How a Mob Got Away with Murder in Truckee’s Chinatown

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In the late 1800s, Truckee, California had a problem, and by problem, I mean, a thriving

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Chinatown that white residents decided they didn't want around anymore. Instead of coexisting

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like reasonable adults, they chose Arson, harassment, and straight up murder to get their point across.

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What started as a land grab turned into something much darker, a coordinated attack on Chinese workers

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as they slept, a courtroom charade that let killers walk free, and a boycott so effective that Truckee

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literally celebrated when the last Chinese resident left town. Today, we're talking about the

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Trout Creek outrage, a story about greed, violence, and how an entire town worked together to erase

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its own history. But before we dive in, if you like your true crime brief and bingeable,

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you're in the right place. Hit Follow Now for at least two episodes every week. This is 10-minute

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murder. Let's get into it.

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By 1868, railroad construction had climbed its way into the unforgiving terrain of Donner past

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California. Lying those steel tracks through the mountains was no small feat. It required explosives,

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back-breaking labor, and a workforce willing to take on a job that was as dangerous as it was

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essential. Enter the Chinese laborers. Thousands of them arrived, carving through the landscape to make

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way for the central Pacific railroad. Without them, the tracks wouldn't have been built,

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and without those tracks, Truckee wouldn't have transformed into the booming town it became.

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But once the railroad was complete, the question remained. What happened to the workers who made it

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all possible? Many of the Chinese laborers chose to stay. They had spent years shaping the land,

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and now they sought stability, maintaining the railroads they helped build, or finding work in

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Truckee's rapidly growing lumber industry. As their presence solidified, so did the town's Chinatown,

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which quickly became the second largest in the country. Out of Truckee's 1467 residents,

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over 400 lived in Chinatown, creating a bustling community of workers, shopkeepers, and families.

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By 1869, Truckee's Chinatown was firmly established, enough to catch the attention of the New York Tribune,

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which published a piece describing the area. "A city of John Chinaman, with an appearance of

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Irish anties, the inevitable saloons, a very comfortable railroad hotel, and certain thriving

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marks of infinite variety. There are long streets of Chinese lingeries, barbers, stores, tea stores,

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peanut stands, and nondescript booths. All alike, as two peas in a pod, and adorn with big signs,

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persuasive no doubt to the celestial mind, and impenetrable to us." Now, I don't know exactly

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whether trying to say about that, but I can tell by the context clues that Chinatown and Truckee

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California were starting to really take off. The article paints a picture of a town that had

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fully embraced its Chinese population, though through the lens of condescension. That was standard

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at the time, but despite the dismissive tone, Truckee's Chinatown was thriving. That would not last.

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Just six years after the article was published, a fire tour through Chinatown,

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setting off a chain reaction that would bring this once prosperous community to its breaking point.

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At around 3am, on a May night in 1875, a fire broke out in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant

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in Truckee's Chinatown. Within minutes, the flame jumped from building to building,

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destroying more than 40 Chinese-owned structures and four houses on California's front street.

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The white-owned homes were insured. Most of Chinatown was not. The total loss was estimated at $60,000,

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about $1.66 million in today's money. While the Chinese community sifted through the wreckage,

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trying to salvage where they could, Truckee's white landowners saw an opportunity. At their own meeting,

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held not long after the fire, they came up with a plan to erase Chinatown altogether.

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The landowners informed the Chinese community that they could rebuild, but not on the land where

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Chinatown had stood for years. They would now have to relocate to the south side of the Truckee river.

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On paper, it might have looked like a simple reshuffling. In reality, it was a calculated move.

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Once the new Chinatown was under construction, the town announced a road expansion project

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that conveniently cut right through the middle of the new settlement, leaving very little space for

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homes or businesses. Within a month of the fire, local white residents had also raised enough

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money to purchase the land where Chinatown had originally stood, ensuring that no Chinese residents

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could return. They even worked out an agreement with landlords to block future sales or leases to

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anyone of Chinese descent. The message was clear. The white landowners had hoped that forcing Chinatown

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across the river would cause the Chinese population to dwindle. Instead, the people of Chinatown

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rebuilt right where they had been before. This wasn't just a logistical choice. For many, this was

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the first place they'd been able to set down routes after years of following railroad work across the

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state. Chinatown was home, and they weren't giving it up that easily. Truckee's white population

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already uneasy about the growing Chinese community saw this as an outright defiance, and that defiance

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would not go unanswered. The people of Truckee were furious. Instead of quietly accepting their

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forced relocation across the river, the Chinese community had rebuilt their homes and businesses

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exactly where they had been before. It wasn't just resilience. It was defiance, and for the white

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residents who had gone out of their way to make Chinatown disappear, it was unacceptable. In response,

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a group of local men formed the Truckee Caucasian League, a group dedicated to making the life

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for the Chinese workers as unbearable as possible. They quickly aligned themselves with another

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racially motivated organization in San Francisco. The young men's Universal Reform Club,

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or commonly known as the San Francisco Anti-Kool-E Club. These groups followed the ideology behind

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the Anti-Kool-E Act of 1862, a law designed to keep Chinese laborers out of California to protect

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jobs for white workers. Within weeks, the Truckee Caucasian League had over 200 members,

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all of them focused on one thing, harassing the Chinese community until they had no choice but to leave.

