Jane 24, 1899.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT,
and took out of one box cash, and a knife with also opened another box containing 23 and a revolver. Prosvaut house before prisoners came in, men went out they fastened the door outside. Prosecutor, however, through the roof, and he saw a number going down towards the beach and ge
Subsequently first prisoner was
him He then said he would like to take the pied the boat shouted out to them in Chinese boste of the property in his possesal
samples away to show to his friend and he took them away. On his return he bargained for several pieces of silk.
His Lordship having addressed the jury, the latter consulted together for a minute or two, when the foreman announced that the jury were unanimous in finding defendant guilty on both counts.
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some of the remainder was found in a hot which second and third prisoners resided.
Evidence having been given, the jury found prisoners guilty.
His Lordship deferred sentence until the following day.
22nd June.
anted to arrange with him as to comprodore | guilty of robbery being armed with a knife; in | by the queue the others ordera.” He saw defendant and the comprodore | the second count it was not necessary for them together a few days afterwards, but he did not to find that he was armed. In the early mor- | hear what was said.
ning of May 24th a boatman named Chun Yau, Mahomed Kadirding, said he was in the shop a fisherman living at Aberdeen, went out in his of Cassim Mahomed and Co when defendant boat with his wife. They rowed in the direction called on the 20th May. He did not see defend- of Lok Chan, a village on the south sideof Lamma ant bring any samples. Defendant pioked Island. When they had got some way across the up some samples of plush which were lying channel close to Lok Chan they noticed a boat in the shop and asked him to show them to row out towards them, and some men who occu-
to turn round the head of their boat. Then prosecutor and his wife stopped rowing and the other boat came alongside and was kept along side by means of an oar. There were five men in the boat and two of them got on to proseon- tor's boat, each of them being armed with a knife. One of them seized prosecutor's wife by the hair of her head, and holding a knife close to her neck said, "Bring out money; if you don't I'll chop you." She was very much afraid and said, "I have no money; my husband and I are out on business." The man then went towards the husband, and struck him on the back with the flat of a knife and also with his fist. They then took away the property described in the information, namely, a jade bangle and a silver girdle. The two men then got into their own boat and rowed away in the direction of Pak Hok, near Lin Chan Wan, a village on the west side of Lamma Island. Prosecutor and his wife went back to Aberdeen and made a report to the police. Sergeant Langley and two Chinese constables accompanied them to Pak Hok, which was on Lamma Island, and then walked to Lin Chan Wan. Here prosecutor and his wife identified prisoner as one of the men who had attacked them, pickng him out of 20 men.
Sergeant Langley, in charge of the Police Station at Aberdeen, gave evidence as to the
The Acting Attorney-General said there were wo other charges of a similar character against defendant, but under the circumstances he would not proceed with them,
His Lordship, in passing sentence, said he could not conceive how the jury could have come to any decision other than they had that defendant was guilty of a most artful and dangerous commercial fraud. The preparation of the book which had been produced and the issuing of the documents he should have thought himself would be forgery. He was not at all sure that if defendant had been indicted for forgery what defendant had done in this in- stance would not have amounted to forgery, but the Crown had taken a lenient view and charged him only with attempting to obtain goods by false pretences. The least sentence he could pass upon defendant was 12 months hard labour.
20th June.
THÉ MISSING JURYMAN,
On Monday Mr. C. M. Teesing, who had been summoned to attend the Court as a juror, was absent and his Lordship ordered that be should be warned to attend that morning.
Mr. J. W. Jones (Clerk to the Court) in formed his Lordship that Mr. Teesing was pre- sent and asked to be excused for being absent the previous day. He was a foreigner, had only been in the colony two months, and was ignorant
of the law.
Mr. Teesing said he was a Dutchman.
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His Lordship said Mr. Teesing had received a summons to appear in court to serve on the jury, and he ought to have been present the previons day at ten o'clock. There were only 30 men called and among these 3 men the whole work of the sessions had to be distributed. By not being present Mr. Teesing threw upon the other 29 men more work than they would otherwise have had to do. If Mr. Teesing had been pre- sent the previous day possibly one of the other gentlemen would not have had to serve. Seeing that he enjoyed the hospitality of the colony surely it was worth Mr. Tossing's while to comply with the laws of the colony, and one of those laws was that residents should take a part in the administration of justice. Taking all the circumstances into consideration however, he would not impose any fine, but Mr. Teesing must attend throughout the session and not make an exonse of the kind again.
THE ARMED ROBBERY NEAR LOK CHAN,
Lam Kui was charged with robbery being armed and robbery with violence. He pleaded not guilty
The following composed the jury-Messrs. A. W. B. Soares, E. Boeck, C. H. Thompson, J. J. Sibbet, W. J. Mayson, L. A. Vichy, and E. C. Emmett.
