Yii Lu, Governor-General of Féngttien, reports that the Department Police-master and Gaol-warden of Liaoyangehow, Li Yeu, who in the month of January, 1891, was sued by the widow of a man'named Wang Yii-chow who was alleged to have died within five days of his punishment through its being too severe, through the instrumentality of the said Police-master, has at last been proved tohave been falsely charged, owing to some misconstruction by the widow and her mother of the conduct of the said Li Yon at the time of the death of Wang Yii-chow. The widow in her petition stated that her husband owed some money to a certain man Chu 'Te-shens, the proprietor of a jadestone shop, who in the month of December, 1890, went to collect his money from her' husband. Being unsuccessful, the creditor applied to the Department Police-master and Gaol-warden of Litoyanychow, Li Yen, who arrested her husband and used torture to force the payment of the debt, and her husband alo suffered severely from the application upon, the thight strong leather-thonged horsewhip, thereby causing his death five days after. wards in his own house. Upon receipt of the petition, memorialist ordered the sub-prefect of Linuyangchow to conduct post-mortem examination, with the result that a verdict of death through excessive punishment was given, and Yeu the Police- master was immediately deprived of his rank and office, and incarcerated in prison awaiting His Majesty's plessure. A Decrec, however, ordered another inquest, as there were grounds for believing that there wore extenuating cir. cumstances in the case. The memorialist then ordered the Taotai of the Postal and Courier Services to re-examine the corpse of Wang Yit-clow, and all the witnesses éunnected with the case, It was then found firstly, that when the man died the Police-waster'srunner, a man named Hu Fu, had brought the sum' of 100 twos ($16.00 Manchurian money) to the widow, which the creditor had asked him to give for paying the expenses of a coffin and funeral on account of the pity he felt for the tunily who had lost their head through his indirect instrumentality, but. which the widow had misconstrued, as coming through a runner, to have been given to her as** hush money by the police-master. Hence her accusation. Secondly the second post-mortem proved conclusively that the deceased had met his death through suicide by taking a quantity raw opium. The realm for such a step it afterwards appeared was owing to the many debts the decessed owed all over Liavyang and so sought self-destruction to escape the importunities of his creditors. His widow, however, knew nothing of her husband's act and really thought that he Ind met his death through excessive tortures ut the hands of the Police-master. Memorialist therefore suggested first that the sub-prefect of Lixoyangehow, Kao Nai-ting, for his imperfect examination at the inquest, and for depending too much upon the statements of the corpse-examiners, should be handed over to the Board of Punishments for the determination of a penalty; second, that as Li Yen had exceeded his powers as Police-master of trying such civil cases as debt, he should be
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.