34.
Apparently these two officers entered the village towards dusk, and proceeded from house to house until they came to the home of an old man (the last place in the village) which they entered. The wife and daughter-in-law were engaged in cooking and at the subsequent enquiry it was alleged that one of the intruders tried to take liberties with the young girl, and on being remonstrated with by the old man and his wife, the officer struck them both with his stick with such severity as to draw blood. Upon this, witnesses declared, the old man rushed to the door of the house and cried out to the neighbours "Save our lives! Save our lives!" whereupon the villagers came and took hold of the officers by the hand to pull them out of the house, when the officers resisted and beat them also with their sticks.
415
Upon this, a Chinese outlaw, named Chui Apo, a pirate by profession upon whose head the Chinese Government had for years set a large reward, with his men, rushed in armed with spears and attacked the officers in the house. The officers upon retreating were hotly pressed by Chui Apo, and his spearsmen, overpowered and struck down. After satisfying themselves that their victims had been sufficiently butchered, they slung the bodies upon bamboo poles and, proceeding to the beach at a precipice called "Bluffhead," hurled them into the sea which washed its base.
As Captain Da Costa and Lieutenant Dwyer had not returned at three o'clock the next morning, Lieutenant MacDonald set out with an armed party in search of them, but discovered no trace of the missing officers. Information was immediately conveyed to the authorities. Messrs. Hay and Caldwell, of the Police, proceeded to Tytan to make enquiries, one hundred of the Ceylon Rifles scouring the island as well, and on February 27, H.M.S. Fury went round to Stanley.
At noon on the 26th, no trace of the officers had been discovered, and the village of Wong-na-kok was found deserted. The body of Captain Da Costa, however, was found in the water on the evening of the 27th.
Six Chinese were arrested on suspicion, but they denied all knowledge of the murder. The men were kept separate from the time of their being brought to Victoria until they were produced at the inquest. The old man whose head had been broken, and who said he did not run away because he had done nothing wrong," and who it might be added, had followed Lieutenant MacDonald to the barracks, and thus became a prisoner of his own accord, and also the young girl, who came forward voluntarily on the last day of the inquest, but who had fled before the tragedy had occurred, could have had no communication with the other witnesses. Under the circumstances the story seems to have been well corroborated, and the chronicler suggests that "by the exercise of a little tact and prudence the officers might have escaped with their lives if not unscathed, even after they had annoyed the timid girl and struck her father and mother-in-law crowning act being to wrench the spear out of Chui Apo's hand and break it in the attempt to strike a blow at him when he and others came to order and, if necessary, to force them out of the village."