267 e philanthropist who cannot allow 267 ' that the value of a man's evidence in a 267 Court of Law is affected by his colour, 263 hi is race, or his education, might be aa in clived to express some surprise at the issue of the trial on Thursday of R. H. 908 Ryan, quartermaster of the P. & O. 268 manslaughter. Mr. Ryan was accused mail steamer Thames, on a charge of
70 when his steamer was alongside the of having, on the 16th of July Inst, Associated Wharves, given a Chinese 270 27 cargo-boatman a push, which caused 8 hie to fall into the water and be 4 279 drowned. At least, it is supposed he 279 was dromued for his brother has not seen him since alive or dead, though no less than five bodies of Chinamen which agy have been found in the river since the ego him for identification. According to, Leet of July have. been presented to the evidence for the prosecution the oq! deceased, one Ko Chuang-ping, a cargo-535! boatman, was about to cross from the pontoon alongside which the Thames was lying to the shore on a beam, when the accused gave him a push which caused him to miss his footing and fall into the river. These pontoons are connected to the shore by a broad gangway with railings and by chains and beams, the beams in this particular case being 14 inches square. Foreigners and coolies with lands use the gangway in crossing between the shore and the pontoon, but coolies unloaded and boatmen to save three or four yards constantly use the beams, though as in this case they are not more than 14 inches wide arid are unprovided with a handrail of any kind.
Four Chinese witnesses gave evidence for the prosecution implicating the accused. Chi She-sheng, a" shipmate of the deceased, saw the latter preceded by two friends step on to the beam to go ashore. The accused was just behind them and then the witness. "Qu the beam the accused put his right hand on the deceased's back and pushed him. The deceased fell into the water Chang Kuei-sung, a dealer in second-hand clothes, who described himself as "a brother-in-law of the prosecutor," was on board the Thames on the day of the occurrence selling clothes, He saw the incident happen exactly as described by Chi She-sheng. He alone of the Chinese witnesses then saw an angry crowd collect round the accused, who ran on board the steamer and into his cabin, and came out with a pistol in his right hand and a couple knives in his left. He apparently, according to this witness, went down on the pontoon with this armament, and the coolies tan away and the, accused went on board again. hen a cargo-boat coolie and a cargo-boatman gave evidence that they were the two friends who preceded the deceased on the beam, They said nothing about the accused, but only that as they were crossing the beam in front of the deceased, they heard a splash and looked round, "and only saw a commotion in the water." This closed the evidence for the prosecution.
Before addressing the Court on the merits of the case, Mr. Nelson, the counsel for the accused, put the question whether the Chief Judge should not direct an acquittal at once, on the ground that, the body not having been found, there was no evidence of death. It is a popular belief that no person should be convicted of raurder
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