The Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee

by Robert Van Gulik

  After she had drunk it the girl’s face contorted in pain, and suddenly she started to vomit. Her small body shook with convulsions and soon she sank to the floor unconscious. Judge Dee told Ma Joong to take her up in his arms and carry her to his private office. He was to make her lie down on the couch there, and as soon as she would wake, he was to give her a cup of strong tea.

  After a while Ma Joong reentered the court hall, leading the small girl by her hand. Seeing Mrs. Bee, she rushed to her, and buried her face in Mrs. Bee’s gown, crying: “Grandmother, why are we here? I am afraid?’

  Judge Dee rose, and stepped down from the dais. Placing his hand under her chin, he gently turned the girl’s face up, and said softly:

  “Don’t be afraid, little girl. Your grandmother will take you home shortly. But just tell me, do you know Mr. Hsu from next door?” The small girl nodded and said earnestly:

  “Mr. Hsu is a great friend of my mother. He comes to see her nearly every day. But where is my mother?”

  Judge Dee nodded to Mrs. Bee, and she quickly took the girl to a far corner of the court hall. Squatting down by her side, she tried to comfort her in a low voice.

  The judge resumed his seat behind the bench and filled out a slip for the warden of the jail. Two constables brought Mrs. Djou before the bench.

  She had changed greatly overnight. Her face was haggard, and she moved with difficulty. But the small girl immediately recognised her, even in prison garb, and cried out: “Mother, where have you been all these days?”

  Judge Dee hastily gave Mrs. Bee a sign and she took the girl out of the court hall.

  The judge spread out a document on the desk, and said to Mrs. Djou:

  “I have here before me your full confession. It states how you seduced Hsu Deh-tai; how you murdered Bee Hsun by driving a needle into his head; and how you made your daughter dumb by making her drink a foul drug. This morning I cured your daughter, and she has testified that Hsu Deh-tai frequently visited you at night”.

  Here Judge Dee paused a moment, looking intently at Mrs. Djou. But she just stared in front of her with unseeing eyes and said nothing. She realised that the vision of last night probably had been a trick of the judge, but she did not really care. She only wished that he would finish quickly.

  Judge Dee then ordered the senior scribe to read out aloud the confession as Tao Gan had drafted it. When he had finished, Judge Dee asked Mrs. Djou the formal question: “Do you agree that this is your true confession?”

  A deep silence reigned in the court. Mrs. Djou’s head sank still lower. Finally she said but two words: “I do”.

  Then the scribe presented the document to her, and she affixed her thumbmark. Judge Dee then said:

  “I pronounce you guilty on three major counts: intentionally delivering false testimony in court, having adulterous relations while your husband was alive, and murdering your husband without provocation. The last crime is the most heinous one. The Code prescribes for this the most severe death penalty known to law, that is execution by the process of ‘lingering death’. In forwarding your sentence I shall not fail to record that you still have an old mother to support, but I feel it my duty to warn you that although this fact may procure mitigation of the way of execution, it shall hardly lead to a commutation of the extreme penalty”.

  Mrs. Djou was led back to the jail, there to await the Imperial pleasure. Judge Dee then had Hsu Deh-tai brought before him, and said: “I pronounce you guilty of adultery and conniving in the murder of your paramour’s husband, Bee Hsun. For this crime the Code prescribes death by strangulation. Whether this shall be the regular slow strangulation, or whether it shall be mitigated to quick strangulation in view of the fact that you have a literary grade, I shall leave to the Metropolitan Court to decide”.Hsu Deh-tai seemed dumbfounded on hearing this sentence pronounced. He was led back to jail in a state of complete stupefaction.

  Then Doctor Tang was brought before the bench. Judge Dee severely reprimanded him, saying:

  “You, a man of wide learning and many years experience, have failed miserably in your duties as a tutor. The crime of adultery took place in your house, and, as it were, under your very eyes. If I were to interpret the provisions of the Code strictly, I could have you severely punished as an accessory. But in deference to your great achievements in the field of scholarly researches, I shall free you with this public reprimand, enjoining you henceforth to devote all your time to your own literary studies. You are strictly forbidden ever again to engage in the teaching of young students.”

