was made out to the extent of the fact that witnesses swore each of that they had seen the prisoners taking part in the affair of the burglary.
The whole evidence, however, was suspicious in the highest degree, and it was the second prisoner, recognized him because the prisoner had tied him up and kept him in Ma Shi's house, while another witness identified him for precisely the same reasons, but in a different way. I had doubt as to how far my power to decide on it was based on assumptions gathered from the internal appearance of the evidence but not actually demonstrated, and that I did not discharge the prisoners.
Beyond the bare assertion of identification, there is nothing whatever to connect the prisoners with the burglary. There was no corroborating testimony as to the fact of the assertion of identification. One of the witnesses who identified the prisoners was altogether unreliable. The witness whose evidence I had regarded as of most value turned out to be an old Chinese prisoner, and there was evidence bearing a good deal of appearance of showing that he is attached to the Chinese Sunboat, of which Captain Li Lor is the Commander, as a detective, and was put forward to cement the evidence of the other witnesses.
During the trial, one of the prisoners committed suicide. I beg to refer to the Daily Press of ...
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