82 years ago, Zizhong tried Persian thieves

In the archives of the Zizhong Court during the Republic of China period in the collection of the Neijiang City Archives, there is a case of "the theft of yiqian shop by XiemaoHeng", because the thieves were two foreigners, and after the arrest of Zizhong County, the Zizhong County Government judged the facts of the crimes committed by the two in accordance with the laws of the Republic of China, which was the first case of a judgment on foreigners by the local government of Neijiang during the Republic of China period, which was of positive significance in the judicial history of the Republic of China period.

According to the archives, the suspects Oglai and Hu Duan are both persian (formerly known as Iran). The Fujian Siming Municipal Preparatory Office, where Aoglai was in charge, issued passports limited to traveling to and from china's treaty ports; and hu duan's Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau issued passports, which were limited to traveling between Beiping, Nanjing, and Chongqing, but the two of them roamed across the border under the pretext of doing business and engaged in theft and fraud in various places.

On April 19, 1934, Aoglai and Hu Duan came to the Deng Yuanlin Mountain Goods Store on the West Street of Zizhong County, and Aog came to the inner cabinet to buy two tubes of paper cigarettes, took out 10 coupons for Deng Yuanlin to find change, and Hu Duan wanted to buy canned ham in the outer cabinet, which made Deng Yuanlin difficult to cope with, and as a result, the two saw that the inner cabinet did not have much money, and did not buy anything and left. Subsequently, the two came to the XiemaoHeng Money Shop.

Jiang Chengyou, an apprentice at the Xiemaoheng Money Shop, stated: "At 10 o'clock in the afternoon, two foreigners dressed in woolen coats, wearing big hats, and shoes like foreigners walked into the store, muttering that they did not know what they were saying, both of them held 10 yuan grain coupons in their hands, and compared them with their hands, and I understood that they were going to exchange for sporadic bills. Since they were foreigners, I greeted them and took their tickets. Since there was no change in the outer cabinet, I went to the inner cabinet to get it. As soon as I opened the silver chest, Oglai followed, and I immediately asked him out, and he said, 'Mo Laitou.' It turned out that he could speak Chinese. I quickly exchanged (exchanged) the coupon with him, but he said that he wanted a new color, so he chose it himself in the coupon and touched it on his body before walking out. Hu Duan also walked into the inner cabinet, sat on a chair, and after watching Auger come out, he followed him out, and then turned around, and then changed the yuan and two corners, and I immediately switched (exchanged) with him. After they left, I thought that there was something wrong with them, and immediately cleaned up the silver cabinet bills, and found that one hundred yuan was missing, only to learn that the money had been stolen by two foreigners. I hurried out and searched around the city, and at the south gate I heard that they had crossed the river. I rushed to the station again, and the people at the station said that the two foreigners had left in a chartered bus. I ran to the county government to find Mao Guangzu, who was in charge of justice, to report the case. Majourn Mao immediately called and ordered Guo Lianfang, commander-in-chief of the Qiuxi Town Regiment, to stop the two foreigners' vehicles. I then rushed to Ball Creek Town. However, when Guo Lianfang asked me to identify the two of them for stealing the money from Xie Mao Heng's money shop, the two refused to admit it, spoke wildly, and took off their clothes for me to search, because they were foreigners, where did I dare to search for them? At this time, Hu Duan also pounced on me to beat me, but was stopped by Tuan Ding. ”

