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REGINA V. LOGAN.
Ho that morning. At about half-past six my boy came and made a communication to me, and in consequence of what he told me I went down to my front door, and having opened it I went into the street. I saw two or three coolies standing looking westward, but I saw no one else. I saw nothing else at that time, and I went back to my house. About ten minutes or a quarter of an hour afterwards I heard a rush in the street; I was downstairs and went to my front window, and, looking through the venetians, I saw Mr. Johnson, who looked apparently angry, and had something in his hand—I think it was a stone—and made a motion as if he was going to throw it. He spoke something in Chinese. I understood the words, and they were a lot of bad language which I suppose were used to scold the Chinese. I stood there for three or four minutes, and he then went away to the eastward. I did not think there was anything of any importance for me to go out to see, and I went away from the window to the back of the house. Some minutes after this, I am not sure how long, I heard another sound of people running in the street, and I went to my front door and into the street. I saw a lot of Chinese running to the eastward as if they were afraid of something. I then observed an old woman in the street coming down towards my house from the westward, and when she came to my door and saw it open she slipped into it. I stood for some minutes at the door after this, but I did not see any foreigner, nor anything else happening; the street was cleared, no one being in it. I closed my door and asked my boy why the woman had come into my house. He said something, and then I saw she was bleeding from the left shoulder, and I went to the back of my house and called Mr. Ström. Mr. Ström did not come just then, but he did after a time. He advised me to have some iced water and vinegar applied to the wound, and I acted on his advice. The woman's coat was taken off and I looked at the wound, which seemed to have been made by a bullet because there was a hole in the front and at the back of the shoulder as if the bullet had passed through.
After this Mr. Ström and I had gone upstairs, and I happened to go to the front window and look into the street, and I then saw Mr. Logan and Mr. Johnson standing on the bridge over the stream in the street. I saw Mr. Logan had something like a revolver or a pistol in his right hand. The Crown Advocate—Did he do anything with it? Witness—He made a movement as if to aim at something, but he did not fire. He was looking to the eastward at that time. I did not see anything in Johnson's hand at that time. I then went from the window into the room and called Mr. Ström, who was upstairs at the time, came and we both went to the window. I saw the same parties on the bridge as before, and there was a Parsee between Logan and Johnson. I do not know the Parsee, and I do not think I could point him out as I don't think I should know him again. The three were speaking together, and they soon afterwards left the bridge and went westward towards Mr. Logan's house. We then left the window and went downstairs, and there we heard a report like a pistol or revolver shot. We then went to the back of our house and heard more similar reports, and I saw the splashes of some bullets falling into the water of a pond at the back of our houses. We did not see the man who fired the shots at the time nor where they came from, as there was a house between us and that place. We then went to Mr. Ström's house, next door to the west. We went upstairs, and I looked through an aperture in the verandah wall, which consisted of boards. I observed Mr. Logan standing on the back verandah of his own house. He was leaning on the parapet, and had something like a pistol or revolver in his hand. He was pointing it downwards, and seemed to be aiming at a fishing net in the pond. Mr. Johnson was standing by Mr. Logan's side at that time. I saw nothing in Mr. Johnson's hand at that time.
I heard that something had occurred, and I went down into the street with Mr. Ström and I think Mr. Lant, who had come into my house in the meantime. We went to the eastwards round the corner of the cross-street which was at the end of our street, towards the river. Round the corner I saw the dead body of a boy. [Witness here marked the spot on the plan]. The body was lying in the street close up to the house on the right-hand side of the street going towards the river, about forty or fifty feet from the corner of the cross-roads. The body was covered with blood, and was that of a Chinese boy about thirteen or fourteen years old. We did not take the boy's clothes away to examine the body or the wound. I saw a Chinese coolie in the street, who was lying against the wall of a house close to the body of the boy. He had blood spots on the hip, but we made no examination of him.
Cross-examined by Mr. Wise.—The first time I heard a noise in the street it sounded like a lot of people, I should think there might have been twenty. When I saw Johnson in the street he was looking angry, and apparently threatening people with a stone, but I could not see anyone else; I suppose he was angry with the Chinese. When I saw Johnson and Logan on the bridge I saw at least two or three Chinese. I saw something like a revolver in Logan's hand; it might have been one of those produced.
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was not aiming it directly at anyone, nor holding it steadily, but moving it in a way which made me think he meant to fire at the Chinese if they came on. I did not see the Chinese come on, and I did not see the prisoner fire. During the time Logan and Johnson were on the bridge, I heard no report of a revolver. I don't think I heard any before I went downstairs, but I cannot be sure, as the Chinese are in the habit of firing so many crackers at all times. After this, I saw the Parsee with Logan and Johnson, but I did not see Neilsen, nor a man named Steel, nor any other European. I saw these three on the bridge for a few minutes; they were conversing, apparently, but I saw no excitement nor any signs of anything serious having happened. I am sure that the reports I heard when I was at the back of the house were those which caused the splashes in the pond behind our houses, and they were not reports of any firing in the street. The pond is not visible from the street, and I am sure that someone firing a revolver at this pond from the prisoner's house could not hit anyone in the street.
Mr. Wise—What was your idea of why they were firing into this pond? Witness—I have no idea; they might have been practising. I went out with Ström and Lant about half an hour after I heard these reports. I think it was about half-past eight. I am not acquainted with Neilson, but I have seen him a few times. I am not able to describe him except that he is a middle-sized man.
After the two passed out of my sight to the westward, I went back into my bedroom, and then I was called by Mr. Matzen into his house, and he there showed me an old Chinese woman who had a wound on her left shoulder. The wound was almost round as if caused by a shot, or a spear, or something sharp. After I had dressed the woman's wound Mr. Matzen called me to the front window, and I looked through the venetians, which Mr. Matzen raised for the purpose. I saw Mr. Logan, Mr. Johnson, and a Parsee coming from the bridge walking to the west. I did not see anything particular about Mr. Logan; he was talking to the Parsee, and had something in his hand which I think was a revolver, but I could not see for certain, because he was carrying it swinging in his hand on the side turned from me. My impression at the time was that it was a revolver.
Later in the morning Mr. Matzen and I were talking in his house about this matter, when we heard several shots fired in quick succession. Those shots came from the back of the house to the west; the sound came in through the back windows. Mr. Matzen and I then went out and heard two or three more reports, and saw some splashes in the pond at the back of our houses. I did not see who was firing at the time.
Mads Bernth Julius Ström said—I am a Danish subject and at present employed by the Imperial Maritime Customs of Canton. I live at Hnam and I know the prisoner, who lives close to where I live. About a quarter past six on the morning of the 12th August my attention was attracted by a row in the street, and I went to my front window to see what was the matter. I saw a lot of Chinese: the street was full of them. They were shouting, and someone threw a stone which came from east to west and struck the stonework of my door. I only saw one stone thrown. I did not see anything else done by the Chinese, and they had no weapons that I saw. I then went back from the window and went on with my dressing. After dressing I went back to my window. There were then no Chinese in the street, but I saw Mr. Logan and Mr. Neilsen standing on the bridge. Their backs were towards me, but almost immediately they turned round their faces to me and I saw that Mr. Logan had something like a gun or rifle or carbine in his hand. They walked towards me, and I spoke to Mr. Logan as he was passing, and asked him what was the matter. As far as I remember now he said he had been mobbed by a crowd of Chinese, who attempted to take charge of his house. Nothing more was said that I remember, and they passed on towards Mr. Logan's house and out of my sight.
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