The Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee

by Robert Van Gulik

  “State your name, and how long you have been here. State your relations with Mr. Hsu and report all you know about him”. The student stammered:

  “This student’s name is Doo, and I have worked here under Doctor Tang’s guidance since last spring. Mr. Hsu’s full name is Hsu Deh-tai, he has already passed the first literary examination with honours. He is the favourite disciple of our master, who made him his special assistant. He has a room all to himself across the courtyard there.”

  Judge Dee nodded his head, and said: “I have placed him under arrest. Now lead me to his room!” The student hastily preceded Judge Dee and opened the door of Hsu’s room for him. The judge ordered the constables to fetch a number of large candles, and then told them to drag the bedstead away from the wall.

  Judge Dee immediately noticed that four stone flags were raised a little above the others, just as Ma Joong had reported. But in the dark Ma Joong had not been able to see the other parts of this clever arrangement. Two thin hemp ropes were wedged into the grooves of the flags, and ran to two poles at the back of the bedstead. These poles were found to turn on hinges and worked as a lever for lifting the trapdoor. Judge Dee made this contraption work and the four flags opened. It turned out that they were cemented to a wooden square which turned on hidden hinges, attached to a beam under the floor. The open trapdoor revealed a dark cavity underneath.

  Judge Dee stooped down, a candle in his hand, and saw a flight of steps leading downward. Under the trapdoor he noticed a small bronze bell. Feeling inside, he found that it had a wooden clapper with a thin cord attached to it. One end led down into the cavity; the other end disappeared under the floor of the room. Upon investigating the wall behind the bedstead Judge Dee found that there was a small hole, revealing the end of a cord, with an iron ring. He pulled it gently and immediately the bell made amuffled sound.

  Then Judge Dee turned to the headman of the constables, and said:

  “It is pitch black inside this secret passage. Who knows what other weird contrivances are hidden down below. You stay here with two constables and guard this room. Tomorrow I shall investigate it further in daylight”. The students, who had been standing about dumbfounded, did not believe their eyes. Judge Dee said to them:

  “This affair has nothing to do with you, so don’t be alarmed. I only desire that you let me have your name, age etc., and seal these papers as witnesses to the discovery of this secret passage”.

  In the meantime the fourth nightwatch had been sounded and Judge Dee thought that it was time to return to the hostel. Just when he was leaving Doctor Tang’s house, Chiao Tai arrived and said:

  “After I escorted Hsu to the warden’s house, I returned to the hostel and had a talk with that old doctor. It seems to me that he speaks the truth when he says that he knows nothing of young Hsu’s escapades. He is an inoffensive bookworm who has not the slightest idea about what is going on in this world. Since the night has advanced far, I beg Your Honour to take some rest”. Judge Dee asked:

  “Has not Sergeant Hoong returned with Mrs. Bee and Mrs. Djou yet? I trust that they have not made their escape”.He went back to the hostel hastily, followed by the constables.

  Chapter 26

  A BOOKISH GENTLEMAN GETS AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE;A SECRET PASSAGE SUPPLIES THE KEY TO THE MYSTERY

  WHEN JUDGE DEE entered the front courtyard, he heard the sounds of a woman sobbing and cursing. Inside he found Sergeant Hoong with Mrs. Bee and Mrs. Djou.

  Mrs. Djou began to revile the judge loudly, but he cut her short, ordering Sergeant Hoong to put them in a small sedan chair and bring them to the house of the warden immediately. They were to be put under lock and key in separate rooms. Then Judge Dee went to his room for a few hours of sleep. He rose early and asked Tao Gan to bring Doctor Tang to his room.

  When the doctor entered, Judge Dee gave him a searching look. He saw a frail old gentleman with a thin white beard and a ragged moustache. His face was full of wrinkles and his small beady eyes constantly blinked. He had no side whiskers. Altogether the judge thought that Chiao Tai had described him very well.