  Finally Judge Dee had Mrs. Bee recalled, and said to her: “You failed in your duty of supervising the conduct of your daughter-in-law, and consequently two heinous crimes were committed in your house. In view of the fact, however, that you are by nature an extremely stupid woman, and that you have Bee Hsun’s daughter to support, I shall let you go free. Moreover, after Hsu Deh-tai has been executed, I shall allocate a portion of his forfeited property to you, for the education of your granddaughter.” Mrs. Bee prostrated herself in front of the bench, and knocking her head on the floor, shed tears of gratitude.

  Judge Dee closed the session and returned to his private office. There he drew up the final report on the case, enclosing the original confessions of Mrs. Djou and Hsu Deh-tai, adding also the prescription for the medicine which had cured Mrs. Djou’s daughter. He also added a separate request to the effect that his previous self-accusation concerning of grievously slandering an innocent woman, and having exhumed a corpse without sufficient reason, be rescinded.

  Some weeks after this sensational session of the tribunal at Chang-ping, the Governor of Shantung was entertaining a distinguished guest in his palace in the provincial capital.

  This was the Imperial Censor Yen Lee-ben, the famous statesman, artist and scholar.

  That night the Governor had arranged a large official dinner for Censor Yen in the banquet hall of his palace, to which all the high functionaries of the provincial government and the members of the local gentry had been invited. Late in the afternoon he was drinking tea with his guest in a secluded part of the palace garden. They were seated in the Water Pavilion, an elegant small building, in the middle of the curved bridge over the lotus pond.

  It had been a hot day, and both enjoyed the cool breeze over the water.

  Engaged in leisurely talk, the Governor asked Censor Yen about recent happenings in the capital. The censor sketched the background of some mutations in the Board of Rites, and, slowly fanning himself with a large fan of heron feathers, he added: “Now that I come to think of it, just before I left the capital there was considerable talk in the Board of Punishments about a case of a beautiful young girl who was poisoned on her wedding night. This occurred in a district of your province here, and the local magistrate solved the mystery in three days. The Board was quite impressed by your report and the case was eagerly discussed, even in court circles. At the time I did not inquire into this matter further, but since it occurred in your province, you can probably tell me all about it”.

  The Governor told the servant to bring a new pot of hot tea, and leisurely sipping from his cup, he said:

  “This case was solved by the district magistrate of Chang-ping, an official called Dee Jen-djieh, of Tai-yuan in Shansi Province”. Censor Yen nodded, and said:

  “Now you mention his name, I remember that I used to know his late father, the Prefect Dee. The old prefect was highly regarded by the central authorities. The Prefect’s father, Dee Jen-djieh’s grandfather, was a wise Minister, scrupulously honest, who left some remarkable memorials to the Throne, which are often quoted today. It seems that this magistrate Dee is continuing the great tradition of his family, for I recall that it was said that he had solved a number of other puzzling crimes, aside from the one of the poisoned bride”.

  “That”, the Governor said, “was quite an ingenious solution, and, the topic being a sensational one, I can well imagine that it created some interest in the capital. Yet that
magistrate, in the first two years of his terms of office, has solved a number of cases that were at least as puzzling as that of the poisoned bride. All of these you will find in the records of the provincial chancery. And during this present year he has, beside the case of the poisoned bride, already solved two others. The first was a double murder, committed on the highway by some violent ruffian. Although I gather that there were some complications, and although tracing and arresting the criminal seems to have been a burdensome task, yet the solution of the case was, in my opinion, but a matter of routine.

