The Washington times., 1919-12-15
SENSATION SPRUNG
BY VANS DEFENSE
Attorney Shea Opens Fire on
Chen, First Government ).
Witness.
tcontinued from First Page.)

CONTINUED from First Page.)
years Of age, was clerk Of the mission.
These three men lived at the mission
house and had their offices there"
Describing the finding of the bodies
Of the murdered men, Mr.. Laws said:
"On the night Of Friday. January 81,
last the bodies Of all three Of these
Chinese persons were found murdered
at the mission house. The details OF
the finding of the bodies will appear
at later stage Of this statement
Wan Lost $1,000.
"At this point" continued Mr.. Laws,
I wish to direct your attention to
the defendant Wan. The evidence
will show that wan and his brother
Van lived together at . house Of .
Mrs. Bartles at 313 West 112th street,
New York city. These brothers had
experienced financial difficulties for
some time until July. 1918. when Wan
received $4,000 from his mother for
educational purposes. Wan deter
mined, however, to invest the money
instead OF using II for his education.
And he did invest In a moving pic
ture business in Brooklyn. This was
in September. 1918. He ran the busi-
ness for. perhaps, two months and
lost heavily. The evidence will show
he lost the na:or part Of the $1,000
he hid received from his mother. He
became in ar:=ars with his rent. and
when paymen. for the same was de-
manded he was unable to pay. This
was In November. 1918. He contin-
ued under financial embarrassment
until Janu- ~ %, 1919. when he came
to the District to visit Mr.. WI, the
young man he II charged with kill
ing. In fact. we shall prove that be-
tween July. 1918. when he received
the $1,000 from his mother. and Janu-
ary %, 1919. the day he came to this
city, his bank account shrank from
$4,000 to $40. Before he left New
York he borrowed $50 from his friend
WI. and soon after he arrived here
he borrowed another $50 from WI.
I'm addition to his financial iossea.
we shall prove that Wan had been
sick with sto mach trouble FOR some
days In fact. he had intended to
visit Mr. WI in December-about
Christmas time-but was not feeling
well enough to come He continued
indisposed until January %, when he
left for the District Of Columbia So
the evidence will show that when
Wan came to this city he was in this
position: He was sick and was hard
pressed for money. The money his
ton had been lost, and he was again
facing the pinch Of circumstances he
had known b fore July. 1918.
Get Cheek fron VIZ.
"He left New York on January ~,
1919. and came to this city. He Wis
tied Mr.. Ben Sen Wu at the mission
house-the same house where the
bodies were found While at thi.
house Wan had q room on the s-coni
floor next to the front room. Mr.
Hsie's office rs secretary was on the
same floor. On Monday. January 81
1919. two days before the murder,
Wan bade those at the Mission House
good-by, telling them he was going
to return to New York. This same
day he got check from WI for $50
The evidence will show that instead
Of going to New York he went to the
Harris Hotel. in this city. where he 4
registered his name, giving his ad
dress as Shanghai. instead Of New
York. Immediately after getting his
room at the Harris Hotel. he Aent
telegram to his brother to come to
Washington at once. His brother,
Van, did not come Monday. and on
Tuesday Wan wired again to Van to
everything. So Tuesday night Van
arrived in Washington and presented
himself at the Harris Hotel This was
the night before the murder"
Tracing every step up to the COM
mission OF the cri ne, Mr. Laws con-
tinued: "On Wednesday night. the
night of the murder. Mr.. WI attended
school at George Washington Univer-
sity and after school he Joined q class
mate named King Chu in eating sup
per at Chinese cafe at Fourteenth
street and Pennsy'vania avenue north
vest Howard Jeffers and China man
named Ly-now In China-also ate
with them. Shortly before o'clock
this party broke up and WI went OIL.
to his home al the Mission House
That anne night DR.. T. T. Wong.
the director Of the mission. and Mr.
Hsie. secretary, ate supper at the
Nark'n Cafe. on Ninth street, with
certain members Of the Chinese en-
bassy. This party began about
o'clock and broke up shortly before
10 Mr.. Hsie left In advance Of d,
Wong and got back to the Mi, sion
House shortly after 10 o'clock DR..
Wong came no ne about q half hour
later.
The discovery Of the murder wa.
described by Mr.. Laws as follows:
This ht-Wednesday-a youns
Chinese student named Ii Kang Ii,
who was q frequent visitor at the
mission house, went to the mission to
see Mr.. WI. He rang the door bell,
after a while he heard footsteps on
the stairs. Wan answered the door.
He opened the door only about a foot
Ii asked him where WI was Wan
said he was out. Ii then asked for
DR.. Wong. and was told he was out
also. Noticing Vans cold attitude,
Ii went away.
Sought Money at Bank.
This was the night of the murder
At $3.50 WI came home. A little after
10 Hsie came home. About 1890 DR..
Wong came home. Between midnight
and l m. that same night Wan re-
turned to the Harris Hotel The evil
dence will prove that WI. Hsie. and
DIR. Wong were killed between the
time they came home Wednesday
night and the next morning
Thursday morning Wan and his
brother, Van. hired a taxicab In front