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possession of three or more pieces of counterfeit King's silver coins with intent to defraud.
The Hon. H. E. Pollock, Acting Attorney. General, asked his Lordship to take case No. 2 (that of manslaughter), in which Mr. J. J. Francis, K. C., was to appear for the defence, at ten o'clock this (Tuesday) morning,
His Lordship agreed to the request. Mr. Pollock intimated that a fifth case, one of piracy, had been added to the calender, and on his suggestion it was included therein.
OBTAINING GOODS BY FALSE PRETENCES.
Chan Po Kam, alias Tang Cheong, wes charged (1) with uttering a forged request for delivery of goods with intent to defraud, and (2) with obtaining goods upon a forged instru- ment. He pleaded not guilty on both counts. The following jury was empanelled-Messrs. J. M. de Rocha, W. S. Brown, Y. C. dos Remedios, C. P. Pintos, A. O. Gutieriez, W. Stewart, W. 8. Allan.
Mr. Pollock, in stating the case to the jury, said the evidence on behalf of the prosecution would show that on the 29th June of this year the prisoner went into the Kwun Cheung gro car's shop at 282, Des Voeux Road, and repre- sented that he had been sent by the Kwong Wo shop at Samchun. At the same time he produced a letter (which would be exhibited in evidence) purporting to bear at the end of it the chop of the Kwong Wo shop, and requesting the master of the Kwun Cheung shop to hand the bearer twenty bags of flour and two bags of sugar. The master of the shop, not suspecting that anything was wrong, acted upon that letter, and the defendant got the goods. At the time defendant called-eight o'clock-the master of the shop was busy, and he asked the defendant to come back at twelve o'clock. On returning at that hour the defoudant obtained deli- very of the goods, which were carried by a foki from the shop to a boat on the Praya, The complainant-the master of the Kwun Cheung shop-had previously had dealings with the Kwong Wo shop at Eamchun, and on 11th July he went to collect the money for the goods. It was then he learned that the goods had never been ordered. The defend- ant's defence was an alibi. His story was that on 26th June he went up to Canton, and did not return to Hongkong until 11th July.
Evidence was led, and the jury, without leaving the box, unanimously found the prisoner guilty on both counts of the charge.
Sentence was reserved until the second charge against the prisoner had been decided. The jury was dismissed.
THE SECOND CHARGE.
Chan Po Kam, alias Chan Po. was charged with (1) uttering a forged request for delivery of goods with intent to defraud, and (2) obtain ing goods upon a false instrument. He pleaded not guilty on both counts.
The following jury was empanelled--Messrs. J. A. du C. V. Ribeiro, A. M. Beattie, T. Arnott, L. J. C. Anderson, A. S. Mihara, A. A. de Jesus, and A. Kühn.
coarse.
Mr. Pollock said the evidence on behalf of the prosecution would show that on 29th June, about half-past eleven in the morning, the prisoner brought a letter purporting to come from the Kwong Fuk Tai shop at Samchun to the shop of one Chun Yau, 18, Saimun Lane, asking for 2,000 matbags-1,000 fine and 1,000 If sufficient bags were not in hand, 700 or 800 were to be forwarded. The com- plainant-the master of the shop in Saiman Lane-had no fine bags, and at the defendant's request sent 1,500 coarse bags down to the latter's boat at the Pray? The same thing happened as in the previous case-when the complainant went to collect the money he found that no order for the bags had been given by the Kwok Fnk Tai shop. The defen- dant was arrested on 28th July in a house at 111, Second Street by Sergeant Murison. The defendant had been employed for four months in the Kwok Fuk Tai shop, and had access to the chops, which he could easily copy for pur- poses of fraud.
་་
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
COUNTERFEIT COIN CASE.
Lam Sheung pleaded not guilty to the posses- sion of 635 pieces of counterfeit King's silver coins, with intent to utter.
Mr. E. Robinson, barrister-at-law (instructed by Mr. C. D. Wilkinson, solicitor) defended the prisoner.
The jury was the same as in the previous case. Mr. Pollock said the principal witness for the prosecution was Lance-Sergeant Robert Smith, who, in the afternoon of the 2nd inst., went with a lukong on board the steam ferry-launch Chuen Ching, one of a number plying between collector. The defendant was pointed out, and Yaumati and West Point, and asked to see the
on the lance serg ant asking him he said he was the collector. Smith then asked the defendant how much money belonging to the company he had in his possession. Defendant in answer produced altogether $5:20, and said that that was all. Smith thereupon searched him, and in his right-hand jacket pocket found a paper packet containing 35 Hongkong five-cent pieces and one Chinese five-cent piece. The defendant said he had no box when the question was put to him, but immediately afterwards produced two keys from his person and with one of them opened a locker in the cabin. In the locker Smith found 598 counterfeit Hongkong five cent pieces wrapped in paper packages, 46 counterfeit Chinese ten-cent pieces, and 2 counterfeit Hongkong ten-cent pieces. The defendant was thereupon arrested.
Lance-Sergeant Smith gave evidence, and was cross-examined by Mr. Robinson.
Other evidence was led, after which Mr. Robinson addressed the jury on behalf of the prisoner, contending that it had not been proved that he intended to atter the coins, nor that he bad guilty knowledge in the matter.
After Mr. Pollock had replied, his Lordship summed up, and remarked that the prisoner did not intend to utter the coins he must be regarded as a collector of curios.
The jury, without leaving the box, found the prisoner guilty. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour.
Tuesday, 20th August.
