"Please state earliest within what time limit,! price of articles, and commission required, and how paid.
Must
"2-To prepare 1,000 men with guns and drill and 50 Hurope sailors and gunners. within 3 months ready to capture two river forts W. and K. and 3 C. men-of-war to bring up river under Foreigu guuners. -
"Please state lowest price for first month, your own monthly pay. Afterward to make you the general of half to begin and pay of Foreigners according to success. Kindly to re-. ply by bearer because if you do not we find an- other. The bearer has ten friends and if you betray, they will shoot you. If you afterwards inform the authority we must know and punish. if you come in, then certain succeed and you great general with Tls. 500 per month. The bearer can to trust if you tell him. Better to write clear, pretend hand. no sign.
Write an- swer immediate, Foreign word in Chinese en- velope address &c. X. efo Custom House Post Office Chinking. Also next Saturday can trust young Chitisse on Garden Bridge; he will say Liang, you say Chiang.""
I consider" W. and K." stands for Woosung and Kiangyiu," and." C. men-of-war" for Chi-, nese men-of-war." I did not reply to that lot- ter. I went on the Garden Bridge, not at the time uamed, but afterwards. No goung China- man was there. As I was threatened with be ing shot I told two or three of my personal friends, so that if I disappeared they would kuow why.
I
I
Peter Toussaint deposed-f am a seatoan, and a British subject. I know the accused. first saw him in Hongkong, at the Grand Hotel, a little over a month ago. I had been stopping there, but was out of employment I had pre- riously been second officer of the steamer Dia- mond. Accused and I occupied a double-bedded room. He spoke to me in the bed-room and asked me if I had say employment, or what: business I followed. I said I was a seafaring an and he asked me if I would like a situation. I said Yes. He said he wanted some men and that be would pay a good salary to a good mail. I asked him what the position was, and bo told me it was in the Customs I then said I did not know anything about the Custong but would be glad to get a position if it suited me. He told me there were man who would show me what duties I was to perform, and that they would principally be to take charge of a number of Chinese and that they did their work pro- perly. He then asked if I want d any money or knew where I could get any more men. I said i I could get some more. He then told me that he wanted some furniture, named the kind be wanted, and asked me if I would buy it for him. I said I would. He gave me the money and asked if I could get it at once. said I would. I bought the faruitare, aud took it where he directo 1. Ho told me to mest him that evening at seven o'clock and let him know what men I had got. I met him and told him I had seven men, that they wanted to know what their salaries would be, and that they wanted a certain advance to clear them from the boarding-house. He gave me money to pay their advance, and asked me to meet him the next morning at. 7 or 7.30. I met him. He said he had some arms that were to be packed up, and he wanted some one to look after them, so that he would not be cheated. I agreed to do this. I went to a gunsmith's indicated by accused, and saw the arms in their boxes, I saw them nailed up and the number placed on each box. He then asked me, as far as I can remember, to hunt up some nore, weu, which I did. I told him I wanted some more money. which he gave me, and asked me to meet him that evening about the same time as before. He told we to: ret what men I could and let him know the qumber, so that he could get their tickets, as he wanted to start as soon as possible. I met him next morning and told him I had 19 men in all. He told me to get tickets and take the first steamer that was going. He gave me the money, and I took tickets by the Amoy. The first steamer going was the Chiyon, but the C.M.S.N. Co. would not sell me tickets by her. I therefore took the next steamer leaving, which was the Amoy. That evening after buying the tickets, I found accused bad gone in the Chiques. I did not at that time kn w his name. I told some of the men about this, and some of them asked for more money and for a guarantee, which I could not give them. I told them they knew as much about it as I did. Some of the won said they would. go, and others refused,
34
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Five men and I decided to go on and see the end of it. Their names are Oswell, Keen, Read Macgregor and Morrison. I went back to the gunsmith's to see if accused had left any mes-age for me. A note telling me to come on at once, and that if I did not I should find myself locked up, was given to me. A Chinese detective was watching me. A few minutes later I was ar- rested by Detective Green. He asked me what I was doing with all those arms. I said I was doing nothing. He asked where they were go- ing, and I said Chiakiang. He said I was work- ing a nice game and that 1 was in for it and would have to go to the station. I said I was quite willing to go. I went with him to the head detective's quarters, where the note an open slip of paper) which I had received at the gunsmith's shop was taken away. I was then liberated. The police appeared to think I was a privileged character. They asked me if I was poing on to Shanghai. I said I was, if the steamer did not go down on the way. I and the five men came on by the Amoy, which left a day and a half or two days after the Chiyuen. The journey occupied about four days. When I arrived, I heard that souno arms had besu seized on the Chiyuen and I concluded that they were the arms which I had seen safely nailed up. In Shanghai I visited accused three timos. I read in the papers of a man named Mason who was accused of importing arms. went to the Central Hotel and saw that Mason was the man I had metat Hongkong. The firstday I saw him in Hongkong he was wearing a long greyish heard, later on in Hongkong he ap peared as he does now. He explained to me that there was some one in Hongkong whom he did not wish to see. When I first saw him at the Central Hotel I asked him what was the Datter and if we were going on. He said be thought we could not do any more, and that he was out of the Customs him elf, but that he was working for Sir Robert Hart. On my sodoud visit I told him that the meu I had engaged were dissatisfied and that they wanted to know who was going to send them back whence thoy came. He said he was unable to help them. I had to be satisfied with that, Next time I saw him. I told him the man had flodged a complaint with the Consul, and I asked him to give the mes something to enable them either to get back or to live here. He told me that he had no
and
unable to money do what I asked. On this occasion I told him that I had got a ship (the Hilaria) and that I was going away. Altogether accused gave me about $1,000 in Hongkong. I took a pass for 19 men at Hongkong. I did not know at that time that some of them would not go. I did not pay for the pass at that time, but came back to the men and told them that they would have to make themselves as comfortable as they could on board the ship, but that there were no sleeping apartments. Then most of them backed out. Mason told me that he wanted 100 men if he could get them. He said there was another man, named Smith, st work picking up men. I gathered that Smith wax Mason's superior. I saw a man whom I supposed to be Smith. He asked me who was looking after the arms. I said I was. Ho told me that his uame was Smith, and asked me who had engaged me. I told him I had been engaged by a man at the Grand Hotel, and he said "All right, I know the gent emaz. This was at the gunsmith's, in the morning. He was a short mau. with a dark brown beard, which I thought belonged to him. From his speech I took him to be a Gor man. I do not know if he stopped at the Grand Hotel. It is kept by a Chinaman with an Eng- lish wife. The largest sum f bad at oue time from accused was $700 or $800. 1 left $500 with the wife of the proprietor of the Grand Hotel, one night. The money was principally in large notes. There was one note for $500, and there Mason were other notes for $100, $50, and $25, gave me no account of himself orcept that he was in the Customs. My wages were to be $250 a month, and the men's wages $100. When I went back to the gansmith's shop and found that accused and the arms had goue, I was shown 20 revolvers which I had left out of the cases the day before ander instructions from accused, which I was told were for me. He said
Was
! each men wae to have a revolves in case there was a disturbance with the Oklases when we landed.
A