The Yale expositor., 1907-03-01
OBSERVANT
CHUNG LEE
A ChinAman's Word Picture That En-
abled Detective to Catch His Man


and minutely that | could go into a
crowd and pick him out, what would
/ you call your performance? Flo
| quence?" asked Detective Lee Killian.
OF st. Louis. well, 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 ths
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 l 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 success with the Chinese is
\ that his given name is Lee, 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
and a criminal is TO watch the joints
and keep in with the proprietors.
For several weeks" said Killtan,
I'VE had known that some one was
passing queer dollar bills. The secret
service people had asked me to help
thsm find him.
1T was on a Sunday that / dropped
in on Chung Lee. He showed me a
dollar bill--a counterfeit. He had
taken Il in on the Thursday before
from a white man 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. II was a
busy evening and other customers
were waiting for Lee sells tea and
many other things besides opium.
Lee l said, let's you and me 20
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.
said:
Lee, if necessary we're going to
stay right here until tomorrow NOM
ing. There's lots or 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 seven 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
ford.
"All 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.
AT first I was discouraged, but,
bless you, Lee had only begun. And
l want to say right here that the
Chinese are the most persistent peo-
pie in the world, as we'll 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 of. The chin was
square, heavy and somewhat cleft.
Lee now had the Job well in hand.
| BY comparisons with his own nose
and mine he made me understand the
exact shape OF the nose of the man
| was looking for.
His eyes were blue, and the lower
! lids were 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 lmpressionistic picture,
! but done in detail. and no detail was
too small to escape Lees notice. In
my mind / could see the man.
Il had told Lee we might have to
sit there all night, but we didn't. At
the end of exactly three hours and 15
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 few hun
dred people since.
Lees shop is in Hop alley. which
parallels Market street. 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 ] had to elbow my
way.
1T is my habit to study faces. Sud-
denly ! saw a face which made me