Vacarella

The appellants were tried for the murder of one Lam Gee, also known as Ah Lum, the trial resulting in a conviction of murder in the first degree, with a recommendation of life imprisonment. From said conviction defendants appeal.

At the time of the homicide there was a tong war between two Chinese tongs, known as the Hip Sing Tong and the Bing Kong Tong. The Hip Sing Tong was numerically superior in San Jose and the Bing Kong Tong was numerically superior in Watsonville. The strength of the rival tong was such that the members of the Bing Kong Tong left San Jose and the members of the Hip Sing Tong left Watsonville. This was the situation in the latter part of February, 1922, Chinatown in each city being akin to an armed camp. In San Jose it developed that twenty-two or twenty-three guards were on duty to protect the members of its tong. The defendant, Munoz, had been a guard, and the brother of Vaearella was also employed as a guard in San Jose. It required guns and ammunition to equip these men, who acted as watchmen, day and night, and a great quantity of these guns and ammunition was supplied by Hommrich’s gun-store of San Jose. A record was kept of the number of the various…