The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-21
IN A JAPANESE COURT.
Criminal Proceedings Under the New
Treaty Arrangements.

Yokohama Correspondence of the London
Mail.
japanese law methods have lately ac-
quired a very practical interest for for
eigners. In the days of The old treaties a
glimpse of the Toxic Appeal Court was
merely an extra item in the progra anime
of the globe trotter, to be taken after ex-
hausting the usual weary round of temples,
tea houses and theaters. But since from
July II all legal questions. civil and Grim
inal affecting Europeans and Americans
must come before japanese judges, the
Working of the tribunals of the country
can no longer be regarded with mere idle
curiosity.
Curiously enough, brutal murder was
committed by an American citizen on the
very day on which the revised treaties
came into operation and the trial of the
prisoner has afforded a good illustration
of the operaton of the criminal code. In
itself the crime was uninteresting-an af-
fair worthy in its sordid features OF the
choice quarter in which it was commit
ted the Blood Town." which Rudyard
Kipling has described in his account of
Yokohama. The murderer, in III of jeal-
ousy, killed Two Japanese girls and a
in the affections of one of the women. He
was at once arrested by the japanese au-
thorities, and from that moment till the
day of the trial nothing further could be
learned concerning him.
Neither the inquest nor the preliminary
examinat lions were public, for Japanese
Justice is based largely on the French
plan. and proceeds about its task with a
mystery and secrecy that make an Anglo
Saxon uncomfortable. The mise au Sc
cret of the French law is adopted; the
prisoner Is visited by the public prosecu-
tor, who comes alone into his cell, asks
innumerable questions and does his best
to entrap him into making admissions.
Indeed, Il is still an open question whether
physical terror is not occasionally en-
ployed to extort confessions of crime One
very ugly case OF the kind came to light
few months ago, and 1t may not be a
wholly singular experience.
Thus is the acte daccusation prepared.
1t is usually a very elaborate document
setting forth the whole details of the
charge in fine and grandiloquent Ian
guage. The procurator describes the
scene as II he had witnessed IL, and deals
with the CORY passages in style that the
author of a shilling shocker might well
envy This work of art Is launched at
the prisoner at the opening Of his trial
and the president OF the court takes II as
the basis of his examination.
And now as TO the court and The bench.
The Yokohama Chipo Saibansho district
COURT Is a big modern building of brick
one Of the best of its kind In the empire.
and Of course, immeasuraby superior to
most courts in the provinces. 1t is ar
ranged In European style. In the crirni-
nal section is the counterpart Of the dock,
the barristers' table and the judges bench,
all as they might be In an English court
But. at the same time, there is the usual
japanese air OF forlorn untidiness about
everything. Incomparably neat and taste
ful in their native gardens, the japanese
are hopeless when they do things
GEuropeene. In this fine, large build
ing, for example, floors are filthy. walls
are scrubbed over with foolish and dirty
nonsense. gendarmes and police smoke
cigarettes IN the corridors and throw flag
ends everywhere, and one even sees the