Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-03-01
IN A JAPANESE COURT.
Criminal Proceedings Under the New
Treaty.

Japanese law methods have lately
acquired a very practical interest for
foreigners. Since July II all legal
questions, civil and criminal affect
ing Europeans and Americans, must
come before Japanese judges.
Curiously enough a brutal murder
was committed by an American on the
very day on which the revised treaties
came into operation. and the trial of
the prisoner has afforded a good illus
tration Of the operation of the crimi-
nal code. In itself the crime was I'M
interesting-an affair worthy in it's
sordid, features of the choice quarter
in which it was committed, the Blood
| Town. which Rudyard Kipling has
described in his account of Yokohama.
The murderer, in a fit OF jealousy. kill
ed two Japanese girls and a young
American who had supplanted him in
the affections of one Of the women.
Neither the inquest nor the prelim-
mary examinations 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 Anlo-SaXon uncomfort-
able. The prisoner is visited by the
public prosecutor, who comes along
into his cell, asks innumerable ques-
lions and does his best to entrap him
into making admissions. Indeed, it
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 a few months ago, and it may
not be a wholly singular experience
| Thus is the acte daccusation pre-
pared. 1t is usually a very elaborate
document, setting forth the whole de-
tails of the charge in fine and grandi-
loquent language. The procuratOr de-
scribes the scene as if he had witness
ed it, and deals with the CORY passages
in style that the author of shilling
shocller might we'll envy. This work
of art is launched at the prisoner at
the opening of his trial, and the presi-
dent of the court takes it as the basis
of his examination.
And now as to the court and the
| bench. The Yokohama Chipo Saiban-
sno district court) is a big modern
building of brick, one Of the best of it's
kind in the empire. 1t is arranged in
European style. In the criminal sec
ton 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 for
lorn untidiness about everything. In
cOmparably neat and tasteful in their
native architecture, their native dress
and their native gardens, the Japanese
are hopeless when they do things
a PEuropeenne. In this fine, large
building, for example, floors are filthy,
walls are scrubbed over with foolish
and dirty nonsense, gendarmes and
police smoke cigarettes in the CORR
doris and throw fag ends everywhere,
and one even sees the barristers' table
/ garnished with a row of teapotsi
The court consists of three judges,
and the procurator and the clerk of
the court occupy seats beside them.
Their lordships are all comparatively
young men, and apparently as able
and intelligent as can be expected OF
officials who fulfill grave judicial func-
tions at salaries of from ESQ to 5000
a year. They wear gowns much like
those of English barristers, but instead
of the horsehair wig the head is
crowned by black cowl, something
like that of a Catholic priest
Almost the whole of the examination
is in the hands Of the president. The
bar has a very subordinate part. Bar
risters limit themselves to suggestive
questions and making applications;
they do not themselves examine wit
nesses-all questions are put through
the presiding judge. The propriety
of any query the latter may think fiji
to put is apparently never questioned
, the japanese barrister appearing to be
very much less pugnacious and much
more overawed by the court than his
British confrere. Less time is probably
wasted than in an English court.
Lastly, the judgment itself is a
curiosity If this case be any criterion
the president Of the court is at least
an anxious as the prOcurator to ex-
hibit his literary powers. The SEN
tence on this American citizen-he
was condemned to be hanged-occu-
pied reams of Japanese characters, and
its translation would run into six
columns of the Times. The advice of
the English judge, who said to a
younger colleague, "Give your con-
illusions, my dear fellow, but never
your reasons, is totally disregarded
by the Japasese official, whose ''judg-
ment' is practically one long argu-
ment, with the purpose of proving the
correctness of his decision. The &C
cused in this case was a sailor, and the
weapon he used is described as being
welded by an arm that for 80 years
had wrestled with the angry wave. "
The scene of the murder was hit off
in this word picture: Bones splinter
ed, pieces Of flesh flying about, brains
scattered around, red blood yelling
forth, long hairs drifting on the cory
stream" The prisoner had suffered a
disappointment of some selfish expec-
| tations. and he is described as being
plunged from the airy heights of hope
into the dismal depths Of grim de-
Ispair." What peny-a-liner could COM
pare with this judicial paragraphist?
! One peculiar feature of this judg-
ment has not received the attention
it deserves. The judge remarked that
of the three murders the most serious
was that Of the young American; that
/ there were extenuating circumstances