The Washington times., 1919-12-17

Was pclt ;hievtng all that On.
Wcnz fs~s 4 ~-scu he notified pre-
cinet 10 cAril, i.at day: Could u be
that there wete other things tn
that house more important svsa than
money or 0taaps which the noted
Waa have been sent ther~ to visit for
the purpose Of oAtAiuine Documents
valuable either TO ether Chinese or
to their old rAcial enemies. the jap
aness? Could Il be. that failing TO -
tain these papers. during his stay
there, other persons In the plot AZ
rived later prepared to DO murde- II
necessary. to obtain them- All or
none OF these theories uAy have
worth, but they make interssttng con-
lectures IN \ case admittsdiy - baf-
films ~ thia.
The second point which stands eut
either ~ bfunder o. ~ . thing oo0e
for the dslibsrate purpose ef lurlng
the police away from the real motive
was the nlling In Of the check stab.
why should amy one-lsast of all .
person Of Chinese subtlety leave 30
patent and obvious q clue? 1t wasn't
at all necessary to All In the check
stub. Even were the case the simple
aifair the police Investigation labels
Il, evea though the only motive was
to obtain money for q needy Chineee
student. who even. according 70 the
police. intended to nee the country
the moment the cheek was cashed.
Why should care have been taken to
all out the stub to correspond to the
check to be forged? Lett there In the
mission. II pointed an obvious trail
Was II blundef unworthy an Orien-
tai or was II prompted BY crAftiness
too deep and circuiteus for our Occi-
dental minds to follow?
Crunsy D1ngilne.
The third point that may have been
clumsy bungling or the clcvsrness
that conceals cleverness. was the fact
that Wan, instead Of being at the
mission to answer the call Of the
bank officials In regard to the gem
uineness of the check. was sitting
outside the bank In = taxicab. Had
he instead gone to the mission house
and impersonated DR.. Wong at the
other end Of the telephone. there is
scarcely question but what the pay-
have honored the $500 check. Be
Ing an Oriental one can hardly sup-
pose that II was the fear Of the dead
which prevented him doing this That
the possibility Of the bank officer
telephontng the mission had ALREADY
been discounted 10 certain from the
fact that Van is alleged to have eur-
gested II himself. The bark onlcer
had already called the mission and
had been unable to ret q respouse.
He did not tell Van this. however. but
explained he could not do %. a. he
would have no means Of knowing
whose voice was on the other end Of
the wire
Even the police admit that neither
Wan nor his brother Van made the
least effort to hide. They were At
their known address when the WASH
inston detectives went after them.
Moreover, even after Wan had been
brought back to Washington. Van.
even with his slender fuada could
have hidden himself In the bywayr
Chinatown. When was q Chinese
| ever known to deliver q countryman
over to American tustice7
what h sAe AnUsvuRe
What is the answerf Are Wan and
Van but small items In q big game.
Are they, like the Nihilists Of old,
| forced to play their part and take the
| consequences. whatever they may be,
without sQuealing or confessisnr
This much 10 certain. IN dealing with
Orientals one may be quite sure that
| things are not ~ they eeem. II lie
an adAge that Chinese never confess
1t Is better put that they never oon-
fess-the truth. seF.s-4ss-14 --ss4 4
1t will be remembered that, direct
ly after the confession. Wan An
nounced that he would make no de-
| tense. For months this attitude re-
mained the same. Suddenly from
nowhere in particular, from devious
sources and by strange routes. there
appeared fund for his defense.
James A O'Shea. q well-known GRIM
inal lawyer. was retained with two
associate attorneys. II became
known that a stubborn defense was
to be set up. 1t has taken but two
days OF actual trial procedure to
demonstrate that a bitter hght 10 10
be waged to save this man. not only
from the gallows. but even from life
imprisonment. And Wan and his
brother were supposed to be two un-
important young Chinese studentA
friendless and alone and without
funds.
Wan has been described as typical
of his strange and impenetrable race
On the contrary. he is q product of
the new China, the China that has
taken up Western civilization, fallen
under the spell of Western mission-
aries. He II American in everything
out tne cut OF MS features and the
workings of his mind. He has at
tended American universities and en-
braced the Christian religion. Wit
Messing his present plight, one cannot
help but wonder IL Q generations We
neer of Occidental civilization on cen
turies Of Chinese traditions has not
resulted In spelling q good Celestial
and manufacturing a very poor Chris
tian. The missionary weans the ORR
entail away from the faiths of his
fathers. but can they, even in several
generations. instill American ideals or
plant twentieth century ethics? A
moment OF stress time OF need and
the Oriental reverts to the ways of
his fathers.
In vain the police have striven to
follow the old and almost infallible
French maxim: ''Cherchez la femme"
They have secured the continent in
an effort to turn UP some almond
eyed poppy-cheeked maiden for
whom even an Oriental might do or
die, in spite of the known fact that
women play no such important part in
the lives of the men Of the East as
they do in those OF the men OF the
West. The police case is cold-blooded
triple murder with q $1,000 robbery
as 10