Evening star., 1924-10-13
WAN GRANTED NEW
TRIAL FOR MURDER
BY HIGHEST COURT
Confession. Held Obtained by
Third-Degree Methods in
Ruling Today.
PROSECUTION is DENIED
USE OF ADMISSIONS
Chinese Youth Put Through Ex-
cruciating Punishment, Deci-
sion Text Declares.

Ziang Sung Wan, convicted here of
the murder of Ben Sen Wu was today
granted a new trial by the Supreme
Court on the grounds the confession
| upon which he was convicted was
forced and could not be used as evil
dence.
The bodies of Ben Sen WI and tw o
other Chinese were found in the
Chinese Educational Mission here.
Ziang confessed that he had killed
Ben Sen WI after the latter had muir
dered the other two Chinese. The
Supreme Court reviewed his convic-
tion on the plea that the police had
used improper methods of obtaining
a confession from him.
The youth was arrested in New
York, whittier he had fed after at
tempting to cash a check for $4,000
taken from the Office of the Chinese
Educational Mission. He was held
in a room at the Dewey Hotel by
the police for several days and was
taken to the scene of the crime be-
fore the confession which the Unit ed
States Supreme Court has set aside
was obtained.
The trial was held before the late
Justice Gould in January, 1920, and
| resulted in the conviction of the pris-
oner. Attorney James A. OShea, for
the Chinaman, claimed than Wan was
sick and worn out by the continued
inquiries of the police and detectives
and consented to sign the alleged
confession. The police denied that
any undue influence was exercised,
and Justice Gould admitted the con-
fession.
Trial Sensational,
The sentencing of Wan was one of
the most sensational in local courts.
AS Justice Gould pronounced the
death penalty the youth sank to the
fioor in a swoon and had to be taken
from the courtroom. His counsel
took the case to the Court of Appeals
where the conviction and sentence
were affirmed. Mr.. O'Shea then sought
a special appeal Of the United States
Supreme Court which was granted.
The case will now have to be placed
on the docket for a new trial in one
OF the branches Of the Criminal courts
Mr.. Justice Brandeis concluded his
opinion with the statement that the
alleged oral statement and the writ
ten statement should have been ex-
cluded. The undisputed facts showed
that compulsion was applied. As to that
matter there was no issue upon which
the jury could properly have been re-
quired or been permitted to pass.
The alleged oral statement and the
written confession should have been
excluded"
PorHnys Experience.
In the course or his opinion Mr..
Justice BrandeiS gave graphic DOR
trayal of the grilling experience
which the prisoner had been COM
PEELED to undergo.
"On the eighth day the accusatory
questioning" said Mr.. Justice Bran
deis, took more excruciating form.
throughout the day Wan was taken
from the Hotel Dewey to the mission.
There continuously for 10 hours this
man was led from floor to floor mi
nutely to examine and re-examine the
scene of the triple murder and every
object connected with it, to give ex-
plantations and to answer questions.
The places where the dead men were
discovered, the revolver with which
presumably the murder was commit
ted; the bloodstains, and the finger
prints thereon. the bullet holes in the
walls, the discharged cartridges found
on the floor, the clothes of the mur-
dered men, the coat and pillow which
had been found covering the dead
mems faces. photographs taken by the
police Of the men as they lay dead;
doors and windows through which the
murderer might have entered or made
his escape; photostatic copies of writ
ings by which it was thought to
prove that Wan was implicated in a
forgery incident to the murder, all
these were shown to him
Engaged in Argument.
Every supposed fact ascertained by
the detectives in the course of their
investigation was related to him.
Concerning every object, every in
cident detailed he was in the pres
ence of a stenographer, piled with
questions by the superintendent of
police and the detectives. BY these
he was engaged in argument, some
times separately, sometimes in joint
attack. The process Of Interrogation
became ever more insistent; it passed
at times from inquiry to demand.
From o'clock In the evening to
o'clock in the morning before it
was concluded Lei, who was again
in attendance, had left the mission
about midnight, worn out by the long
hours. Superintendent of police had
returned to his home apparently ex-
hausted. One of the detectives had
fallen asleep. To Wan not q moment
of sleep was allowed.
ION the ninth day, at 20 minutest past
in the morning, Wan was taken from
the mission to the station house and
placed formally under arrest There
the interrogation was promptly resumed
Again the detectives were in attend
ance day and evening, plying their
questions; arguing with the prisoner
and urging him to confess lest his
brother be deemed guilty of the crime
Still the statements secured failed to
satisfy the detectives craving for evil
dence.
ION the tenth day Wan was again
taken to the mission, was again ques-
toned for hours, and there the whole
thing was again talked of and enacted
On the eleventh day a formal interro-
CATION of Wan was conducted at the
station house by the detectives in the
presence Of a stenographer.''
The recital continued depicting the
excruciating physical torment on ac-
count of his condition that the pris-
oner underwent. The medical wit
nesses who testified as to the torture
he underwent said, 'f he was as sick
as that and in as great pain as that
he would do anything to have the
torture stopped"
That paragraph was stressed by
the court in its decision.
.rras -.