The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-12-31
Cunning Trick Of q Celestial.

Chronicle, which has never yet beer
published, but which deserves to bt
put in print, for it shows how the
cunning of Chinese outwitted the
most vigilant watchfulness of Law
officers and saved from the gallowt
q condemned criminal. The story
reads like romance, but its truth
fulness can be vouched for by many
persons. The facts were not known
to a white man till last night, when q
Chinese detective divulged them to
a prominent lawyer Of Fresno who
is engaged in some knotty Chinese
cases, and the Celestial grew famil-
lar and communicative and told the
details of how All Gee Yung was
saved from the gallows in October,
1890, in Fresno. 1t was by 3 device
similar to that recorded by Shakes
peare in Romeo and Juliet"
On the morning of November q
1889, brutal murder was commit
ted in the Chinese quarter of Fres-
no. The victim was a Chinese
woman, an inmate Of a brothel.
She had been stabbed 27 times, and
her lacerated hands showed that
she had made a desperate struggle
for her life, clasping the keen blade
of the knife until her fingers were
nearly severed. She was dead when
the police reached her, although
when they had been attracted by
her screams they lost no time in
breaking into the room.
The murderer, All Gee Yung, was
caught red handed and covered with
the blood of the dead woman. The
knife was still in his hand, and after
he had made the first dash to es-
cape when the officers appeared he
resisted no more and did not deny
that he had committed the deed.
His only excuse was that the woman
had deserted him.
The case was plain one. There
was but one thing possible and that
was conviction. He was ably de-
Tended by G. w. Jones OF Fresno,
but there was no defense possible
under ithe circumstances, and the
jury found him guilty and the pen
atty of death was pronounced.
The usual appeals to the Supreme
Court were taken, but they vailed
nothing for the condemned man.
All hope from courts or from the
pardoning or committing power
were at an end ,and to all appearances
there was nothing left the con-
demned man but to pay the penalty
of his crime with his life.
Powerful Chinese companies had
stood by All Gee Yung through all
his troubles, and they showed no
intention of deserting him as long
as there was any hope, and with
them so long as there was life there
was hope.
First All Gee Yung attempted es-
cape. By what means he secured
the keys, or where he concealed
them from the frequent search of
the jailer, is not stated. Yet one
day he unlocked his cell door and
was passing along the corridor when
he was discovered and taken back.
A thorough search of every conceiv-
able place where keys could be hid
den failed to reveal them, and the
conclusion was reached by some
that in turning the key the jailer had
failed to spring the bolt far enough,
and the Chinaman had pushed it
back and thus passed through.
The case was desperate, and few
days afterward another attempt was
made. At dusk of evening, while
the jailer's back was turned for
moment, All Gee Yung unbolted
two doors and escaped from the Jail.
The alarm was quickly sounded
and a search was begun. Although
he had not thirty seconds the start
of the jailer yet he had successfully
disappeared from sight, and for
some time nothing was heard of him.
But at length he was discovered in
closet near the Jail, clinging like
bat to the wall back of the door.
He was recaptured and returned
to his cell. A search more rigid
than ever was made for the key
with which he unlocked the doors
Of the Jail. The wardens and the
officers about the building assisted,
and not a space within the cell as
large as a grain of wheat was left
unsearched. His clothes were taken
off and his queue was unbraided,
bat nothing at all was discovered.
The second attempt to escape by
unlocking the prison doors was on
October %, 1890. The day of ex-
ecution was near at hand, and there
was no time to lose if the prisoner
would escape the gallows. He was
thoroughly searched and taken to
his cell. The death watch, John
Dennis, was placed over him, just
outside the door, where every move
ment could be seen at once.
The condemned man lay on his
bed, and seemed to fall asleep.
About half-p past eleven that night
the death watch observed pro-
lonRed silence in the cell, and be-