Slave Girl Ordered to Cut Off Tip of Forefinger and Burnt with Flat-iron One of the worst cases of cruelty to children ever heard at the Mixed Court came before Mr. A. J. Martin and Magistrate Kuan on Monday. Wong Shihg-fah, a Post Office employee residing in Chapei, was charged with cruelty to a tiny slave girl, who, it was stated, was beaten by the man's wife until the child consented to chop off the end of her right forefinger. This she did, cutting it off at wie tip. The little witness showed the Bench a_ horribly mutilated forefinger: said she had been beaten and told to chop off her finger when her mistress had accused her of stealing. On another occasion, her mistress had pressed a heated flat-iron on her bare leg. A Door of Hope official told the Court that when the child was brought to that institution she was in terrible pain. The burns caused by the flat-iron were covered with a dirty piece of newspaper, and she presented a horrible picture of misery.
Mr. L. K. Kentwell (defending) said it was not the prisoner who had ill-treated the girl, but his wife, and on this ground he asked for the man's discharge.
Mr. Martin, giving the decision of the Court, said the accused would be sent for trial by the Chinese authorities. The man had bought the child, and must be held responsible for allowing his wife to ill-treat her in the shameful way proved
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.