Two-Gun Cohen
Daniel S. Levy - Two-Gun Cohen
Morris "Two-Gun" Cohen was a Cockney Jew who went to China. He is one of the rare people who can really be called adventurers. Levy set out to find how much of Cohen's ghost-written autobiography was embellished or made up. Apparently lots of it.
After the rascalities of his childhood - and couple of years in a juvenile correction - Cohen was sent to Canada as an equivalent to an indentured servant to join the other immigrants when the settlement in Canada expanded. He became a conman, a pickpocket and a gambler and finally a real-estate dealer in the booming Edmonton.
In North America, the Chinese immigrants had become scapegoats for unemployment (the excuses in the similar situations are still the same). Cohen was a lone voice for acceptance. Note that at the time China was effectively in shambles, first under the Manchu rule and then under the rule or squabbling warlords.
According to himself, Cohen walked in when a white man tried to rob his Chinese friend Mah Sam. Cohen beat up the would-be-robber and threw him out. Such a thing was unheard of at the time. Levy assumes that Cohen took the side of the downtrodden Chinese because his parents had had to flee pogroms in Russia.
Cohen joined the local Chinese Tong (a political one) and begun to idolize Sun Yat-Sen. Eventually he moved to China to become his bodyguard. And, according to his own claims, much more.
Unlike, say, Edmund Backhouse, Cohen really did know many of the Chinese he counted as friends, even if he wasn't the power behind the throne he sometimes claimed to be. Morris did broker arms deals for his Chinese bosses with a 5% commission. After the death of Sun Yat-sen he worked for other Chinese potentates in the south of China, including Chiang Kai-Sek.
Cohen became honorary brigadier general (maybe his Chinese friends had nothing else to give but titles). He attracted contemporary media with fanciful tales, although sometimes he stated he had been misunderstood and misquoted. Well, it would not be the first time certain kind of journalists have embellished something to get a "better story" (and I think Levy has omitted this fact). How much of his myth originally came from the pens of the yellow press journalists?
Cohen went to Singapore just prior to Japanese conquest of the place. Almost a year later he got himself repatriated by claiming Canadian citizenship. But afterwards nobody was interested what he thought about the matters in China.
After the Chinese Civil War Cohen tried to broker peace between Guomindang in Taiwan and the Communists in the Mainland China and when it did not work, claimed it was just a rumor.
Cohen managed to stay close to both sides even if he eventually supported Mao's government (possibly trying to maintain his tenous business ties). Nevertheless, Chinese on both sides seem to have appreciated his efforts, maybe considering them genuine enough. Representatives of both sides attended his funeral, ignoring each other.
Levy extensively explains the historical circumstances of whatever happened around Cohen. Sometimes Cohen seems to disappear behind the events, but that's understandable; his influence was very limited and Levy could not find every detail of Cohen's daily life anyway.
Morris "Two-Gun" Cohen was a Cockney Jew who went to China. He is one of the rare people who can really be called adventurers. Levy set out to find how much of Cohen's ghost-written autobiography was embellished or made up. Apparently lots of it.
After the rascalities of his childhood - and couple of years in a juvenile correction - Cohen was sent to Canada as an equivalent to an indentured servant to join the other immigrants when the settlement in Canada expanded. He became a conman, a pickpocket and a gambler and finally a real-estate dealer in the booming Edmonton.
In North America, the Chinese immigrants had become scapegoats for unemployment (the excuses in the similar situations are still the same). Cohen was a lone voice for acceptance. Note that at the time China was effectively in shambles, first under the Manchu rule and then under the rule or squabbling warlords.
According to himself, Cohen walked in when a white man tried to rob his Chinese friend Mah Sam. Cohen beat up the would-be-robber and threw him out. Such a thing was unheard of at the time. Levy assumes that Cohen took the side of the downtrodden Chinese because his parents had had to flee pogroms in Russia.
Cohen joined the local Chinese Tong (a political one) and begun to idolize Sun Yat-Sen. Eventually he moved to China to become his bodyguard. And, according to his own claims, much more.
Unlike, say, Edmund Backhouse, Cohen really did know many of the Chinese he counted as friends, even if he wasn't the power behind the throne he sometimes claimed to be. Morris did broker arms deals for his Chinese bosses with a 5% commission. After the death of Sun Yat-sen he worked for other Chinese potentates in the south of China, including Chiang Kai-Sek.
Cohen became honorary brigadier general (maybe his Chinese friends had nothing else to give but titles). He attracted contemporary media with fanciful tales, although sometimes he stated he had been misunderstood and misquoted. Well, it would not be the first time certain kind of journalists have embellished something to get a "better story" (and I think Levy has omitted this fact). How much of his myth originally came from the pens of the yellow press journalists?
Cohen went to Singapore just prior to Japanese conquest of the place. Almost a year later he got himself repatriated by claiming Canadian citizenship. But afterwards nobody was interested what he thought about the matters in China.
After the Chinese Civil War Cohen tried to broker peace between Guomindang in Taiwan and the Communists in the Mainland China and when it did not work, claimed it was just a rumor.
Cohen managed to stay close to both sides even if he eventually supported Mao's government (possibly trying to maintain his tenous business ties). Nevertheless, Chinese on both sides seem to have appreciated his efforts, maybe considering them genuine enough. Representatives of both sides attended his funeral, ignoring each other.
Levy extensively explains the historical circumstances of whatever happened around Cohen. Sometimes Cohen seems to disappear behind the events, but that's understandable; his influence was very limited and Levy could not find every detail of Cohen's daily life anyway.