At the Mixed Court on Tuesday morning, before Mr. Davies (American Assessor) and Mr. Kuan (Magistrate), two Chinese, one of whom was described as being an ex. soldier of Chihli, were charged with having been concerned together in attempting to murder Chinese detective No, 98 by shooting at him with a revolver at No. 71 Sing-yuen_ li (off Canton Road) about 7 p.m. on February 5. There was a further charge against them of being members of an organized gang of armed robbers and committing armed robberies in the Settlement during the past six months, Detective-Inspector Cruickshan said that the charge sheet was before the Court'on February 6, but both the accused were then in hospital, suffering from wounds, and the hearing wag adjourned. The a cused had first been sent to the Police Hospital, from which they almost made their escape by removing a window and breaking th brickwork of a wall, They werd then' removed to the hospital of the Municipal Gaol and, after having been under the care of a foreign doctor, were discharged on Friday Tnist. In addition to the two charges mentioned, he might add that there had been a warrant out for the arrest of the first accused in. connexion with an armed robbery committed in March, 1922, and the Police had been looking for him until the time of his arrest on February 5 of this year.
On the evening of February 6 it came to the knowledge of a Chinese detective that the first accused an. several others were in a house, No. 71 Sing-yuen-li, The detective wen there, and was armed with a revolver. When he opened the door, the two accused and several others reccignized him and sprang to "their feet. The second accused was ini the act of pulling a pistol from his pocket when the Chinese detective fired at and wounded him. Fortunately, as was afterwards ascertained, the pistol of the second accused was not loaded. At the same time, the first accused drew a pistol and opened fire on the detective, who responded. Three shots were fired, as a result of which the first acoused was wounded, but whether by one of his own shots or that of the detective it was impossible to say. When witness examined the revolver of the first accused, it smelt of powder and three cartridges had been discharged In the possession of the first accused some spare rounds of ammunition were found At the time of the shooting, there were three other men in the com-barny of the accused, but these men escaped. One of them, was arrested on another charge two days_ later, and had_since been sentenced to term of imprisonment.
At this stage the Court decided that, as the case must be gone into. very fully, it would be set down for special hearing.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.