TIME Magazine: Tong. Western Union operators in Boston were puzzled, last week, by a number of enigmatic telegrams sent from their station to various parts of the U. S. The messages appeared, at first glance, to be in code, but a closer scrutiny revealed that they were merely lists of names—Chinese names.

The above passage comes from the September 7, 1925 issue of TIME Magazine. It contains one of the earliest references to Chinatown in TIME Magazine and describes a tong war between the Hip Sings and the On Leongs.