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H. J. LETHBRIDGE
London, on November 19-20, 1928. Miao's counsel (J. C. Jackson) withdrew from the case when Miao insisted on addressing the Court himself, but was allowed, should any question of law arise, to make a statement later as amicus curiae. Miao argued his case before the Court for over four hours and called three new witnesses who deposed that other Orientals had been seen near the scene of the crime on the day it took place. The Court, remarking that special indulgence had been shown to the applicant as he was a foreigner, dismissed the appeal. Dr. Miao Chung-yi was hanged at Manchester's Strangeways Gaol on December 6, 1928. Ironically, on that day his wife's body was shipped back to Hong Kong for re-burial in the Chinese Christian Cemetery, Hong Kong. No one has seriously disputed that Miao killed his wife, but the reason why he did so has baffled Sir Travers Humphreys and a number of other commentators.
Sir Travers Humphreys (1867-1956) was a product of late Victorian England, the era of British Imperialism. He was sixty-one when he presided over Miao's trial and eighty-six when he wrote an account in A Book of Trials (1953), a volume of legal reminiscence. Miao's story is to be found therein under the somewhat dramatic heading "The Chinese Murder". Travers Humphreys declares that "The interesting feature of Miao's case is, perhaps, the fact that, in the absence of any direct proof against him, the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming, while the suggested motive for the crime, though proved to some extent, seemed to many people absolutely inadequate". He comments, later on, that the trial was "quite the most puzzling I have ever come across, on the question, why did he do it?" and concludes, "I am satisfied that Miao murdered his wife and was rightly hanged, but I was and still am unable to answer to my own satisfaction the question, 'Why did he do it?'"
37
It seems that Travers Humphreys' perplexity owed much to the fact that the accused was a Chinese, whose mind therefore must be extraordinarily difficult to fathom. (Even a noted sinologist like Dyer Ball had argued that Chinese do everything in reverse, or eccentrically, compared with Europeans). This is further suggested by the quatrain containing the line "The Heathen Chinese is peculiar", which heads Travers Humphreys' chapter on the trial. Mrs. Miao, as we already know, was
132
H. J. LETHBRIDGE
London, on November 19-20, 1928.38 Miao's counsel (J. C. Jackson) withdrew from the case when Miao insisted on addressing the Court himself, but was allowed, should any question of law arise, to make a statement later as amicus curiae. Miao argued his case before the Court for over four hours and called three new witnesses who deposed that other Orientals had been seen near the scene of the crime on the day it took place. The Court, remarking that special indulgence had been shown to the applicant as he was a foreigner, dismissed the appeal. Dr. Miao Chung-yi was hanged at Manchester's Strangeways Gaol on December 6. 1928. Ironically, on that day his wife's body was shipped back to Hong Kong for re-burial in the Chinese Christian Cemetery, Hong Kong. No one has seriously disputed that Miao killed his wife, but the reason why he did so has baffled Sir Travers Humphreys and a number of other commentators.
Sir Travers Humphreys (1867-1956) was a product of late Victorian England, the era of British Imperialism. He was sixty-one when he presided over Miao's trial and eighty-six when he wrote an account în A Book of Trials (1953), a volume of legal reminiscence. Miao's story is to be found therein under the somewhat dramatic heading "The Chinese Murder'. Travers Humphreys declares that "The interesting feature of Miao's case is, perhaps, the fact that, in the absence of any direct proof against him, the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming, while the suggested motive for the crime, though proved to some extent, seemed to many people absolutely inadequate'. He comments, later on, that the trial was quite the most puzzling I have ever come across, on the question, why did he do it?' and concludes, 'I am satisfied that Miao murdered his wife and was rightly hanged, but I was and still am unable to answer to my own satisfaction the question, "Why did he do it?” ›3o
37
It seems that Travers Humphreys' perplexity owed much to the fact that the accused was a Chinese, whose mind therefore must be extraordinarily difficult to fathom. (Even a noted sinologist like Dyer Ball had argued that Chinese do everything in reverse, or eccentrically, compared with Europeans).40 This is further suggested by the quatrain containing the line "The Heathen Chinese is peculiar', which heads Travers Humphreys chapter on the trial. Mrs. Miao, as we already know, was
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