The Governor of Anhui reports the following case which is of interest as showing the mode of procedure adopted in lawsuits when, as sometimes happens, the accused party refuses to make a confession of guilt. A woman named Chou, a native of Suchow, had a scamp of a son, Chou Shao-hsin, who gave such trouble that the head of the family, Chou Yung-ch'ang, and the village elder, Chen Shao-pang gave formal notice to the authorities that they would not be responsi for his conduct. This caused some gossip in the neighbourhood and gave great offence to the mother. In 1873 Chou Shao-hsin mortgaged a farm of seven mu of land for 21 tiao to a neigh-our of the name of Wu T'ing-chieh, and some years later the latter made it over for 'a similar consideration to one Tsou-mo. Chou Shao-hsin objected to this arrang Frou-mo's absence from home to plangs ment and took advantage one day of field of hea us he had planted on the land, The two men chanced to meet soon after-can be discovered. Chang K'ai-sung was wards and an altercation took place between ' further accused of having sold civil and mi-them resulted in blows and the death of j lit itary appointments and of having not only Chou Shao-hsin. 'Tsou-mo delivered himcxacled birthday and other custowory pre-self up to justice and was sentenced to' sents far in excess of the ordinary amount, ion for homicide in brawl.
The but of having instituted a separate system j mother of the deceased formulated a charge of fees through the agen against Chou Yung-ch'ang and Chou Shao-henchmen, Li-chun and Yang Ting-kuei. ey of i, trusted pang who had, she alleged, taken part in ho had Ivis admitted that the deceased: Governor the affair which caused the death of her son. placed considerable confidence in these and Failing to obtain a hearing in the local Some other subordinates, all of whom are court she started for Peking and there dead, but such inquiries as can now be presented a purely fictitious account of the instituted show no indication of the truth occurrence. The case has been rebeard in Anhui and as the woman, relying upon the protection afforded her by her age and sex, most stubbornly refused to admit that her accusations were false, recourse was to the law which allows the unanimous testi-many of witnesses to be gocopted in place of a confession of guilt. In way she was convicted of having carried a false appeal to Peking and sentenced to banishment, with the usual privilege of commutation due to her sex.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.