CO129-195 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [1-4] — Page 464

Administrator to say of Hongkong had written that his attention had been drawn to a statement which had appeared in the Hongkong Daily Press to the effect that the 15 criminals recently given up by the Hongkong Government had been subjected to any torture at the investigation held by the Chinese Authorities, and requesting information on the point. The late Verney Lun enquiry into the circumstances attending the trial before the Prefect Court of Ting-hai-pin and the other criminals whose rendition was granted by the Hongkong Government, found that only 5 of these, including Hung Hwa-fu and Mack Ju, made at first evasive allegations to deny the charge, but that subdued quietly being plainly identified by the evidence of the prosecution, they finally confessed their guilt. With this exception the savage scoundrels made a full and free confession, and really, no torture was used on any of them. It was added that the crime with which Hung Kwai-pein and the other 12 were charged was committed in their native village and their own relatives were consequently acquainted with their names and faces beforehand, so that there was no necessity to employ torture to obtain a confession. This information was detailed in letters.

Administrator to say of Hongkong had written that his attention had been drawn to a statement which had appeared in the Hongkong Daily Press to the effect that the 15 criminals recently given up by the Hongkong Government had been subjected to any torture at the investigation held by the Chinese Authorities, and requesting information on the point. The late Verney Lun enquiry into the circumstances attending the trial before the Prefect Court of Ting-hai-pin and the other criminals whose rendition was granted by the Hongkong Government, found that only 5 of these, including Hung Hwa-fu and Mack Ju, made at first evasive allegations to deny the charge, but that subdued quietly being plainly identified by the evidence of the prosecution, they finally confessed their guilt. With this exception the savage scoundrels made a full and free confession, and really, no torture was used on any of them. It was added that the crime with which Hung Kwai-pein and the other 12 were charged was committed in their native village and their own relatives were consequently acquainted with their names and faces beforehand, so that there was no necessity to employ torture to obtain a confession. This information was detailed in letters.

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Administrator to say of Hongkong had written that his attention had been drawn to a statement which had appeared in the Hongkong Daily Press to the effect that the 15 criminals recently given up by the Hongkong Government had been subjected to any torture at the investigation held by the Chinese Authorities, and requesting information on the point. The late Verney Lun enquiry into the circumstances attending the trial before the Prefect Court of Ting-hai-pin and the other criminals whose rendition was granted by the Hongkong Government, found that only 5 of these, including Hung Hwa-fu and Mack Ju, made at first evasive allegations to deny the charge, but that subdued quietly being plainly identified by the evidence of the prosecution, they finally confessed their guilt. With this exception the savage scoundrels made a full and free confession, and really, no torture was used on any of them. It was added that the crime with which Hung Kwai-pein and the other 12 were charged was committed in their native village and their own relatives were consequently acquainted with their names and faces beforehand, so that there was no necessity to employ torture to obtain a confession. This information was detailed in letters.

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