The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-10-07
a cHINasE SOLOMON.
How a Legal Case was Decided.

Lawyers are unknown in China, no
one being permitted to appear for a
prisoner except by favor Of magis-
trate. Each official is therefore the
exponent of the code as he reads it,
and precedents are seldom regarded.
Some Of the magistrates are brutal,
ignorant knaves, while minority
are able, clever men, who would not
disgrace a civilized bench. The ad-
ministrstion, even Of the written law,
is therefore very uncertain, while
justice, is in many cases mere mat
ter Of change.
Among the better class Of manda-
rims the writer enjoyed the aequain-
tance of one whose reputation for
both Just dealing and mother-wit
stood very high. He resided in the
Peichih.l province, and was much
esteemed in the neighhorhood. Upon
q certain occasion two men, one OF
whom sold tea-oil and the other rice,
came before him to decide dispute
regarding the proprietorship Of a
measure made of basket work. 1t
should be mentioned that the Chi
nese produce wicker ware so close
a texture that it will almost contain
water without leaking, and easily
carries any viscid substance, such as
oil or molases. Well, the oilman's
story was that he had lent this
basket-Work measure, which he had
only used a few times, to The rice
man few weeks before, but that he
now refused to return it. The rice
man. on the other hand, declared
that he had never borrowed the
measure at all; he had purchased 1t
new some months previously, and II
had never been used for anything
but rice. An examination Of the
measure simply showed that it was
coated with rice dust. The magis-
trate asked if they had any witnes-
ses, and each brought a shopman
who confirmed his own masters sto-
ry. It was a case of "big lie" some
where, without doubt.
After hearing both sides the mag
istrate thought awhile and said,
"Wel, as the evidence on both sides
is equal, the only thing / can do is
to ask the measure itself who it be
longs to. Put it on the floor in front
of me-" All the people in thecourt
laughed and were extremely tickled
when he said, "Measurel whom do
you belong TOT"
OF course the measure did net
reply, so that the question was re-
peated, the magistrate adding, "IfI
you don't answer 1 shall give yon
the bamboo Silence being still
preserved, he gave a sign to the ex-
ecutioner, who turned his mouth
downwards, and administered twen-
ty-fYe vigorous blows. The people |
grinned more than ever at this, and |
laughed loudly, when he again re-
peated the question, with an ad-
dional twenty-five blows, bidding the
executioner clay it on well for its
impertinence." When this had been
done the magistrate said, "Well |
there's no getting anything out of
it; take it away!' and, getting up
from his seat, walked over to where |
the measure had been placed, |
stopped down and examined the
ground, and then. returned to his
chair.
Addressing the parties he said:
81 pronounce that the measure be-
longs to the Gilman, and that the
riceman is no better than a thief.
Give the Gilman his measure, and
give the other man fifty blows with
the larger bamboo-weu laid on"
The sentence was Immediately car
ried out, to the great inconvenience
of the rogue and it was perfectly just.
1t appears that tea-ol when carried !
in a basket-work vessel deposits a
very fine seed in the interstiees, and
when dry and the article is violently
beaten they Of course fall out. Some
Of these seeds were in the rice dust
which fell from the measure under
5he bambooing it received, so that OF
course the story that it had never
been used for tea-oil was a falsehood.