  “This doctor”, the other said in a solemn voice, “bears the surname of Tang, and the personal name of Deh-djung. I am still ignorant of the reason why Your Honour had the constables drag me to this hostel and why I have been kept in confinement. I have retired, and renounced all worldly affairs. As regards offending against the laws, well—I would not be as bold to say that I follow in the path of the ancient Sages, yet I dare say that I never engage in any undertaking that is not in strict accordance with the rules of propriety. I beg Your Honour the favour of an explanation”.

  Judge Dee answered: “Your scholarship is widely known. I had long been looking forward to an opportunity of meeting you. Now, as a tutor of a number of young men, you are, as you know, responsible for their morals. Are you quite sure that all of them in this respect are above reproach?” The old doctor said indignantly:

  “All my pupils are without exception the scions of prominent families. During daytime they prepare their lessons; at night they receive my instruction. Their lives are modeled entirely after the time-honoured standard for the students of the Classics. How could they ever even think of anything that is not quite proper? I greatly fear that Your Honour has been sadly misinformed”.

  “Since I assumed my office”, Judge Dee said, “I have never taken decisive action on the basis of mere rumours. Your pupils may all be scions of noble families, but do you think that is any guarantee for their morals? I regret that I must inform you that the student Hsu Deh-tai, who has been your pupil for several years, is involved in a murder case”.Doctor Tang was greatly startled by this, and exclaimed: “Impossible! If there were irrefutable proof you could convince me that one of the others had done some imprudent thing but not young Hsu, my best student! Although I keep studiously aloof from worldly affairs, vague rumours have reached me recently averring that the present magistrate is too rash in his judgement, and shows a regrettable tendency to jump at conclusions. Hearing these wild accusations you brought forward just now, Sir, I am inclined to give credit to those rumours!”

  “You, Sir”, Judge Dee said impatiently, “are learned in the Classics, but apart from that your ignorance is formidable. As a scholar I bow to your wide learning, but as the magistrate of this district I see no reason why I should spare you. In due time you shall have to bear the consequences of your laxity in supervising the young men entrusted to your care”. He had Tao Gan lead the doctor back to his room. Then he ordered Chiao Tai to go to the house of Warden Ho Kai and bring Hsu Deh-tai to the hostel.

  As Hsu Deh-tai knelt before Judge Dee, the latter, seeing what a handsome young man he was, and how noble his bearing, thought that one need not wonder that Mrs. Djou fell in love with him. He reflected that this young man, blessed with wealth, good looks, a clever brain, and fine education, had had no excuse whatever to engage in the nefarious intrigue that caused the death of an innocent poor shopkeeper. He decided that in this case the law should be applied in its full severity. Having thus reflected, he harshly addressed him:

  “I have been searching for you, Hsu Deh-tai, for several weeks. Now at last I have caught you. Tell me the exact truth about your adulterous relations with Mrs. Djou, and how the two of you murdered Bee Hsun! I warn you that I have proof of your guilt, and if you don’t confess now I shall not hesitate to question you under severe torture”.

  Young Hsu was extremely frightened, but he reasoned with himself that after all he belonged to an old and very influential family, and that the judge would never dare to subject him to severe torture. He thought that Judge Dee was just trying to intimidate him. Thus he answered:

  “This student is a member of an old, noble house. Both my father and my grandfather were provincial governors, in the service of the Imperial Court. The sons of our house have always been brought up most strictly. How would one of them ever dare to offend against the rules of propriety? Moreover, day and night I am
under the supervision of Doctor Tang. My quarters are opposite his library. We have all our meals together. How could I ever engage in the immoral conduct Your Honour accuses me of, even if I had such an evil intent? I beg Your Honour to have all the facts verified again. Then it shall be proved that I am completely innocent”.

  Judge Dee rose from his chair, and said:

  “So you prefer to tell the truth under torture. Well, we shall first take you to have a look at the secret passage in your room, and show you where it leads”.

  He ordered Chiao Tai and a few constables to take Hsu Deh-tai to the house of Doctor Tang. He sent Sergeant Hoong to the house of Warden Ho Kai, to bring Ma Joong and the two women to the doctor’s house also. Having given these orders, Judge Dee left the hostel and set out for the Tang house.

