Warry S. Charles (1857 1915) was a Chinese American businessman and

Hip Sing Association The Hip Sing Association or HSA (), formerly known as the Hip Sing Tong (), is a Chinese-American criminal organization/gang formed as a labor organization in New York City's Chinatown during the early 20th century (perhaps c. 1904). The Canton ...

leader who was tried and convicted for organizing a hit during the

Tong Wars The Tong Wars were a series of violent disputes beginning in the late 19th century among rival Chinese Tong factions centered in the Chinatowns of various American cities, in particular San Francisco. Tong wars could be triggered by a variety o ...

in Boston's Chinatown.

Biography

Charles was born in 1857 in China. He moved to the United States when he was 11 years old and worked for relatives in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

When he was 16 he moved to Omaha where he attended a business college. On March 14, 1876, he married Mary Whiting in Omaha. He was the first Chinese immigrant to marry a white woman in

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebras ...

. They had two sons, one of whom, Warren Charles, became the second Chinese-American officer in the

New York Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

. Charles finished his education at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

. In New York, Charles worked as an interpreter and city inspector. In 1886, Charles was brought in by the

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

to work as an interpreter during their investigation of the “Wash-House Murder”. On October 9, 1891, he was assaulted while trying to aid a fellow Hip Sing member who was being attacked by two On Leong tong members. Charles was assaulted again later that week when he walked past the On Leong headquarters. On July 19, 1895, Charles complained to New York City police commissioner

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

that the local police precinct was not cracking down on the On Leong gambling rings in Chinatown because they were in the pay of the On Leong. Charles said he could take down the rings if he was provided with two detectives to assist him. He threatened Roosevelt that if he did not help, Charles would release information that would be embarrassing to the NYPD. Roosevelt did not take Charles up on his offer. He left New York City for Boston for his own safety. In Boston, Charles worked as a court interpreter and started a successful laundry business. In 1903 he helped form a branch of the Hip Sing tong in Boston and became its leader. On August 7, 1907, a group of highbinders carried out an attack in Chinatown that left four dead and six wounded. The police believed that Charles, as leader of the Hip Sing, orchestrated the attack as in retaliation for a 1903 murder of one of their members. In 1908, Charles and eight other Hip Sing members were found guilty of the murders. Four of the men's convictions were overturned due to insufficient evidence, but Charles' was upheld. His attorneys, Charles W. Bartlett and Harvey H. Pratt, appealed the case to the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functi ...

on the grounds that a witness should have been allowed to testify that a police officer and a Chinese interpreter had conspired to bribe prosecution witnesses. The Court ruled against the defendants Charles and four of his co-defendants were sentenced to death. Three of the men asked that Bartlett and Pratt not petition for commutation, as they preferred death to life in prison and they were executed on October 11, 1909. Charles and the other convicted man, Joe Guey, chose to petition for commutation. Sixteen days before their scheduled executions, Governor

Eben Sumner Draper Eben (sometimes incorrectly Ebenezer) Sumner Draper (June 17, 1858 – April 9, 1914) was an American businessman and politician from Massachusetts. He was for many years a leading figure in what later became the Draper Corporation, the ...

announced that he had accepted the

Massachusetts Governor's Council The Massachusetts Governor's Council (also known as the Executive Council) is a governmental body that provides advice and consent in certain matterssuch as judicial nominations, pardons, and commutationsto the Governor of Massachusetts. Council ...

's recommendation to commute Charles and Guey's death sentences to life imprisonment. On August 7, 1915, Charles complained of chest pains. He was seen by Dr. Daniel J. Hurley and moved to the prison hospital the next day. On August 9, 1915, Charles died in the

Charlestown State Prison Charlestown State Prison was a correctional facility in Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts operated by the Massachusetts Department of Correction. The facility was built at Lynde's Point, now at the intersection of Austin Street and New Rutherf ...

. His cause of death was " rheumatism of the heart".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Warry 1857 births 1915 deaths American gangsters of Chinese descent American people who died in prison custody Gangsters from Boston Gangsters from New York City Interpreters Businesspeople from Omaha, Nebraska Prisoners sentenced to death by Massachusetts Qing dynasty emigrants to the United States University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni Prisoners who died in Massachusetts detention American prisoners sentenced to death