The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-02
SUEY'S ESCAPE
FROM JUSTICE
WAS A PICNIC
No Obstacle in Way of
- the ProCuress.
MEREDITH WAS FoREWARNED
WAS URGED TO MAKE a COM
!. PLANT TO HOLD HER.
But He Left All the Doors Open
Between the Notorious
Chinese Woman
:. and Liberty.
MEREDITH WAS FoREWARNED
WAS URGED TO MAKE A COM
!. PLANT TO HOLD HER.

The prominent topic Of conversation yes
terday+ in the Appraisers building was
Fl the. escape of the notorious slave import
err. Mrs. Fong Suey, right under the nose
of the Chinese bureau.
g. The. woman. was arrested in last Tues
days raid and was identified at the Pres
: byterian Mission on the same evening by
several of her victims. The testimony
:: was in. the hands of the Chinese bureau
on Wednesday, but the Chief neglected to
have a complaint made against her In
conformity with the testimony, and as
she was held only on complaint for be-
ing in this country without certificate
there was 30 difficulty in procuring her
discharge when she produced her certif1-
cate in Judge HeacoGk's chambers on Fri
. day.
Neither United States Attorney .Foote
nor his deputies were informed. by the
bureau as to the intention TO prosecute the
woman for the graver. Offense; the United
States Marshal had not been warned
against allowing her, to be released with
out notifying the Chief of the bureau Of
such an attempt, and Judge Heacock had
not been notified that she was to be prose
cuted upon another charge than the one
which had been originally preferred
against her.
Chief Meredith knew that the woman
would be likely to escape, for last Thurs
day his attention was personally called
by a newspaper reporter to the fact that
the woman could not be held on the orig1-
nal charge because she had already pro-
diced her certificate and that unless a
new complaint were made against her
her attorneys would secure her release.
Meredith said that no new complaint had
been made because he was not ready to
make one at that time, but that he was
getting up "a great case against her-
There was considerable friction between
Chief Meredith and Major Moore, the
special agent of the Treasury, who had
ION fpn
raid of Tuesday was based and which
made. it so successful. There seemed to
be disposition on the part OF Mr.. Mere
dith to convey the impression that Major
Moore should share the responsibility for
E. the escape of Fong Suey and the scandal
which it has caused Major Moore, how
ever denies that he had anything to do
with the prosecution of the woman, that
being the exclusive duty of the bureau.
The major, however, of his own motion,
In order to prevent any further escapes Of
the women whom he had been at so much
labor TO capture, yesterday detailed Colo
mel Vernon on duty in Commissioner Hea-
cock courtroom from the time of its
opening until its close.
When. Major Moore heard of the escape
last Friday afternoon he requested Dep
uty United States Attorney Schlesinger
to. draw up complaint against Fong
Suey for importing slaves into the United
States, This was done, and warrant
was issued in accordance Herewith.
Mr.. Meredith said yesterday that If the
~oman's attorneys did not surrender their
client he would put the screws on them,
whatever that vague threat might mean.
The attorneys had done nothing wrong
They had made no false representations.
They. had brought their client into court
upon the only charge that had been pre-
fered against her, had proved that she
was entitled to be in this country and
she was discharged by Judge de Haven
upon the recommendation Of Commits
sioner Heacock.
The WOman'S attorneys promised to sur
render her yesterday, but they were I'M
". able to find her. They hold that the
charge against her is outlawed by the
statute of limitations; but Major Moore is
of the opinion that the Government has
yet months grace.
the Bureau has been managed, it may be
stated here that for many months Com
missioner Heacock has insisted that the
statements of Chinese immigrants made
TO the Bureau on board the steamer
should be read over to the immigrant
and signed by him; but his request was
persistently ignored until about a week
Or two ago. The Commissioner was
obliged to refuse to admit these tran
scripts of testimony as evidence that the
immigrant had made in court a different
and contradictory statement to the one
he had made on board ship.
B. Z. Meredith, chief of the bureau re-
ferred to, takes exception to any infer
ence that the entire responsibility for the
escape of Fong Suey rests with him. He
explains that he and Special Agent Moore
were both caught nodding' by the per-
sons who secured the womans release
He says:
I'm an unfortunate moment the case
was suddenly called in the Commission
ers court, without the knowledge of my
self any member of the bureau or of any