  By now the news that there were important developments in the case of Bee Hsun had spread through the entire village, and a crowd of eager spectators had assembled in front of the doctor’s gate.

  When Judge Dee entered the courtyard he was accosted by Mrs. Bee who wanted to vent her rage on him. But he cut her short, saying:

  “You have come just in time. You shall accompany us, and see what disgraceful affair has been going on right under your eyes”.

  Then the judge walked straight on to Mr. Hsu’s room at the back of the compound, followed by Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, who led the two women.

  In Hsu’s room, Judge Dee had the constables drag him in front of the cavity in the floor, and as he knelt there, asked him:

  “Now you pretend to have no interests other than your learned studies. What then is the purpose of the secret passage under your bed?”

  Hsu Deh-tai said nothing. The judge gave Ma Joong a sign. Chiao Tai handed him a lighted candle, and Ma Joong let himself down in the cavity. He found himself in a narrow passage, the walls of which were neatly panelled with smooth wooden boards. He stooped down and saw that the floor also was of wooden boards, well polished and without a speck of dust. He went down three steps and ducked under a low archway. He held the candle in front of him, and saw three steps leading upwards, ending in a blank wall. But the ceiling of the passage was of wooden boards which produced a hollow sound. Ma Joong placed the candle on the floor, and began pushing those boards. Suddenly they gave way. Ma Joong pushed the trapdoor up farther and found that he had pushed his head under the bedstead of Mrs. Djou, in the neighbouring house. He climbed out, and saw the same arrangement here as in Hsu Deh-tai’s room: the trapdoor consisted of four flags, cemented to a wooden frame. When it was closed, one hardly could tell them apart from the other stone flags, but if one worked the levers behind the bed, the trapdoor opened noiselessly and without the slightest effort. Ma Joong, standing over the trapdoor, called out to Chiao Tai, and then walked out of Mrs. Djou’s room. He crossed the small courtyard and went out into the street by the front gate. The crowd of spectators was greatly astonished on seeing Ma Joong emerge from that door, for only a little while ago they had seen him enter Doctor Tang’s house, together with the two women. But one clever young fellow immediately understood what had happened, and he exclaimed excitedly: “The judge has discovered a secret passage!”

  Judge Dee was most gratified that everything turned out to be exactly as he had suspected. Turning to Mrs. Bee, who had been standing dumbfounded, her eyes on the trapdoor, the judge said:

  “No wonder that your daughter locked herself up every day after noon. This is her secret backdoor, and thus she communicated with her paramour. They had even a secret signal to warn each other when the coast was clear. There stands the lover of your daughter. They murdered your son together”.

  Mrs. Bee’s face had turned ashen. She uttered only one cry and fainted. Judge Dee told two constables to carry her to the doctor’s library and give her some strong tea.

  Mrs. Djou and Hsu Deh-tai had silently witnessed all these happenings. Their faces were drawn, but in no other way did they betray any emotion. They stared in front of them, as if all these things did not regard them at all.

  Judge Dee did not say one word to them. He ordered Ma Joong and Chiao Tai to take them back to the warden’s house. There they were to be put in chains, and then conveyed to the tribunal in the city.

  Then he also left Doctor Tang’s house and went back to the hostel.

  Chapter 27

  A DEPRAVED NOBLEMAN AT LAST CONFESSES TO HIS GUILT; AN ADULTEROUS WOMAN PERSISTS IN HER INNOCENCE

  LATE THAT AFTERNOON Judge Dee and his retinue arrived at the tribunal of Chang-ping.

  Judge Dee sat down in his private office, and drew up a detailed report about everything that had happened in Huang-hua Village. While writing this he reflected how accurate the verse, which he had seen in his dream, had turned out to be. Now that it had been discovered that the secret passage was located under Hsu Deh-tai’s bed, one could fully understand the line:

  “One descends the couch, and finds the answer to all past riddles”.

  When he had completed his report, Judge Dee went on reading other documents relating to the administration of the district. He felt happy and peaceful, for he knew that at last also this complicated case was nearing its final solution.

