through a window, hitting his victim in the abdomen. Ying then made his way to the cutting shed, which was the home of the cook on the ranch, Low Shek, who was wounded by a shot through the stomach. Low Shek was later taken to Fairfield hospital, where he died after a few hours.[14] While walking half a mile through a pear orchard towards the home of Wong Gee, Ying shot and killed worker Yeung Soon.

At the porch of the house, Ying shot 15-year-old Nellie Wong, who was walking down some steps to house to make her way to school in Rockville, wounding her in the abdomen. Shortly after he entered the home, Wong Gee's wife, cradling her 10-day old infant, appeared in the doorway. Ying killed her with a shot between the eyes. Afterwards, Ying walked into the children's room, where he shot Wong Gee's 4-year-old son, Johnnie, through the head at close range before using his axe to crush the skull of 3-year-old Willie Wong, who was lying in his bed. Before leaving the house, Ying mutilated the body of Mrs. Wong with the hatchet, then turned her over to fatally slash the throat of the baby, nearly decapitating the infant. Two other of Wong Gee's children, Ruth and Helen, managed to escape unharmed by hiding under a bed.[1][15] Nellie died in Vallejo hospital on August 27, becoming Leung Ying's eleventh and final victim.[16]

Leung Ying eventually escaped in an automobile owned by Wong Gee, heading in direction of Sacramento.[17] In less than 20 minutes he had killed or fatally wounded eleven people.[18][19] A manhunt, led by Solano County Sheriff John R. Thornton, was conducted in Solano County and Napa County, heavily patroling the section of I-80 E between Fairfield and Sacramento. The perpetrator's identity was disputed for several hours following the killings.[20][21] The name of the manhunt's subject was frequently misspelled, leading to news reports misnaming Leung Ying as Leung Wing,[4] Leung Ling,[22] Ming Ying,[18] and Loy Yeung, which became the most widespread name for Ying.

The next day, after abandoning his car and rifle, Ying broke into the house of George Sing and forced him at gunpoint to chaffeur him to Nevada City. After finding out about the search effort, Ying had Sing drive back, stealing food from Sing's house before fleeing towards the nearby Empire mine.[23] Sing reported the encounter to police and through the hint, Ying was captured by Nevada County Sheriff George Carter and Deputy Sheriff Arthur Hellings, while sleeping in the chicken coop of an abandoned ranch near Grass Valley. He was taken to Nevada City, where he was held until the arrival of the Fairfield authorities.[3][24]

Victims

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  • Wong E. Gee, 47
  • Wong Tong, wife of Wong Gee
  • Nellie Wong, 15, daughter of Wong Gee
  • Johnnie Wong, 4, son of Wong Gee
  • Willie Wong, 3, son of Wong Gee
  • Unnamed infant, 10 days old, son of Wong Gee
  • Wong Hueng, 56, brother of Wong Gee
  • Wa Wey, 40
  • Low Shek, 61
  • Yeung Soon, 40
  • Cheung Yueng, 64

Nine victims died at the scene, a tenth died the same day at a hospital while the eleventh victim died five days later.[25][26] The names and ages of the deceased, particularly those of the four laborers, were reported inconsistently across the press. Four of the dead, including Wong Gee, were members of the Hong San tong,[27] although one source mistakenly names it the more well-known Bing Kong Tong; the same article claims Leung Ying, a former Hop Sing Tong member, was also part of the organisation, despite the Hop Sing Tong and Bing Kong Tong being rivals at the time.[28] One source connects victims Low Shek (named as Low Chuck Way) and Wa Wey (named as Jim Low) as father and son.[22]

