Dear Zed: here is a long article about the Highbinders
from Harper's Weekly of 1883 (hope I got that right).
It tells a lot about their activities, but I didn't see
a discussion of how the name "Highbinder" originated.


http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:fMpKDXlLDrUJ:immigrants.harpweek.com/ChineseAmericans/Items/Item129.htm+Chinese+criminals+highbinders&hl=en&ie=UTF-8