St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-01-18
THE cHlNAMAN'S OATH.

Binding Only When Made Over the Dead
Body OF Hen.
Four hens, an animated gathering OF
moon-faced. Acknowledged Celestials and
few Caucasian spectators were in at
tendance 1T Judge Boland's court. The
cause celebre, belittled on the records
by the mere entry: The State Of Mis-
souri, vs.. Lee Ill., came up for hearing,
and if the length OF time that was con-
sumed in hearing it be any criterion it
may truthfully be said that it was heard.
The Cinnamon were there as interested
spectators, the white men as disinter-
ested loungers, while the breasts of the
hens throbbed with the consciousness
that they were there to be used in en-
forcing the sanctity of the oaths of sus-
pected witnesses. Tied together by the
legs, they lay on the floor beneath
bench and never interrupted the solem-
nifty Of the proceedings by a single inn
Fortunate cackle.
1t was alleged in the complaint that
one evening Lee Hi, animated by an in
tent that was necessarily felonious..
assaulted Henry Sing with Ratchet and
chopped the said Sings hand.
Sing appeared in court with his hand
appropriately bound in bandages. His
adherents and those of the aggressive
Lee Hi were present in full force, and
friends of the prosecution had taken the
precaution to bring with them four live
chickens as an indispensable accessory
to the swearing of a binding oath. Wit
ness after witness testified in debilitat-
ing English concerning the assault, un-
til At length it was demanded by Henry
Sing that the chicken oath be admins
tered to hesitating witness for the de-
Tense. 1t was alleged that Chinaman
does not regard the oath required to be
taken by a witness with that reverence
every Caucasian is supposed to, and that
nothing short of the decspitation of a
chicken would lend the sanctity Of truth
to heather utterances.
With manifest repugnance the wit
ness declared that he would tell the
same story even over the yet quivering
corpse of the truth-inspiring hen, and
his declaration being satisfactory to
the court, he was not subjected to that
critical ordeal of his veracity. 1t was
with disappointment and chagrin that
the proffered sacrificial fowls were with
drawn from the speculative contempla-
ton Of Judge Boland, for be it known
that over the freshly-beheaded body of a
hen no Chinaman dares to speak lie.
1t is their heathenish belief that perjury
SO committed opens the souls door to
the coming of the chickens spirit. and
that thereafter all his days the liar is
tormented with its presence. Several
of the witnesses for the defense freely
said that not for thousands Of dollars
would they testify in the fashion
the prosecution desired that they should.
The prosecuting attorney stated that the
admission would seem inferentially to
indicate that the testimony they gave
without the binding sanctity of the
chicken oath was doubtless false. Judge
Boland may have agreed to the deduc-
tions Of the attorney for the State, for
he relentlessly bound over Lee Hi to
await the action Of the grand jury. The
complaining witness at the head of his
forces triumphantly marched out of the
courtroom, . trusted friend bearing in
the van the sacred hens, destined no
longer to be the instruments of Justice.
but devoted to the ignoble purpose OF
garnishing . celestial feast-Kansas
City Times.