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According to later testimony, the League held a meeting on June 17, 1876, just over a month after

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the fire that had nearly wiped out Chinatown. The topic of discussion was how to "give the

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Chinaman a scare" and finally drive them out of Truckee for good. For most of the men, the meeting

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ended there, but seven of them had other plans. Later that night, a smaller group gathered at a

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cabin owned by a man named Frank Wilson, where they armed themselves and set out toward a campsite

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north of Truckee, where Chinese laborers had been forced to settle. At around 1am, they came upon

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the first cabin, where two men, Ajo and Aaleng were sleeping. George Gretel and Jay O'Neill crept up

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to the cabin, doused it in kerosene and set it on fire. Inside, Ajo and Aaleng scrambled out to put

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the flames out, but the men outside weren't about to let that happen. They aimed their guns through

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the cabin windows and fired. Aaleng was hit. He managed to survive by crawling into a hole and waiting

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for the gunmen to move on. The next day, 48 pellets were removed from his body. The mob moved on to the

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next cabin, where a group of Chinese workers were still sleeping, unaware of what had just happened.

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The men set this cabin on fire too and waited for someone to run. Aaleng was the first to make it

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outside, racing to the river with a bucket to collect water to fight the flames. He never made it back.

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The men outside shot him in the stomach, forcing him to retreat into the burning building.

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With no other choice, he had the other men inside cover themselves in blankets to protect themselves

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from the fire, but the heat became unbearable and eventually they too had to risk running.

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Using the smoke and flames as cover, they escaped across the river, hiding,

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opting in some bushes until daybreak. At sunrise, they carried him nearly five kilometers over rugged

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terrain to the home of their employer, Joseph Gray, who immediately called for a doctor. The doctor

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later determined that the gunshot wound itself wasn't necessarily fatal, but the brutal journey to

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seek help had turned off Ping's injury into something that he could not survive. He died that same

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afternoon. Publicly, the governor of California called for justice. Privately, the leadership of

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Truckee stalled. Over a month after off Ping's murder, local authorities had made no real progress in

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tracking down his killers. Not that the killers were being particularly discreet. Some of them weren't

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just bragging about what they had done, they were looking for ways to make even more money off of it.

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George Gretel, the man who had set fire to the first cabin and Calvin McCullough,

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openly discussed their next scheme, securing a position as night watchman in Chinatown,

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where they could convince the local Chinese business owners to offer a cash reward for information

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about the trout creek murders. Once the money was raised, they planned to tell a believable story,

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split the cash, and walk away richer. McCullough's friends weren't interested in the plan,

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and were eventually made its way to authorities. Both he and Gretel were arrested,

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and once in custody, they gave nearly identical confessions. Because of their statements,

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five more men were arrested, including Frank Wilson, who had provided the weapons that night.

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But even with the confessions and arrests, actually convicting the men responsible

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was an entirely different matter. At the inquest, more than 40 members of the trucky community rallied

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in support of the accused. They provided alibis, spoke as character witnesses, and swore these men

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were simply not the type to commit murder, but under increasing political pressure, they had to move

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forward. The trial was set, and then the all-white jury was selected. Shortly after the trial ended,

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another suspicious fire broke out, wiping out what little remained of Chinatown,

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then came the final move, a community-wide boycott of all Chinese-owned businesses.

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But trucky didn't stop there. They also boycotted any white-owned business that continued to employ

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Chinese workers. It worked. The campaign was so successful that it became a model for other towns

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looking to force out their Chinese populations. It was so effective that they even earned a name for it,

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the trucky method. And when the last Chinese laborer finally left town,

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trucky held a parade to celebrate. Thanks for listening to this episode of 10 Minute Murder.

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If you liked what you heard, don't forget to hit subscribe and leave a review. It helps other true

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climbers find the show. And if you're craving more stories, but with a more mysterious twist,

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a weird vibe, check out my other podcast, 10 Minute Mystery. Thanks for listening. See you next time.