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· Report on the execution of Criminals extradited from Hongkong.
The Fanhoi Magistrate having announced that the execution of the prisoners Cheng Ya Ya, Hien Ya Kuei and Lei A Chang, who were tried by him in my presence on the 10th ult., was to take place at three o'clock in the afternoon of yesterday, September 8th, I was directed by His Majesty's Consul-General to attend on behalf of the Hongkong Government and report proceedings.
The death sentence was carried out by strangulation; and the execution took place near the foreign Gunboats or the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company's Wharf, a short distance below the French Concessions. The bodies were not exhibited in their cages as a warning to the populace.
Notwithstanding that the Magistrate assured me that the accused had not been tortured, I felt it my duty to satisfy myself of this fact by personal inspection, and therefore requested that the prisoners should be brought forward so that I might examine them. I looked carefully at their hands and feet and had their coats thrown open, but their bodies bore absolutely no trace of torture. On the contrary, they presented such a healthy appearance as to make it evident that in the matter of sufficient nourishment every precaution had been taken not to subject them to unnecessary suffering.
I took the opportunity to convey to the Magistrate the appreciation of His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong for the friendly and equitable manner in which he had conducted the case, and expressed to him my personal recognition of the assistance he had afforded me at the trial of the prisoners.
The Magistrate appeared grateful for these acknowledgments, and told me that in the case of Lei A Chang, the accused, he had been in favour of sending the prisoner to Sanning City, where the original accusation against him had been laid; and that it was only after the Taotai had convinced His Excellency of the guilt of the accused, that the Futai consented to the strangulation of Lei A Chang at Canton.
It may be interesting also to note, as an earnest of the intention of the Authorities to maintain law and order in this part of the country, that there were executed yesterday, together with the prisoners extradited from Hongkong, three criminals who had been found guilty of attempted robbery, carrying firearms. This is a precedent which the Magistrate informed me he had long thought of creating as a further warning to the criminal classes. He added that he was determined to prevent crime and disturbance, and would administer the law with the utmost rigour to that end.