The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-01-25
ToRTuREn 70 pEATH.
Ehe Terrible Punishment Inflicted GA Tw'
Innocent ChTnamen.

Innocent Cinnamon.
The following case. which IL reported
oy the highest authorities of the Hu
Kuang provinces, has been under
Judicial investigation for some time
past and its final settlement is now re-
ported. The principal parties to it
were She Yun-shan. man who kept
drapery establishment at place called
Jen-ho, in the Kung-an district, and
two persons named Chang Tsumao and
Chang Ming-la, father and son, who
carried on a trade in frewOOd. About
the middle of last year the latter pur-
chased the trees of small wood in
the Changing district, and went
with a number of their servants to cut
them down and convert them into fire.
wood. They then hired boat belong
ing to a Chung-king man to convey
the products to the Kung-an district,
where they heard there was prospect
of high market for it. One night.
shortly after their arrival at that
place, the drapery establishment OF
She Yun-shan was attacked by robbers
and completely rihed, the proprietor
himself and his wife being wounded in
the struggle with the assailants. The
robbers were pursued by the village
police, but contrived to make their
escape under cover of night.
Next morning She Yun-shan insti-
tuted a search for the property and
found five bales of cloth. part of the
plumber, at place not far from where
Chang Tsumao's boat was anchored,
and his suspicion having fallen on its
six occupants, he called in the aid of
the police and had them at once
arrested. When he brought them
before the magistrate he charged
them with piracy and falsely alleged
that he found the stolen goods
on board the boat. The accused, hav-
ing refused TO confess, were beaten
and tortured, and in the end one or two
of them dreading further torture, said
! that they had agreed with Chang Tsu-
mao and his son to rob the house, but
were not present at the commission of
/ the deed. Chang Tsumao and his son
were brought before the magistrate
and were exposed once more to torture,
/ but they still firmly adhered to the
declaration of their innocence. Both
men died under the ordeal, and
the wife of the former instituted pro-
ceedings against all the parties re-
sponsible for the death of her husband
and son.
The magistrate was at once removed
from Office and degraded, and full in
vestigation of the whole circumstances
was held in the provincial capital,
with the result that the innocence Of
the six men were completely estab-
lished. The blows, it was proved
were administered on the usual places,
the buttocks and legs, and no illegal
torture was used. The law is that any
one who falsely accuses an innocent
person, and thereby causes his death
is to suffer strangulation after the
usual period of confinement. In the
present instance, although the imme
diate cause of death was torture, still
as the torture was the consequence oil
the false ACQUISITION, She Yun-shar
has been convicted under the above
provisions of the law. The magis
trate is to be banished for his careless
management of the case; the police
man who made the arrest and thu
Yamen underlings, who only carrie'
out the law in the usual way, are ex
onerated from all blame, and fresl
search is to be made for the actua
rObbers.-Peking Gazette.