March 20, 1905.]
MUSINGS IN A HONGKONG CHAIR.
The Chinese queue, or, as the maldescriptive but more familiar English phrase has it, the Chinese pig-tail-what numerous reflections it evokes as we pass through the thronged streets in our pair-coolie chair or single harness Pull man car! No syuthesis, perhaps, comes of the fleeting thoughts suggested; and, it may be, no axiomatic conolusions, But there it is, that pigtail, coiled round the brachycephalous skull that patiently plods ahead of us; undulating at an angle of forty-five in rear of that hurrying son of Han we almost ran down (he was long in making up his mind whether to await our passing or to run the gauntlet); or it lies meekly, gray, attenuated, eked out with strands of pink cord, between the shoulder blades of a stooping alder. Sometimes We 800 it, thickly tapering to its tassel, black, glossy flowing from beneath the jauntily sat cap of & young buck, striding B haughtily 8.8 magenta silk skirts will let him, eyeing us insolently through oblique casements in a jaundiced gable. With him it is no badge of slavery, as historians bid us believe; it is the mark of manhood, the toga virilis, the sword of the samurai. Long enough, often, to play tambo with his lifting heels, it is too precious for such
छ
risk. Like &
woman's flounces, it must be hoisted out of miry danger. He tucks it somewhere at his waist. At another time, on another Chinaman, we behold this hirsute appendage put to another use. Wrapped around and around the big brown hand of a Sikh policeman, it is gripped, close to the place of its growing, by those swarthy fingers, what time its tortured owner turns an upward profile, and follows with
unwilling gait the line of least resistance. Here, indeed, the explanation of its origin does seem made manifest, and we wonder if the conquering Manchus ordered it as 8 mere badge of alavery or 86 a useful handle for the slave's master P
The
absence of it
formerly marked him traitor and re- bellions to the Manchu rule; and part of the
procedure when being initiated into a secret society was the cutting off of the queue. Nowadays there be many who are shorn, who yet
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
A SAILORS' QUARREL.
FATAL ENDING.
On board the sailing ship King George Hernandez, a Spaniard, and Theodore Olsen, on the night of the 14th Marob, Emanuel
a Dane, quarrelled on the fo'o'sle. From words the men came to blows, Olsen striking Hernandes on the right eye with his fist. Thereupon the Spaniard drew a sheath knife and stabbed his opponent, running the knife about four inches into Olsen's groin. The Captain of the ship caused Hernandez to be put in irons until the arrival of the police, when he
man died before medical aid reached him,
was taken to the Central Station,
CHARGED WITH MURDER.
191
smash you." With that deceased struck sccused on the face, whereupon accused drew his knife and stabbed deceased. I said to socused “What
made you use the knife ?" I then went aft to attend deceased
6
ship King George, stated: Yesterday at about James Curtis White, Master of the sailing
I was sitting in my cabin." I heard's p.m. noise at my door, and went out to see what was the matter. I saw the deceased holding his groin with both hands, while blood was flowing from a wound. I asked the deceased "Who did this!" He replied The
Manuel," by which name accused is known on board. On examination, I found that deceased was stabbed on the groin. I sent for medical assistance aud a doctor arrived about half an hour afterwards.
Emanuel Hernandez was charged before Mr. F. A. Hazeland at the Police Court on Mar. 15th, atthe instance of Inspector Langley, with the wilful murder of Olsen. Accused pleaded "not guilty." Brob Olsen was the first witness. He stated: I am an able seaman on board the
deceased, together with two other seamen, were sailing ship King George. The accused and
on the fo'c'ale at about 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday, when the two men had a violent quarrel over anguage used by the accused to the third mate. The men came to blows, and the prisoner drew a knife which was in a sheath at his side and struck decessed in the left groin. Deceased ran out through the door on the port side, and accused his hand. When the accused saw the blood on ran out on the starboard side with the knife in his knife he walked over to the port side and threw the knife overboard Deceased then ran off to the Captain's cabin, and I saw the accused handcuffed.
bastard,
By the accused: Deceased called you a
but I cannot remember how
many times. I did not hear you tell deceased
not to call you that.
Dr. Hunter deposed: Yesterday morning I examined the body of the deceased, Theodore Olsen. The body was identified by Captain White, H. R. Lewis, Second Officer,~ and
Sergeant Clinson. There was a stab wound on the left groin about one and a half inches in length which extended upwards and inwards. The depth of the wound was about four inches. The chief blood vessels supplying the left leg were completely severed. The cause of death was
have caused the wound. knife which fitted this sheath (produced) would
would kow-tow before A certain low-born Dowager, but these be they who affect the garbh morrhage, resulting from the wound. The of the foreign devil, and take, with his fashions, his money, his learning, and all else of his they can lay hands upon. The conservative China- man's distress at the accidental or compulsory loss of his queue, since it is still acute as ever it was, seems to require further explanation than his possible dread of being taken for a rebel,
for on such evidence he no longer needs to fear being punished as one. We wonder if there has not been a curious perversion of that which happened in the fable of the fox who left his tail ingin. He pretended to be proud of his caudal poverty, and strongly recommended his vulpine fellows to make themselves like him. Is it, then, that the Manchu fox persuaded the Chinese foxes to adopt tails; and that they, pretending in the beginning, while it was yet a thing of shame, for their own comfort, and to "save face," a pride and pleasure in the ordained excrescence, have since fallen victim to that self-deceit, and forgotten that the vainglory was assum-dP Certainly to-day the pride is real enough, not only in the case of the young buck already mentioned, but also in the grayest veteran who sits in the barber's chair.