  “Personally I am greatly impressed, however, by the magistrate’s conduct of the third case, the final report of which I received last week from the prefect, and which I have now forwarded to the capital. This case concerned an adulterous woman who murdered her husband about one year ago in order to be able to marry her paramour. What struck me there was that originally no one had realised that a murder had been committed, and that no complaint had been filed with the tribunal. But this magistrate Dee, having become suspicious on hearing someone’s chance remark in the street, set out with astonishing zeal to trace this crime back to its very beginnings, at the risk of getting himself into serious trouble. As a matter of fact, at one time it seemed that he had blundered badly and the prefect reported to me that magistrate Dee had recommended himself for appropriate punishment, having falsely accused and tortured a woman. Knowing his previous record, I did not act on this self-accusation for some time, and kept it on file, hoping that he would be able to set things right. And actually last week the prefect forwarded the report of the solution of the case to me, together with the full confessions of the adulterous woman and her paramour, accompanied by irrefutable proof.

  “I appreciate the work on this case far more than the solution of the poisoning of the bride, which after all may have been just a lucky guess. Moreover that case, having occurred in the mansion of a retired prefect, and implying some spicy details about a wedding night, had all the makings of becoming a famous case. The case of the adulterous woman, on the other hand, concerned a poor shopkeeper’s family in a small village. The magistrate initiated and solved this case, risking the loss of his rank and position, and estranging the sympathy of the people in his district. He was motivated solely by the desire that justice be done and the death of a miserable, small merchant avenged. This I consider exemplary conduct, worthy of a special citation”.Censor Yen agreed that this was so, and then added:

  “After the banquet tonight, you might send the complete Chang-ping file over to me in the library. I find that in my old age I am not sleeping too well, and I have formed the regrettable habit of reading till deep into the night. The library, which you so kindly placed at my disposal during my stay here, does great credit to your elegant taste. I have studied your fine collection of manuscripts, and the view from the northern window, showing the Seven-storied Pagoda against a background of distant mountains, is really enchanting. I have already painted it twice, once with the effect of the early morning haze, and once in an attempt to capture the uncertain atmosphere of twilight. The sight of a lonely sail on a moonlit lake, the sounds of a temple bell at night I sometimes wonder whether these things are, after all, not more important than all these complications of official life. Well, tomorrow you shall select the painting which you like best, and I shall inscribe it for you”.

  The Governor expressed his thanks for this friendly gesture, and then they rose and walked back to the palace to change into ceremonial dress for the banquet.

  Chapter 30

  THREE CRIMINALS SUFFER THE EXTREME PENALTY; A COURT MESSENGER ARRIVES WITH URGENT ORDERS

  TWO WEEKS LATER, sooner than Judge Dee had expected, the prefect forwarded the Imperial ratification of the capital punishments proposed for Shao Lee-huai, Hsu Deh-tai and Mrs. Djou, with only a few changes made by the Board of Punishments, on the recommendation of the Metropolitan Court. There was an additional instruction to the effect that these orders were to be executed with the least possible delay.

  Judge Dee immediately despatched a message to the garrison commander of Chang-ping, instructing him to have a detachment of soldiers stand by on the execution ground the next morning. At dawn a military escort was to be ready in front of the tribunal to convey the three criminals.

  Judge Dee himself rose before dawn, and having thrown the scarlet pelerine over his shoulders, ascended the dais. In the flickering light of the large candles he called the roll. Somewhat apart from the constables stood a giant of a man, carrying a naked sword over his shoulders.

  The judge first ordered Shao Lee-huai brought in from the jail. Shao had been served the customary last meal of wine and roast and seemed resigned to his fate. As he knelt in front of the bench, Judge Dee read out his sentence:

  “The criminal Shao Lee-huai shall be decapitated, his head shall be exposed for three days on the city gate, and all his possessions are forfeited”.

  The constables bound Shao securely with ropes, and inserted a stake between the rope and his back, bearing a long placard where his name, his crime and his punishment had been written in large characters. They took him outside and made him climb into the open jail cart. A crowd of onlookers had assembled in front of the main gate, the military guard keeping them at a suitable distance with their pikes and halberds.

