TLIT
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference
C.O.885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC. COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
3 PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE,
LONDON
288,
separately with a view of ascertaining whether there be any circumstances in individual cases which would justify the Executive in commuting the sentence of death to one of penal servitude for life.
The prisoners who pleaded guilty are as follows:-
1, Ah Tung, alias Poh ah Wah; 2, Lee ah Sam; 3, Lee ah Yat; 4, Lee ah Seng; 5, Leong ah Ong; 10, Tan ah Sam; 13, Lee ah Kow; 10, Lee Keng Chong; 17, Lim Ah Kee; 19, Chew al Pol; 20, Vong ah Sam.
Each of these professed to have taken part in the actual murder of Captain Dent, and the Council have had much difficulty in recommending that the sentence of any of these prisoners should be commuted.
Knowing, however, the great indifference to life possessed by many of the Chinese, and believing that some may have pleaded guilty from a weariness of life or from a desire to participate in the fate of their companions, the Council have, taken into consideration the Reports of the Chief Justice as to the evidence, together with other facts bearing upon ench individual case, in order to enable them to judge whether there are grounds on which any of the eleven prisoners who have pleaded guilty should not be executed upon their own confessions.
With regard to the prisoners 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13, 16, and 20 the Council regret that they have no alternative but to recommend bis Excellency that the extreme sentence of the law should be carried out.
With regard to Nos. 1, 2, 3, 13, and 16, there can be no doubt that those prisoners not only took a leading part in the outbreak, but that they personally attacked Captai Dent with deadly weapons. The evidence against No. 4 is very strong, eleven witnesses speaking of the active part he took, four, of his attacking warders, and three, of his striking Captain Dent. Ile is, moreover, a life prisoner. The evidence of one of the European warders is very strong against No. 5. No 20 is proved to be the man who wounded Warder Clarke, and eighteen witnesses have testified to his having taken an active part in the outbreak. He is, moreover, already in prison for life on the charge of
murder.
With regard to No. 10, the evidence against him, although clear as regards his having been engaged in the outbreak, is not in their opinion quite as conclusive as to his participation in the actual assault. He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in July, 1873, for gang robbery, and is now about thirty years of age. The Council recom- mend that his sentence be commuted to penal servitude for life, which in this case will be a substantial punishment.
.
Against No. 17 and 19 there was comparatively little evidence. No. 17 is about thirty-eight years of age, and was sentenced at the same time as No. 10, and for the same
offence.
As regards No. 19, the Chief Justice remarks that had he pleaded "not guilty," he would in all probability have been acquitted, or convicted on a niinor count.
Of those who pleaded guilty the Council recommend that the sentence of death on Nos. 17 and 19, as well as that on No. 10, should be commuted to penal servitude for life.
As regards the seven who, whilst they pleaded "not guilty," were tried and convicted of murder, these prisoners by placing theinselves upon their trial have shown that they do not possess the same indifference to death as was manifested by the prisoners who pleaded guilty, and the Council have not the same difficulty in advising his Excellency us to dealing with these cases.
The names and numbers of those who pleaded "not guilty" and were convicted of
murder, are as follows:-
No. 8, Oh Yam Son; 9, How Sec; 14, Leang ahʼBoi; 21, Koo Joo Seng; 25, Tay Tib; 36, Lim Ang Hoh; 41, Lim Chee Thye.
No. 8 was sentenced in July, 1871, to seven years' imprisonment, and is now twenty- sight years of age. There are witnesses who state that he was armed and struck Captain Dent, and that he also struck one of the warders; but the evidence as to the weapon in his hand was somewhat conflicting, The Council are of opinion, from the fact of his having been found hiding with his leg-irons off, that he possibly was more occupied in getting rid of his leg-irons than in taking part in the disturbance. Looking, moreover, to his comparative youth, and the fact that he would have had but a short time to stay in prison under his original sentence, the Council are of opinion that, though the evidence is strong against him, penal servitude for life will be a sufficient punishment to answer the ends of Justice.