Another Manchu edict, ordering the removal of the queue, (and such an ediet has been reported) would not be eagerly obeyed. S potent is habit, which is called "second nature, that what at
the outset must have been a hardship would be unwillingly abandoned, perhaps not until the
application of a like force to that which was needed to establish it. Only the Chinese maid as yet loses the pigtail without regret, for with her its disappearance spells matrimony. And womanlike, her sacrifice is an evasion, and no real relinquishment. In the place of the dangl ing queue she wears an elaborate coiffer, and her hair is not lost, but gone aloft. Moreover Bump! Ah, here we are What ? Certainly not. Fifteen cents b'long proper fare. Cam- shaw? Get away. Annoying people, these coolies. However, whatever they may do with theirs, let us, as a quaint colloquialism of the London gutter puts it, "keep our hair on.”.
George Cördmann stated: I am an A.B. on the King George. Between five and six p.m yesterday I was in the fo' c' sle, when accused and deceased had a quarrel over what had happened in the afternoon between the accused
and the third mate. Deceased called defendant 'a-liar." Accused said to the deceased-" I am not a liar, you were not there." Then deceased said to the defendant-" If you don't keep quiet I will hit you in the face." Defendant said to the deceased" You called me a liar before; I am not a liar. You are a liar." Deceased then jumped up, called the defendant a bastard, and struck him on the face. Accused and deceased were seated on a bench, and when accused was struck by the deceased, he fell on to his left side. Accused then drew his knife from its sheath, and struck at deceased, the knife entering his groin. The sheath produced belongs to the defendant. Deceased then ran out of the port door of the fo' o'ale in the direction of the stern. The accused ran out of the starboard door and went
in the same direction. I had followed deceased, going out of the same door as he did. I then saw the defendant and said to him-
at the deck covered with blood," pointing to You have done something very bad; look where Olsen had been running. I then saw
defendant with his own knife, bloodstained, in his right hand. He glanced at his hand aud threw the knife overboard. I saw deceased go to the Captain's cabin door and call, then he laid down on the deck. Accused was finally put in irons.
James Herbert said: I am an A.B. on the King George. While sitting at supper about six o'clock on Tuesday evening, deceased said to the accused: "The Chief Mate was on to you to-day for not doing that work properly.", The accused said "You're a liar; he was'nt" Deceased said "If you call me a liar, I'li
£4
Meantime I took deceased to the Mess room and laid him on the table, where I proceeded to bandage his wound. He died about seven o'clock. The acoused always bore a good oharacter.
7
In reply to Inspector Langley: I saw the accused put in irons by the Chief Officer.
Detective Sergeant Wilden gave evidence as to the arrest of the accused.
N. G. Nolan, Interpretar, sworn, gav evidence as to reading over and explaining the charge to the accused, who after being administered the usual caution, made a lengthy statement, wherein he said that the quarrel began because deceased stated at dinner on Tuesday night that the third officer had given him certain work to do which he had not. Deceased said to the accused "If you do not keep quiet I will knock your head off." He then went from the starboard to the port side and hit the accused, whereupon accused pulled out his kaife and ran it into him,
Acoused further stated that a week after läst
Christmas, while at sea, the deceased struck him,
but he did not return the blow.
Hernandez was committed for trial at the Criminal Sessions.
A CHINESE DESPERADO.
EXTRADITION APPLIED FOE.
Before Mr. F. A. Hazeland at the Police Court on the 10th March Mr. R. A. Harding, on behalf of the Chinese Government, applied for the extradition of Pan Lung Tang alias Pim Wing Nin, who is "wanted in China to
answer a charge of armed robbery at Yung Ki village on the 23rd March of last year.
Mr Harding, in outlining the case, informed His Worship that the application was mainly brought about through the influence brought to bear by Messrs Shewan Tomes and Co., Jardine Matheson and Co., Arnhold Karberg and Co.,
Siemssen and Co. and other Hongkong firms who had interests in China. These firms had petitioned the Viceroy of Canton, asking him to effect the arrest of the defendant and other persons connected with his band. The silk factory held up was opened on the morning of the robbery about six o'clock, shortly after which all the female weavers entered. Sometime
later fifteen men entered the factory; five of them were clothed in soldiers uniforms, while the other ten wore plain clothes. They were all armed, some with revolvers and some with rifles. The remainder of the band which con- sisted of 70 men all told-remained outside the factory. The men who entered drove the women into a corner, and took charge of three fokis who were on the promises. They took them, also the goods in the factory, to
their boats which were lying in a creek a short distance from the West river. They then sailed
some distance down the river landing at a hut seized from the factory up for sale amongst bis where the defendant pat the clothing and arms followers. They continued their course down
the river and on landing, the defendant ordered one of the factory fokis to write to his master for certain goods, telling him that if they were
Chinese gunboat
not forthcoming he would be killed. As the goods did not some, the robbers began to starve the prisoners. Later B appeared on the scene and after fighting all day vanquished the robbers. During the light the fokis escaped from the hut in which they were confined and reached the gunboat.
silk
Leung Kan gave evidence. I am twister in the employ of the Chung Chan Silk Factory at Yung Ki village in the provin
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