  After this Judge Dee had Hsu Deh-tai brought in. When on entering the dimly lit court hall, he saw the scarlet pelerine of the judge shimmering in the candle-light, the full horror of impending death dawned upon him, and he sank to his knees, crying in abject fright. Judge Dee read:

  “The criminal Hsu Deh-tai shall die by strangulation, in such a way that death ensues immediately, but his body shall not be publicly exposed; this mitigation is based on the meritorious services rendered to the State by the said Hsu Deh-tai’s father and grandfather. All his possessions are forfeited”.

  After Hsu Deh-tai had been bound and led away, he also was placed in the open cart, the white placard bearing his name and his crime was above his head for all to see.

  Finally Mrs. Djou was brought before the judge. She now seemed an elderly woman. She walked with bent shoulders, never looking up. Judge Dee read out:

  “The criminal Bee, née Djou, shall be subjected to the lingering death, in such a way that death ensues after the first cut, this mitigation being based on the fact that she has suffered severe torture during the interrogation. Her possessions shall not be forfeited, in consideration of the fact that she leaves behind an old mother. But her head shall be exposed on the city gate for three days”.

  Then she also was bound with ropes, and the placard with name, offense and punishment stuck on her back.

  As the three criminals stood in the open cart, six soldiers with drawn swords placed themselves behind them, and the other soldiers, shouldering their pikes and halberds, ranged themselves in formation on all four sides of the cart. All the constables and guards of the tribunal took their places, standing in rows of six in front and behind the palanquin of the judge. The procession was headed by ten soldiers on horseback, to clear the way. And directly behind them walked the huge executioner, his sword on his shoulder, flanked by an assistant on either side.

  The large gong was sounded three times, and Judge Dee ascended his palanquin. Sergeant Hoong and Ma Joong guided their horses on the right side of the palanquin, and Chiao Tai and Tao Gan rode on left.

  Slowly the procession wound its way through the streets of Chang-ping, headed for the western city gate.

  Young and old, rich and poor, anyone who could walk had assembled in the street to witness this spectacle. The people cheered loudly as soon as the palanquin of Judge Dee came in sight. But when the cart with the three criminals passed, the younger spectators reviled them, jeering at them at the top of their voices. The elder people in the crowd, however, scolded these youngsters, saying:

  “Don’t use your tongue to revile them. Use your brains and reflect on the stern retribution meted out to criminals by
the laws of our land. Here you see a violent ruffian, a depraved nobleman, and a lascivious woman, all together as equals in the cart of the condemned. Justice has no regard for rank, position or sex. Let this spectacle serve you as a warning, and always remember it, should temptation come your way”.

  As the procession passed through the West Gate, a crowd of more than a thousand people followed behind. By the time they arrived at the execution ground, the early rays of the sun shone on the helmets of the soldiers, standing there on all four sides of the square.

  The garrison commander came forward and welcomed the judge. Together they ascended the temporary dais that had been put up in front of the execution ground during the night, and took their seats behind the bench. The constables and scribes ranged themselves in front of the dais.

  The two assistants of the executioner brought Shao Lee-huai to the centre of the execution ground, and made him kneel. They removed the placard from his back, and loosened his collar so that his neck was bare. The executioner took off his jacket, revealing his muscular torso. Lifting his sword in both hands, he looked at the judge.

  Judge Dee gave the sign, and the head was severed from the body with one terrific blow. An assistant picked the head up by its hairs, and raised it in front of the bench. Judge Dee marked its forehead with his vermilion brush, and it was thrown in a basket standing ready nearby, later to be exposed on the city gate.

  In the mean time the other assistant of the executioner had stuck a low wooden cross in the ground, and now Hsu Deh-tai was fled to this cross in a kneeling position, his arms being fastened to the horizontal bar. The executioner threw a noose of thin hempcord over Hsu’s head, while the other end encircled file upper part of the stake. He stuck a short wooden stick between the cord and the stake behind Hsu’s head, and looked towards the judge.