With regard to No. 9, Low See, he was sentenced to four years' imprisonment and twenty stripes, in March, 1874. He is considerably older than No. 8, being forty-two
289
years of age. It certainly would appear from the evidence that he struck Captain Dent, but all the witnesses say that he was armed only with a stick. It is possible that he might have picked this up during the disturbance, and that he might have joined in the outbreak without premeditation. Upon this ground, and upon the ground that penal servitude for life will be a substantial punishment in this case, the Council recommend his Excellency to extend mercy to this prisoner.
With regard to No. 14, Cheang ah Boi, he was sentenced to fifteen years in April, 1874, for gang robbery, armed with certain deadly weapons. The Council regret that they cannot recommend this nian to mercy. He was one of those present at the conver- sation spoken to on the night before the outbreak, and he, together with prisoner No. 3, attempted to cut off the communication with the outside of the gaol, and with the European prisoners, by closing and guarding the gate. The Council consider that, taking into consideration these facts, which tend to show that he must have been concerned in the original plot, as well as the testimony against him, both Chinese and Kling, as to his striking Captain Dent, they would not be doing their duty if they recommended any remission of sentence in his case.
With regard to No. 21, he was sentenced, in October 1873, to ten years' imprisonment for house-breaking by night in order to commit theft. He seems to have taken an active part in the disturbance, and is said by Baboo (described by the Chief Justice as aged thirteen years, but intelligent) to have struck Captain Dent with an axe an the head while he was struggling with Kapala Busoh. There was, however, some conflict of evidence as to the weapons used by him, and it is not improbable that young Baboo in his confusion might have been mistaken on this point; moreover, this prisoner is only nineteen years of age, and considering all the circumstances of his case, seeing also that owing to his youth penal servitule for life would be a substantial and very heavy punishment, the Council recommend that his sentence should be commuted accordingly.
With regard to No. 25, Tay Tit, he was sentenced on 7th April, 1873, to seven years' imprisonment for gang robbery. He seems to have also taken an active part in the disturbance, and is said by Baboo to have struck Captain Dent on the head with a stick. This prisoner is, however, only twenty-two years of age, and in the main the same remarks apply to this case as to that of No. 21, and the Council accordingly recommend that his sentence also be commuted.
With regard to No. 36, he was sentenced in 1873 to seven years for gang-robbery, and is about twenty-nine years of age. He appears to have taken a very active part in the disturbances, but there is no evidence of his having actually struck Captain Dent. The Council recommend that his sentence should be commuted.
With regard to No. 41, Lim Chie Thye, he was sentenced in February 1874, to three years' imprisonment for house-breaking by night, and is thirty-one years of age. Although warler Lamb speaks of him as being the ringleader in the resistance which took place in the work-yard, there is no evidence as to his actually attacking Captain Dent. Taking this into consideration, and seeing that, owing to the comparative shortness of his original sentence, penal servitude for life will be a substantial punishment for him, the Council recommend that his sentence be commuted.
Of the eighteen prisoners, therefore, now under sentence of death, the Council, after giving their anxious consideration to cach case, recommend that the sentences of Nos. 10, 17, 19, 8, 9, 21, 25, 36, and 41 should be commuted to penal servitude for life.
As regards the remaining nine prisoners, the Council regret that they have no alternative but to recommend that the extreme penalty of the law be inflicted.
The Council unanimously agree in recommending his Excellency to dispose of the prisoners as indicated in the Attorney-General's statement, which correctly represents the views expressed by the Council at the last meeting.
No. 61.
Colonial Office to Thomas Braddell, Esq.
Sir,
Downing Street, August 3, 1875. I AM directed by the Earl of Carnarvon to transmit to you a copy of a despatch from the Governor of the Straits Settlements, respecting the trial of the convicts concerned in the recent outbreak in the Singapore Gaol.*
• No. 60.