The Acting Attorney General (the Hon. H. E. Pollock) said prisoner in this case was charged upon two different counts, but these two different counts both related to the same set of circumstances and only amounted to two different ways of describing the offence with which prisoner stood charged. In the first count prisoner was charged with being armed with a knife and committing a robbery upon a boatman called Chun Yau in the waters of the colony. In the second count prisoner was charged with having, with certain other persons to the Acting Attorney-General unknown, com- ted this robbery upon Chun Yan. In the irst count the jury would have to find prisoner
arrest.
Prosecutor's wife said prisoner was the man who attacked her, the other man who had got into their boat attacking her husband.
Prosecutor also gave evidence. He said the same man attacked him who attacked his wife, the other man searching the boat. The stolen articles were worth about $3.
The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, being unanimously of opinion that the case was one of mistaken indentity.
21st June.
THE ARMED ROBBERY AT LANTAU ISLAND. Li Tso, Chow Tung, and Li Kwan were charged with robbery being armed, and robbery with violence. They pleaded not guilty.
The following composed the jury:-Messrs. C. M. Teesing, Chan Tseung Fat, Johannes Walker, Sassoon Hoi Michael, G. A. V. Ribei- ro, A. A. Alves, and C. H: Thompson.
Mr. F. J. Price was called, but did not answer.
His Lordship said the jury had better choose a foreman from among themselves; Mr. Teesing was a foreigner, and it was desirable to have some one acquainted with British methods as foreman.
The Acting Attorney General (the Hon. H. E. Pollock) said the three prisoners in this case were charged upon two different counts, but those two different counts arose out of the same set of circumstances. The first count charged prisoners that on the 22nd May, being armed with offen- sive weapons, namely, knives and a pistol, they made an assault upon a man called Wan Li Heung, and robbed him of a hat, a pair of shoes and a tin box containing cartridges. The second count made no allusion to prisoners being armed, but merely charged them with assault and robbery. Prosecutor would tell the jury that he lived at Man Fong village, in the district of Mui Ho, on Lantau Island, and that early on the morning of May 22nd his house was robbed. He went to bed the previous even- ing with his door open, as the night was hot. There was only one room in the house. Pro- secutor was awakened by a piece of lighted paper being thrown into the house, and he saw three men standing inside the door of the house. Prosecutor had a revolver in a box, and he was getting up to get it when the men made a rush at him. One of them saised him by the queue, and another struck him on the back with a sword. While one of the men was holding him
THE ARMED ROBBERY AT LANTAU
* EXEMPLARY SENTENCES. His Lordship, in passing sentence in the Lantau robbery case, said —On the evening of " the 21st May last, a gang of armed robbers, who were making Yung Shu Wan village in Lamma Island their headquarters, sailed from thence in two boats to pillage the inhabitants of Mau Tong village in Lantan. They arrived at night and divided into sections and attacked various houses and people, robbing them and retreating with { their plunder before daylight, returning in their boats to Lamma Island. They trusted to their numbers, their arms, and the terror of their sudden appearance with torches in the dead of the night to overawe resistance. That they had no scruples using firearms is shown by the fact that two persons were wounded with bullets and some others were struck with the flat or back of swords. Yesterday, after a long and patient trial, the jury unanimously found that you three men formed part of the robber gang, and the subject of the investigation_yesterday was the robbery at the house of Wan Loi Hung. Some of his property was found in the posses- aion of the first prisoner, and some more at a house frequented by the second and third pri- soners, who were seen to start in the boats from
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Lamma Island with the rest of the robbers that night. Now I think that when a gang of armed robbers set out on a common expedition to rob villagers at a particular village and having effected their common object return together and share the plunder, each member of the gang must be taken to be legally resp for the illegal violence and wrongful of the other members committed in puraus of the common aim and intention of the pedition. There are three more informations filed against you, for other robberies committed by your gang at that village that night, beföre you returned to Lamma, but I understand the Attorney-General does not deem it necess to proceed with those other cases as you have been found guilty of the robbery at the house I shall, therefore, only of Wan Loi Hung. sentence you for the orime of which you hare been convicted, though other stolen property was found on the premises at Liamma which you frequented when on that island. The sentence is that you be severally imprisoned with hard labour for seven years, and that of you receive twenty strokes with a bird within the first week of your imprisonment. I am very glad the police have been able in this case to prevent some, at least, of the robbers from escaping scot free, and I think they have shown skill and energy in bringing you to justice.
DISHONEST TAILOR.
Tsuj Tai Kin was charged with larceny.” He pleaded not guilty.
The following composed the jury--- Mess A. E da Silva, W J. Maysen, Tong Tsung Choi A. Mackenzie, L. A. Vichy, F. E. Shuster, and A. Rodger.
ung.
The Acting Attorney-General explaine prisoner was charged with the I pieces of clothing, of the value perty of Cheung prisoner several and alter. They shop on the 30th day the shop was mi
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