Aftermath

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During his interrogation Ying readily admitted to having committed the murders, and stated that he had seen the two police officers trailing him during the night, and, although he had the opportunity to shoot them at any time, he refrained from doing so, because he feared he would be hanged, if he killed a white man. Asked for the motive behind his rampage, Ying initially recited the story of his love for Nellie Wong and the disapproval of this relationship by her family. Furthermore, he claimed that the Wong Gee family tried to kill him with poisoned cake, so he killed them first.[13][29] In interviews with the press, however, he instead stated that incessant teasing about his lack of intelligence and physical appearance (Ying was of below average height and had deep pockmark scars on his face, likely from smallpox) had pushed him to commit the murders.[30] He also expressed his admiration for Californian criminals Joe Tanko and Floyd Hall, saying: "I just like Tanko and Hall – very, very sick."[9] Initial media speculated that the murders were gang violence related to the Tong Wars, which was dismissed by police, who instead blamed Ying's drug use resulting in mental instability.[1][31]

The night after his arrest Leung Ying attempted to commit suicide by hanging himself with a blanket. This reportedly occurred after hundreds of Hong San delegates congregated around the jail, demanding to be granted access to Ying. Prison guards were alerted by the sound of running water, which Ying had turned to muffle his death throes.[27] After the attempt was foiled, he spent the night beating his head against the floor and walls, crying for narcotics.[32] The next day, on August 24, Leung was arraigned at the Superior Court in Suisun City, where again he admitted committing the murders, stating he wished he had the opportunity to kill half a dozen more.[33] While in Solano County jail, Leung attempted to convince a guard to temporarily release him, stating that his only regret was that he had not yet killed "a certain elderly Chinese woman" and would return should he be allowed to commit the deed.[12]

Trial

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Ying's trial began on August 30 and was described as one of the shortest formal murder trials in state history.[5] Ying declined his right to an attorney and immediately pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to death by hanging on August 31, 1928. His execution was to take place on November 9 of the same year;[34] Ying was set to be hanged alongside three others, which would have made it the first time four execution were held on the same day at San Quentin Prison.[35]

Death

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On October 22, 1928, between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., Leung Ying killed himself in his prison cell in San Quentin Prison by hanging himself with a towel. Ying's cellmate, Leong Soock (also erroneously spelled as Leon Fook and Lee Sook), did not alert the correctional staff.[36][37]

Legacy

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Although the killings were widely publicized in its immediate aftermath, the event became disregarded as its effects were confined to the Chinese community, which faced considerable ostracization. Closer coverage lasted only a week, ending with Leung Ying's death sentence. His death went largely unnoticed, as his name was again misspelled, this time as "Leong Ying", in all contemporary reports.[37]

Two days after the murders, a funeral procession was held in Suisun City for six of the deceased, the Wong family (Nellie Wong had not yet died by this point) and one of the elder workers, identified as Young Gum Foon. The rites used a mix of Buddhist, Chinese folk religion and Christian burial traditions. The dead were intially buried in a mass grave, the aforementioned six in coffins, in Rockville Cemetery before the Tung Sen Benevolent Association of San Francisco exhumed the bodies and reburied them at a Chinese cemetery in Colma.[12]

