Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-07-13
A TIGER OF THE LAW.


ped in yellow silk lay before him,
which bid fair to give the brave man
DARN headache. It was an official
letter.
A weighty matter it was for Chi
Hung Lang-to be or not to be, in
fact. In case he succeeded in doing
what was asked of him he would re-
celve the second peacock feather and
the red button for his cap, but if he
failed the soles of his feet would GER
tainly become Intimately acquainted
with the bamboo. And there were
such beautiful, strong, elastic bam
boos in the town hall for such pur-
poses. He had tried every stick with
his own hands on one of his interiors
in Office
For Ii Hung Lang was the highest
judge Of the province and bore the
title of honor, "tiger of the lawbook."
In criminal circles and among those
learned in the law his name was
greatly respected. He understood
the law so well and could expound it
so infinitely that he once succeeded
by a brilliant plea in having 2-hour-
old infant sentenced to Is years. i'm
prisonment.
There was no one in all the land
with clear conscience, at least no
one who felt secure, for Chi Hung
Lang had once declared that in his
opinion every respectable citizen
ought to sit on the criminals bench
at least once during his lifetime, and
he was just the man to put his theory
into practice.
1t cannot be denied that Chi Hung
Lang, with his method of administer
ing justice, accomplished great re-
Suits IF any one had the last reason
to fear the law, ne moved into anoth
er province. This solved the tramp
question at least.
If the tiger of the lawbook had not
occasionally instituted a practice law
suit, the judges of the land would
have had nothing to do but smoke
their opium in undisturbed leisure.
At this time the prison of the prov
ince of YEN ling, over which Chi
Hung Lang ruled, had been without
an inmate for eight days. 1t was alb
solutely impossible to find a wrong
doer.
The beautiful prison, with it's S32
cells, electric lights, fogging machin-
es and torture chamber equipped with
all the modern improvements, was
empty-empty as Chinese ieuten-
ants purse on the Doth of the month.
This is the reason that Chi Hung
Lang's heart quaked and his feet
tingled with misgivings.
Five years before this the above
mentioned model prison had been
ormous cost, and it had been made so
large at the express wish of Chi Hung
Lang. The viceroy now announced
that he would inspect the prison in
three days and hoped to find it COM
fortably we'll filed. The writing end
ed with the ominous figure 1857 Oh,
how poor Chi Hung Lang's feet burn
ed! 1t was just like the Mikado. But |
where was he to get $50 Nankin Poohs
without stealing them? 1t was hard
ly to be expected that any one would |
volunteer. But the viceroy wanted |
to see the fogging machine and the
hydraulic gallows in actual operation |
during his inspection. Here the ter
10 hor
how the feet of the tiger of the law
book burned! There was no escape. |
An unlawful act he would not have |
committed, and at any rate there was
no time to manufacture several |
hundred complaints and try the cases
in the usual way. Oh, if he only had |
more time! And Chi Hung Lang
rubbed his head doubtfully. He had
a very long head, had Chi Hung Lang
tiger Of the law book.
At this moment his pupil and favor
lite practitioner, Ka- cha 10, entered
the room with newspaper in his
hand and horror in his face.
"Read, MASTER" he said.
1t was copy of comic paper, The
Dragon Claw, which contained ma
licious item ridiculing the large feet
of Chi Hung Lang's wife.
Ka-cha-lo had expected his master
to fly into a passion and at least
breathe out fire and smoke or some
of the kind.
Nothing of the sort took place. The
mighty man of law danced around the
room in his glee until his cue upset
all the candles, crying: ST am saved!
| shall fill my prison! shall get my