The Viceroy of Szechuan reports the sentence passed by him in a case of murder. The -criminal, whose name was Lo 'T'ng-lin, was a poor country labourer in the district of Ho Hsien. One night, coming home penniless and miserable, he went into.a neighbour's house and stole a basket. The wife of a cousin of his, who also lived near, happened to pass by at the moment and saw what he was doing. He besought her not to tell of him, and she promised to keep silence. The woman afterwards noticed that she was frequently robbed of corn, poultry.and the like; and as Lo Ting. lin often came to her house she. sus] that he was the pilferer. She therefore went to his house and taxed him with the offence. Lo T'ing-lin protested with much vehemence and appealed to the people of the village. Upon this the woman told the whole story about her having formerly caught him thieving. The assembled villagers decided that she had no proof of his having robbed her; bat that he must not go near her house again. After this LoTing-lin found great difficulty in gert work; for the story had spread abroad anc no one was willing to employ him. This so incensed him against the woman that he determined to take her life. One night, when he knew that her husband was away on business, he armed himself with a sharp posed knife and went secretly to her louse. Failing to open the door, he set fire to the thatch of a cowshed which was built against the house. The woman soon came running out of the house with her little in her arms. The assassin fell upon her with his knife, and, as she tried to' evade him, he accident struck the child, whom he killed with the first' blow. In spite of her cries' for kelp, he stabbed her repeatedly till she fell to' the ground, whereupon he killed her outright. An elder daughter of the woman tried to stop him, hanging on to his clothes and screaming "murder." Being unable to get clear of her, he struck her several blows, and she fell dying. He turned to flee but was caught by the neighbours who were hurrying to the spot to extinguish the fire. The case was tried, and finally the offender was brought before the Viceroy according to the ordinary course of procedure. The sentence which the Viceroy has passed provisionally is that of, branding, decapitation without delay, and exposure of the criminal's head.—Keferred to the Board of Punishments the will report at once.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.