The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1907-03-07
OBSERVANT
CHUNG LEE
A Chinaman's Word-Picture That En-
abled a Detective to Catch His Man


and infinitely that l could go into a
crowd and pick him out, what would
you call your performance? Flo
quence?" asked Detective Lee Killian,
of st. Louis. swell, that's what
Chung Lee did, and he wasn't elo.
quent. for he did it in pidgin English.
And what's more, Lee had seen the
man only once, and then only for a
minute, and he carried the mental
picture of him three days before CIV
Ing 1t to me. And besides, he was just
an ordinary man, neither thin nor
fat, short nor tall; had no distinguish
ing mark at all. That's why I say
Chung Lee is a wonder"
In st. Louis they call Killian ia
Their confessor to the Chinese because
they tell him their secrets. The secret
Of his with the Chinese is
that his given name is Lee, a name
common among the Chinese. The
Chinese are fond Of their cousins.
They call Killian Cousin Lee.
st. Louis has many opium joints
which the police do not modest. Near
ly all pickpockets, confidence men
and the like are opium fiends. Soon
er or later a wanted crook is going
to turn up at his favorite joint. There
fore all the detectives have to do to
find a criminal is to watch the joints
and keep in with the proprietors.
For several weeks said Killian,
I'VE had known that some one was
passing queer dollar bills. The secret
service people had asked me to help
them find him.
1T was on a Sunday that 1 dropped
in on Chung Lee. He showed me a
dollar. bill-a counterfeit. He had
taken it in on the Thursday before
from a white nan who had bought a
half-tin of opium for $1.20, giving the
bill and two good dimes.
"The man had come in the evening
and Lee had waited on him. It was a
busy evening and other customers
were waiting, for Lee sells tea and
many other things besides opium.
Lee I said, let's you and me go
into the back room and have a talk
all the same heart to heart
Lee said, All lite,' and we went
back, shut the door and sat down. l
said:
"Lee, if necessary we're going to
stay right here until tomorrow morn
ing. There's lots of time. Now you
begin and tell me just what that fell
low looked like. Take all the time
you need. Don't miss anything
"Lee began. The man was exactly
five feet seven Lee knew this be-
cause his head had grazed a. string
of lingee nuts hanging from the cell
ing. The lingee nuts were just five
feet W from the floor. But that
couldn't help me much; too many
men are five feet seven.
"Well, the man weighed about $50
pounds. A very common weight. His
hair was short and sandy. This hair
grew low down over his neck, which
was reddish and freckled. He was
smooth faced and inclined to be
forid.
Cali this described a commonplace
man. Lee was having a hard time
with his English. There were things
he wanted to say, but didn't know
how.
cat first I was discouraged, but,
bless you, Lee had only begun. And
I want to say right here that the
Chinese are the most persistent peo-
pie in the world, as well as the most
observing.
"The mans lips were dry and the
upper lip was cracked deeply. The
inner corner of the left hand front
tooth was broken off. The chin WIS
square, heavy and somewhat cleft.
"Lee now had the job we'll in hand.
By comparisons with his own nose
and mine he made me understand the
exact shape Of the nose of the man
I was looking for.
ellis eyes were blue, and the lower
lids we're almost bare of lashes. Eyes,
mouth and hands had tricks which
had not escaped Lee. When he
couldn't describe these he acted them
out.
"The mental picture was growing.
It was not an impressionistic picture,
but done in detail, and no detail was
too small to escape Lees notice. In
my mind I could see the man.
81 had told Lee we might have to
sit there all night, but we didn't. At
the end of exactly three hours and Is
minutes the picture was complete. In
judging Lee as an artist, remember
that this was a portrait and that he
had seen the original three days be-
fore, and that he had seen a few hun
dred people since.
lees shop is in Hop alley, which
parallels Market street. I left him,
crossed to Market street and strolled
west toward the Union depot, just ten
blocks. The sidewalk was pretty well
crowded, so much SO that in front Of
the Union depot I had to elbow my
way.
1T is my habit to study faces. Sud-
denly I saw a face which made me
start. It was the exact dun1icate Of