IN CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR A. G. WISE (ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE) AND A JURY.
MANSLAUGHTER.
Police Crown-Sergeant Chu Kwai Lam was placed in the dock on a charge of feloniously killing and slaying Wong Kau at Yaumati on 24th July. The prisoner, who is one of the oldest Chinese members of the Police Force, and wore the medal for meritorious conduct, pleaded not guilty. He was defended by Mr. J. J. Francis, K.C. (instructed by Mr. G. C. C. Master, solicitor).
The following jury was empanelled :— Messrs. J. Gutierrez, A. Keid, H. Cruz, T. 8. Forrest, J. E. Hainsworth, E. V. M. R. de Souza, and J. M. dos Remedios.
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(August 26, 1901.
chest and shoulders. He also poked him with the truncheon, and kicked him in the region of the stomach. If the evidence of that witness could be believed, it would certainly appear that the defendant used unnecessary and unjustifiable violence. Of course, it was quite obvious that a police officer arresting a man must undoubtedly use what might be called a reasonable amount of compulsion to take that man to the police station, and it would be for the jury to decide whether or not the defendant had overstepped that line. The police station was reached about half-past four in the afternoon, and the deceased was afterwards, groans were heard proceeding from lodged in a cell. At five o'clock, half an hour the cell. The noise increased, and on Inspector Macdonald, in charge at Yanmati, making en- quiries, the deceased emitted a certain statement. police station to the Government Civil Hospital, He was removed at nine o'clock from the where Dr. Dell examined him, but could find the deceased was in a state of collapse, and he no specific injury. At five o'clock next morning died at nine o'clock. Dr. Bell's evidence at the Police Court was to the effect that there did not seem much the matter with the deceased when he was admitted to the hospital. At 1 a.m. he complained of pains in the pit of the stomach, at 5 a.m. he was in a state of collapse, and at 9.30 a.m. he died. Dr. Bell made a post-mortem examination of the body. There were external marks or wounds, and the internal organs were all healthy. The cause of death was shock caused by rupture of the small gut. A kick on the abdomen might have produced theso Master, Dr. Bell said that if the defendant had symptoms. Cross-examined by Mr. punched the deceased severely with his trun- cheon, he (Dr. Bell) would have expected to find some external bruises. From the appearance of the body he should say that the deceased had not been severely struck on the chest and arms. That, concluded Mr. Pollock, was the whole story of the charge against the prisoner. Whether or not that charge was substantiated by facts would be for the jury to decide when they had heard the evidence.
no
Witnesses were then examined, and after- wards cross-questioned at length by Mr. Francis. The evidence for the prosecution having con- cluded, several witnesses were called for the defence
Mr. Francis afterwards addressed the jury on the prisoner's behalf in an able speech, the delivery of which occupied nearly an hour.
The Acting Attorney-General having replied, His Lordship summed up, and the jury retired.
They were absent for about five minutes, and on resuming their seats, the foreman announced that they were unanimous in finding the prisoner not guilty.
The defendant was thereupon discharged.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR T. SERCOMBE SHITH (ACTING PUISNE JUDGE) and a Jury.
PIRACY,
Lam Shui Kum and Pun Wong pleaded not robbery by force of arms. guilty to (1) piracy on the high seas, and (2) barrister-at-law (instructed by Mr. F. B. L. Mr. E. Robinson, Bowley, Crown Solicitor), prosecuted on behalf of the Crown.
The following jury was empanelled--Messrs. T. Grimshaw, H. Gettins, V. C. Rosario, and Chan He Wan. R. Monashib, T. M. Devilbiss, C. H. Thiel,
General, stated the case to the jury. He said The Hon. H. E. Pollock, Acting Attorney. the defendant was a police sorgeant, and had been somewhere about twenty years in the Police Forca of this Colony. He was stationed at Yaumati, and on the 24th July was sent out to execute a warrant to arrest the deceased entered a brothel in Temple Street, Yaumati, man on a charge of assault. The defendant
where he found the deceased and arrested him. On the way to the station, opposite another said the piracy was committed on board a Reviewing the facts of the case, Mr. Robinson brothel in Temple Street, the deceased ap- fishing sampan or junk, off a small island called parently wanted to return for his umbrella, San Chau, situated a little way beyond Castle which he had left behind. the prosecution would show that at that junc-were the owner, his father, his wife, and his The evidence for Peak, in British waters. On board the junk
deceased on the body and striking him with his o'clock at night, the defendants, accompanied ture the defendant used violence, kicking the son. On 22nd June, somewhere about ten truncheon. Various witnesses would be called by two other men, all of them carrying ing one who saw the affair from the verandab out, took possession of the bost, and smiled to prove this assault by the defendant, includ-arms, boarded the junk, cleared the occupants of a house overlooking the street. would depose that
That witness away with it. Since that time the grand. going out to the verandah he saw the defendant and there now remained but three people heard groans, and that on father, an old man of eighty,' had died,
pointed back and used the word "umbrella." principal witness, the owner of the boat, had holding the deceased by the queue. The latter who could speak as to the piracy. The Then this witness saw the defendant strike stated that they remained on the island of San. the deceased two blows with his fist, follow. Chin for two days, and then, kailing a passing He was sentenced to four years' imprisoning these up by drawing his truncheon and boat, were taken off and placed on the island of ment-two years on each charge.
dealing several blows with it on the deceased's Ling Tin. From there they made their way
After hearing evidence the jury unanimously found the prisoner guilty on both counts of the charge.
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