In the Provisional Court, on Tues day, before Judge Liang' and Mr. Stevens, Senior Consul's Deputy, two unemployed Chinese and a brass-smith, appeared on charges of extortion and falsely representing themselves to be detectives of the S.M.C, Det.-Sgt. Gash stated that the first two accused, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, went to 13 Canton Road and said' that they wore detect stated to complainant that he was making stoves on the sat tern als a foreign article and threatened him that, unless he paid them $1,000, they would take him to the station. Complainant finally agreed to pay them §200 and $100 was paid on account, the remainder to be paid on Monday. The first and second accused then left the shop with the $100 and two stoves Later, the police were informed, and, on Monday, detectives were placed in the shop. When the two accused canie to collect the balance of the money, they were arrested. The two stoves were found in ai alleyway off Kwangse Road. The third accused was an apprentice in want, and it other two accused that the stow: were of a foreign pattern.
The first accused said that he did not know anything about the offal Ue did not go to complainant's shop. He was in his hotel when the detective came in and asked shim to go to the police station.
The second accused stated that he was" stove broker and he noticed some stoves in complainant's shop on the same style as the Ching Sinr Co.'s goods, and he ordered tw stoves 80 that-he could show them to the foreigner in charge of the Ching Sing Ca., but, on Saturday afternoon, the "shop was closed. He denied trying to extort money from complainant and hho did not hose as a detective, The third accused stated that his master had told him that the stoves had the same mark as the Ching Sing Co.'s stoves and that, if any-tone asked him about them, he was to say that they were second-hand goods." When the second accused Bought the stoves in the shop, witness told him that they made: them, Complainant told him to take a pattern of the Ching Sing Co.'s stove to the Sang Tah Tron Works and have some made in a similar style 'The first nnd second accused were each sentenced to five—months' imprisonment and the third accused to 30 days.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.