The Governor of Hupeh reports the trial of an officer for murder, The prisoner had ved in the army in Turkestan and had risen from the rank of sergeant, At the time when the unfortunate flair occurred he was living at home in Lo-tien Hsien vraiting for an appointment. He happened to be the owner of a piece of land, which he let to a tenant for the purpose of cultivating it. Afterwards he sold the land to another man and gave him a receipt in full for the price; though, as the latter was short of funds, five thousand cash were allowed to stand over asa debt. The new purchaser continued to let the land to the same tenant. One day last year the officer chanced to meet the purchaser and asked him for the balance due, to which the purchaser ihe that he had paid the money to the middle-man through whom the sale had been conducted. The officer made several attempts to find the middle-man, but did not succeed in doing so. Afterwards he was standing one morning on the threshing-floor outside his house, cutting bamboo slips with a sharp-pointed knife. While he was so doing he saw the tenant pass by on the way tothe field. He thereupon threw down the knife, went up to him and told him not to plant any rice on the land. The tenant refused to obey, and the two began to quarrel. The tenant picked up the knife on the ground and made a thrust at the officer. The latter wrested the weapon from him, slipped past him, and wounded him in the leg from behind.' The tenant turned, seized the officer by the hair, and forced him down. The officer unable to escape, made a thrust upwards to frighten his antagonist, and chanced to strike him in the lower part of the body. The wounded man fell, sorely hurt, and expired shortly afterwards. The officer ran away, but was arrested and put upon his As the finding of the court seemed unduly favourable to the prisoner, it was ordered that the case should be reheard. By this means the truth of the story given above wa' fully established, and it was shown that the murder was really not premeditated. The prisoner hag, therefore, been sentenced to strangulation after the usual period of confinement, such being the legal penalty for taking life in a brawl. He has put in 4 plea that he is the only son of aged parents, Into the truth of this statement enquiries will be made, when the time of the autumn assizes comes round. The five thousand cash due as part price of the prisoner's land will be recovered from the purchaser through the local court.—Referred to the Board of Punishments,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.