The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-21
THE CH|NAMAN'S
 CODE OF HONOR Justifes Public Suicide of a
 Father FOR CRIME OF HIS SON Chinese In America Are Different From the Moneolian at Home-ln China He Is Queer Admixture
 of Superstitions.
FOR CRIME OF HIS SON
From the New Orleans picauuns.

From the New Orleans Picayune.
 The Chinese have conception of honor peculiar to their own strange code of ethics, and loss of prestige, keen disap- pointment, business failure or any other circumstance tending to lower him in the ey es of his fellows is generally sufficient reason for Mongolian to seek the shades of his ancestors by the suicide route.
 The Chinese in America different from the Chinese in China. The Mon- golians placed among the foreign devils . adapt themselves in a measure to west s1n standards of living; they never be- come thoroughly civilized from the Occi- dental viewpoint it is true, but much of tho business that goes hand in hand with ancestor worship is put by.
 The Chinese at home Is a queer admix- ture of superstition, reverence for GUS toms that have been handed down to each succeeding generation from the days of Fo-Hi, the yellow-skinned Noah, and devotion to family tradition considered by the westerners absurd, and the Chin csc as he really is, with all his racial traits and characteristics, Is never seen outside the confines of the Son of Heav- er's Empire.
 Old Hom Gum, sallow-faced, sunken- checked, hollow-eyed, bequeued, dressed in loose blouse. and flowing pantaloons and with his bony feet in straw slippers. sat in a chair leaning comfortably back against one of the posts supporting the shed in front Hom Rims store in China town on a warm night last week, and en- tertained the writer with a story of life in Kwangtsu's which reveals the Chinese character, with its tendency toward fatal Zen, ;o Qtar
 Hom Gum is not a brilliant English scholar although he has been In the states for over S5 years, and were an attempt made to relate the yarn in his own words the effect would not be appreciated by the reading public so without seeking to inn itate the ancient Celestiars queer and original style, the tale will be given in terms perhaps no more elegant, but cer- tainly more understandable.
 About 40 years ago, Hom Gum, as young man, lived with his family in a village with an unpronounceable name dczen miles from Canton. China was more Chinese then than 1t is now, the Europeans not having obtained the foot hold that they have since acquired and introduced western ideas.
 In the village lived Nyng Poo Toi and his son, Nyng Lee Wo, respectable agri- culturists, who titled their little farm on the outskirts of the town, went to the temple on festival days and led an easy, contented existence.
 All was well with the Nyngs until Lee wo was denied the hand of Lung See, the daughter of Lung Wung Chow, cat tie raiser. Old man Nyng was anxious for a woman in the house. as his own wife had died long since and proposed to Lung Wung Chow in behalf of his son. Lung Wung Chow was a proud old rascal, al- though of no family to speak about, and l. 1f .1o Fa- Perhaps it was because he was wealthy fin a small way and aspired to join his daughter to a youth higher in the social scale than common tiller of the soil; but, whatever his reason was, Lung Wung Chow held to the decision, and pretty Lung See did not go to the Nyng house to make glad the heart of Nyng Lee Wo.
 Three days after Lung Wung Chow had published throughout the village that he would not allow his daughter to mate with Nyng Lee Wo, the cattle raiser was found dead in his bed. He had been mur- dered and murdered in the most unusual manner. The assassin, who must have possessed considerable strength, showed the old man fiat on his matted bunk, ami with his queue strangled him. Lung Wung Chow's queue was very long; 1t had been his pride in life and little did he ever think that 1t was to be some day used as the means of his own destruction. The queue was drawn once in a circle around the neck of ;he ~.riee and twisted and knotted. The yellow flesh fell in folds over the braided hair, and where the queue circled there was deep lvid scar
 The village was all astir when the crime had become known, and the weeping Lung See and her mother burned incense in the temple of the shades of their ancestors, calling upon them to come back and tor ment the cruel murderer
 The vicerop non Canton sent officers down to investigate the crime, and the first thing they did was to visit the house of the Nyngs. Old Nyng Poo Tof sat with bowed head on a mat in the living room, and, IS slowly swayed back and forth, moaned and groaned, and re- peated over and over the name of his son, Nyng Lee Wo. Nyng Lee Wo was missing; there was no trace of him about the house.
 Before the Mandarin could question Nyng the stricken father to his feet. and, drawing himself up to his full est height accused his son of the murder of Lung Wung Chow "Ie came to me when the moon was down." muttered the old man. wild light shining in his eyes "and told me of the crime. I cursed him and he fled" Nyng Poo Toi reseated him. self on the mat, bowed his head again and resumed his moaning and wailing.
 The authorities all along the river sarched for Nyng Lee Wo, but in vain, and days passed and the murder of Lung Wung Chow was unavenged. Nyng Poo Toi went seldom abroad, but kept his , house the better part of the time allow ing his fields to go neglected and seem ingy caring little for life. Disgrace had come up with his family; his ancestors in the Land of Shadows could not rest. and, finally, he determined to do the only thing left for him-suicide.
 Nyng Poo Toi argued the matter out from the Oriental point of view He felt