The December 1985 issue of the Solano Historian magazine published a June 2, 1981 speech by journalist Evelyn Lockie, who was a resident of Rockville and involved with its Chinatown community in the 1920s. Lockie was familiar with the family of Wong Gee, who was a friend of her father and traveled to the scene of the Bryan ranch murders as part of job at The Sacramento Bee, unaware of who the victims were until the deputy in charge mentioned their names. Lockie wrote a speech to commemorate the killings over 50 years after the murders to call for a memorial to the victims as well as Rockville's now-largely abandoned Chinatown.[7][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Maniac Who Murdered Ten Persons Caught By Police, Oakland Tribune (August 23, 1928)
  2. ^ "Slayer of Ten". The Owosso Argus-Press. August 30, 1928. p. 15.
  3. ^ a b c d Dope was cause of sad deed, San Jose News (August 23, 1928)
  4. ^ a b c d "Nine Chinese Slain By Crazed Oriental". Berkeley Daily Gazette. August 22, 1928. pp. 1–9.
  5. ^ a b "Killer Of 11 Is Slated To Die". San Jose News. August 30, 1928. p. 12.
  6. ^ "Man Runs Amuck". The Bulletin. August 22, 1928. p. 1.
  7. ^ a b "The Depression shuts down Big Camp". Solano History Database. 2021-12-01. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Trail Of Chinese Killer Is Hunted". Spokane Daily Chronicle. August 23, 1928. p. 1.
  9. ^ a b Love and drugs cause murders, The Pittsburgh Press (August 24, 1928)
  10. ^ "Brevities Of State Events". The Evening News. September 19, 1927. p. 6.
  11. ^ a b c Wade, Tony (2014-01-31). "Back in the Day: Horrific 1928 mass murder in Fairfield". DailyRepublic.com.
  12. ^ a b c d Lockie, Evelyn. "The Village That Vanished: A Suisun Valley Tragedy" (PDF). Solano Historian: 6.
  13. ^ a b Confesses killing 10, Woodland Daily Democrat (August 23, 1928)
  14. ^ Nine Chinese slain, six wounded when cook runs amuck, The Bakersfield Californian (August 22, 1928)
  15. ^ 10 killed as Chinese maniac spreads terror in Fairfield, Woodland Daily Democrat (August 22, 1928)
  16. ^ Eleventh victim of Chinese dies, San Jose News (August 27, 1928)
  17. ^ "Chinese Maniac Kills 10, Hurts 5". The Calgary Daily Herald. August 22, 1928. p. 1.
  18. ^ a b "Chinese Family Shot Down By Tong Murderer". The Oxnard Daily Courier. August 22, 1928. p. 1.
  19. ^ Ten killed by ranch cook, The Beaver Daily Times (August 23, 1928)
  20. ^ "Crazed Chinaman Slays Nine; Wounds Six Others". Warsaw Union. August 22, 1928. p. 1.
  21. ^ "Eight Chinese Killed By Tong". Greensburg Daily Tribune. August 22, 1928. p. 1.
  22. ^ a b "Leung Ling, Tong Member, Kills 10". The Telegraph-Herald. August 23, 1928. pp. 1–2.
  23. ^ "Chinese Fiend Found Asleep". Prescott Evening Courier. August 23, 1928. p. 4.
  24. ^ Slayer of ten found hiding in hen house, Ellensburg Daily Record (August 23, 1928)
  25. ^ "Chinese Cook Goes On Rampage and Kills 9". Eugene Register-Guard. August 22, 1928. p. 1.
  26. ^ "Chinese Slays Ten, Wounds 6". Prescott Evening Courier. August 22, 1928. p. 1.
  27. ^ a b "Slayer Attempts Suicide - Chinese Terrified at Unspoken Threat of Tong". The Vancouver Sun. August 23, 1928. p. 3.
  28. ^ "Slayer Watched By Extra Guards". Berkeley Daily Gazette. August 24, 1928.
  29. ^ Chinese slayer of ten admits crimes; won't give motive, The Danville Bee (August 24, 1928)
  30. ^ Waters, Tony: When killing is a crime; Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc, 2007. ISBN 978-1-58826-514-2
  31. ^ "Ten Killed And Others Wounded By Chinese Cook On West Ranch". Schenectady Gazette. August 23, 1928. p. 12.
  32. ^ Killer foiled in suicide try, San Jose News (August 24, 1928)
  33. ^ Wanted to kill more, The Montreal Gazette (August 25, 1928)
  34. ^ Will hang slayer..., Sandusky Star-Journal (September 1, 1928)
  35. ^ "Golden State Items in Brief". The Union Democrat. October 13, 1928. p. 7.
  36. ^ Cellmate raises no cry, San Jose News (October 23, 1928)
  37. ^ a b Slayer of ten kills self, Spokane Daily Chronicle (October 23, 1928)

Bibliography

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