Governor-General of Chihli, ete., begs to report to the Throne a case of premeditated fratricide and the judgment given upon case, After going through the lower courts and being verified by the Provincial Judge of Chibli, Chou Fu, it should by rights he retried by the memorialist in person; but memorialist being located at Tientsin, he could not do so conveniently and accordingly deputed Yi Ch'ang, the Provincial Trensurer, to do so instead, the papers, etc., relating to the ese to be eventually sent to the memorialist for perusal and sentence. The following are the facts of the ease in question: There were three brothers, Meng Ho-Shang-tze, Meng Ying-chin-tze and Meng Ying-ch* tze (mentioned in. their respective order of seniority), natives of the district of Heaianhsien. Before the murder of the eldest Meng Ho-shang-tze by the second brother Meng Ying-chin-tze, the three Drothers seem to have been perfectly friendly towards one another. The eldest brother many years previously lived in a separate house of his own, while the two younger brothers lived in' the old family house with their mother Meng T'ang-shih, At the time the father of these men' died there was a family estate of 20 mow which had for many years been mortgaged to strangers, which'so far had not been redeemed. In the Spring of last year, the elder brother consulted the Second brother as to the feasibility of redeeming the ancestral acres, it being agreed that each brother should get together what he could for the purpose, which being accomplished the land should be divided into three portions, exch brother taking one. The second brother, therefore, got together a large sum of money, more than the other two and the land was eventually redeemed by the eldest brother. But the latter after getting hold of the land, on one pretence and another, delayed the dividing of the property. despite the remonstrances of the younger brothers, and especially the second who had done the most towards getting back the family property. This went on until the summer months of the present year, the eldest brother still refusing to divide wish his brothers. On the 19h of August last, the second brother again went to the eldest brother's house, when a wordy war took place between the two, which was stopped by the neighbours. The next day Meng Ying-chin-tze went again to Meng Ho-shang-tze's house for the same purpose—to divide the property—and the wrath of both being inflamed by mutual vituperation, the eldest, Meng Ho-shang-tze picked up a scythe and made a rush at the second brother. The latter dodged the blow and darted out of the door into the yard, but being caught up with by Meng Ho-shang-tze the blow was repeated on the younger brother. At this juncture, the latter made a dive at the eldest brother, and managing to wrest the scythe from his hands gave him a blow on the left side, whereupon the elder brother fell to the ground, but continued to kick the younger while in this position. Enraged "at this, the younger thrust the point of the scythe into the elder's left leg, accompanied by a savage cut on the right thigh and right instep. Having done so, Meng Ying-chin-tze, the younger, flung the weapon from him, apparently satisfied with what he had done. But the elder continued to swear at the younger, promising to get even with him when his wounds got well. This was the cause of the murder. The younger brother thinking within himself that his life would not be worth much in the future should the elder brother recover, resolved to kill the latter in order t" escape being murdered by him. So picking up a heavy block of granite, he cast it with all his strength at the recumbent form of his brother, causing fatal wounds on both sides of his temples as well as breaking in three teeth and making several cuts on the face. At the juncture, Meng Ying Ch'u-tze, the youngest of the three, hearing the noise of strife outside, rushed out and dissuaded the second from further violence. while the Inter feeling sure that the eldest would die of his wounds and thinking that he gone far enough, ceased pounding the dying man with the graite block. Mong x-tze died almost immediately and the district magistrate of was sunumoned to make the necessary inquest, after which the murderer gave himself up, frankly confessing his crime. The law' provides that a younger brother killing an elder should sutler @eath by the ling chih or lingering and shameful process," to which memorialist has sentenced Meng Ying-chin-tze the fratricide. In addition to the above, as the cause of the dispute which ended fatally to one of the brothers was the non-dividing of the property, memorialist has ordered that the property in question should be equally divider "between the progeny of the three brothers, thus avoiding any future cause of disturbance in the family.—Rescript: Lrt the Bourd ut Punislments speedily report theron.
17th September.
TOOMS IN YUNNAN, Tan Chun-pei, Governor of Yunnan, [reports that he has received a despatch from Shih Chien-chung, district magistrate of Chienshui, to the effect that in the mid-Ale of July last that district was visited by incessant rains thereby causing freshets from the mountains which rushed down into the plains with unparalleled violence, making many wide breaches in the waterways of the district and flooding entirely the townships of Sichuangpa and Awatsai to the destruction of thousands of mow of crops ready for harvest and some isolated villages at the font of the mountains. On receipt of the news of these calamities. memorialist immediately despatched deputies to the scene to enquire the amount of damage done by the freshets as well as to see about the relief of the people belonging to the inundated district. Orders have also been sent for the purchase of stone and materials for the bunding of the breaches and gaps.—Rescript: Noted
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.