  The next morning he convened the court, and after some reflection decided to have Hsu Deh-tai brought in first. When he was kneeling in front of the bench, Judge Dee said:

  “Yesterday I showed you that I discovered your secret passage leading to the bedroom of Mrs. Djou. You are a man of depraved character, but after all you are a student of literature, and should be capable of logical thinking. You will realise that there is no use in compelling me to question you under torture. Spare me and yourself unnecessary trouble, and confess to your illicit relations with Mrs. Djou now, and state in what way Bee Hsun was murdered. If there is any reason for mitigating your sentence, I shall not fail to consider it”.

  “This student”, Hsu Deh-tai said, “was completely ignorant of the existence of that passage. I presume that a former owner of the house had this passage made as a secret storeroom for his treasures. When my late father, His Excellency the Governor, had retired from official life, he purchased the compound in Huang-hua Village, which then also included the house now occupied by the family Bee. Since my father did not need so much space for his household, he sold the small properties adjoining it and the connecting doors were walled up. Thus this passage remained unnoticed until the present day. However this may be, this student did not know of its existence until yesterday. And as to the allegation that I had relations with that woman who apparently lives in the house on left, this I cannot but qualify as a grievous reflection on my name and the name of my family. I beg Your Honour’s favourable consideration!

  Judge Dee smiled coldly, and said:

  “For a clever student your reasoning is very poor. If this were really an ancient passage, how do you explain that there was not a speck of dust inside? And what about the trapdoor being worked by levers attached to your bedstead, and the bronze bell which could be sounded by pulling a rope over your bed? Your guilt is clear as daylight and I shall, therefore, now put the question to you again under torture”.

  The judge then ordered the constables to give Hsu Deh-tai fifty lashes with the thin rattan. They tore Hsu’s robes from his back, and soon the rattan swished through the air. Long before the number fifty was reached, blood streamed from Hsu’s back, and his screams resounded through the hall. But he gave no sign that he would confess.

  Judge Dee ordered the constables to stop. He guessed correctly that young Hsu thought that if he bore with these fifty lashes without confessing, the judge would deem that appearances had been saved, and that he would then leave him alone, in consideration of his influential relations. Judge Dee, however, called out to him in a thunderous voice:

  “I shall show you what happens to people who defy the laws of the land! In the tribunal everybody is equal, here there is no regard for rank or position. The great torture shall be applied to you!”

  On a
sign from the judge, the constables brought in a low wooden cross, that stood on a heavy wooden base. Two constables made Hsu kneel down with his back to this cross and lashed his head tightly to its top by tying a thin cord round his throat. His wrists were put through two holes at the ends of the crossbar, and his hands tied securely to the bar, so that they could not slip through. They passed a thick, round pole between the back of his thighs and his calves, and finally laid a long, heavy wooden beam across his lap. When they had reported that everything was duly fixed, Judge Dee ordered them to proceed.

  Then, on either side of the heavy beam, two constables pressed it down, using their full weight. Hsu’s knees and wrists were nearly dislocated. One could hear the bones creak. Moreover as his body was pressed down, the cord round his throat tightened and nearly strangled him. When he was nearly suffocated, the headman gave the constables a sign. They immediately relaxed the pressure. Perspiration and blood were streaming from Hsu Deh-tai’s body as a result of this fearful torture, but he could only moan, since the cord was compressing his windpipe. When the constables were ready to press the beam down for the third time, the headman reported to the judge that Hsu had lost consciousness.

  Judge Dee ordered them to take him down. They revived him by burning vinegar under his nose. It took quite some time before he regained his senses. Four constables were needed to drag him up from the floor, and he could not help crying out loudly when they made him kneel before the bench. His face was contorted. Two constables had to support him.

  Judge Dee looked at him intently for some time, and then suddenly said in a kind voice:

  “You need not be ashamed for your inability to stand this torture. This hall has witnessed hardened professional criminals confess on that cross. How could you, a refined young gentleman, bear this pain? I am ready to listen to your confession”.