Li Ken-pa is the confessed murderer, but as he stood in the strong light of the prison door with a, warder holding him up on either side, he presented the most piteous sight we had ever seen. Every limb was quivering, and his face twitchin, much of the animal had gone out of it. His eyes he never opened, and when he spoke in reply to our questions it seemed to be with difficulty, and in a voice which apparently came from the depth of his chest. The questions we asked him had to be repeated in the official loud mandarin tone before he seemed to understand. Name? Li Ken-pa. Age? 32. Native place? Chiki hamlet), What relatives' have you'? Father, mother, a wife and child. "Did you kill the foreigners? No, Were you there at all? No. What have you eon-fessed to? I struck him twice. "Who did trike? T don't know. Was it the ignor with the queue, or the foreigner without one? Without the neve. Who saw you do it? No one, Can you see. Yes. "Can you open your eyes? No, There was little good in carrying on an interrogation of this sort, so we lifted his eyelids and looked—there was no more intelligence there than in the eyes of an ox. We asked Mr. Liu who his accusers were, and he said everybody, but could not mention the name' of any one in particular.
The next was of quite a different: stamp. He was a little spare man with a mousey look whose eyes kept peeping this way and that way as if spying for some hole to dart into. He was not so heavily ironed a5 Li Ken-pa, and was in full possession of his senses," Without waiting to be asked single question he began of his own accord. My name is Chu Tsuen-fuh and Tam 31 years of age. I used to work in Shasi, and Tam the man who went up on the roof with an umbrella down my back. The house was on fire; I went up to put it out when a foreigner rushed at me with stick, so I stepped aside and he fell down, Who' saw you do it? Everybody, Can you mention any one? No. Who is your accuser? I don't know.
The third looked little more than a boy. He too was below the average height. Ho had a fine open face, and features that were almost European in their cast. His story was: "My name is Li Kin-ken. I am 2G years of age, my father and nother are alive and I am engaged to be married. The house was on fire, and the foreigners were on the roof throwing tiles at the people. They said they had killed four men, and put me up to ask where they were. A foreigner rushed at me with a short knife—(a Japanese fan knife said one of the attendents)—Yes, a short Japanese knife, so I stepped aside when the foreigner fell down and was killed." Who saw you do it? Everybody. Gan you tell us who accuses you? No.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.