In order to find out, Guo Lianfang sent Tuan Ding to escort two foreigners to the county seat for investigation. For the sake of prudence, Mao's magistrate asked Liu Jichen, the foreman of the county yamen, to first settle the two foreigners in a three-story room of the traffic hostel and "soft buckle" them. After two days of observation, The Mao magistrate had a bottom in mind, so he took the two men to the court, offered to check the suitcase, and told them to open the box, there were no tickets inside. Magistrate Mao again offered to cut open the bottom of the box and take a look, but the two refused. Auger said, "You have all seen that there is nothing in the box, and it is absolutely impossible to cut the box, because this is the most precious relic left to me by the elders, and according to our customs, it is not allowed to destroy it, otherwise it is unlucky." Judge Mao ignored his set, his eyes bulged, and said loudly: "In order to find out the facts, we must cut it open today." Scratch your box and we'll pay you a new one. Judge Mao gave the messenger a look and said, "Scratch away!" "The messenger scratched the bottom of the box, it turned out that the two people wrapped the stolen money in a blank piece of paper, pasted it between the cracks in the bottom of the box, without showing a trace. After counting, there were 695 yuan of Chinese coupons, all signed with the word "Neijiang", and 35 yuan of grain coupons and transportation coupons, although they used them, the number was not enough to be reported by the Neijiang Office of the Bank of China and the Xiemaoheng Money Shop, but the crime was true, so the two were first imprisoned in the county prison.

It turned out that on April 18, the two had stolen 431 yuan of stolen Chinese coupons in the Neijiang Office of the Bank of China in Neijiang County, and when the bankers found out, they immediately chased them by car to the two miles away from Shijia Street, blocked the two people, and searched for the stolen money from them. After the mediation of Wang Zunsan, the township mayor, did not dare to provoke them because they thought that they were foreigners, and after taking back the lost stolen money, they did not pursue it. I did not think that the two people would make false accusations against the Neijiang County Government afterwards, saying that the bankers had robbed them of 650 yuan and demanded that the county government recover them. Because it was a foreigner, the county government not only did not investigate, but instead accused the bank of arresting and failing to report it as illegal, and ordered the bank to return the goods in full, and if it was not returned, the county government wanted the bank to hand over the chasing person to the law. Li Wenkai, director of the bank's office, for the sake of rest, obeyed the order and returned the matter. After the two men received the money, they did not spare it, threatening the bankers to report to their country's consulate in China; they said that they had delayed their time to take the car, and demanded that they find a stack to stay and leave the next day.

In the course of the trial, because it was the first foreign-related theft case, the Zizhong County Government was very cautious, and in order to make the criminal suspect serve the crime, there were not only trial records, witness indictments, confessions of the criminal suspects, official letters exchanged with the Neijiang County Government, upward requests for instructions, etc., especially the Sichuan Provincial Government's instructions on May 10: "After being informed, the evidence is conclusive, you should check the charter, handle it according to law, and punish it with instructions", but also added confidence to the Zizhong County Government. On the basis of the fact that the criminal suspect's crimes were true, in accordance with the laws of the Republic of China and the provisions of the "China Persian Treaty", on May 18, the Zizhong County government issued a judgment: "The right-hand association Mao Heng, Lei Xiaochu, and others accused Ao Gelai and Hu Duan of the case of Burger for theft, and the judgment of the case of the government is as follows: Oglai, Hu Duanxing, Xie Maoheng, and the Bank of China, are suitable for the crime of article 337 of the Criminal Law, and each place is sentenced to six months in prison, and the stolen goods are issued separately." "And after verification by the Sichuan Provincial High Court, the judgment was confirmed to take effect." Due to the simplicity of the Zizhong County Prison, the Zizhong County Government submitted a petition to transfer the two prisoners to Chengdu Sichuan No. 1 Prison for execution, and the two people's passports were recovered and archived.

According to the "Zizhong County Chronicle", during the Republic of China period, a special foreign thief group stole a large amount of money from the Agricultural Bank of the four provinces and the Bank of China in the name of doing business in the Sichuan, Kang, Yun, and Gui areas, but it has not been caught. After the results of the verdict were published in the press, the Zizhong County Government cracked the case of foreigners stealing money and made a judgment based on the facts committed, and after the verdict was published in the press, it had a huge impact on society, and banks, shops, and troops inside and outside the province that stole money and money sent letters one after another, demanding that the criminals be severely punished and the stolen money recovered. The neijiang county and Fushun county governments jointly sent a plaque with four large golden characters inscribed with "Outside the Rule of Law", which was hung above the lobby of the Zizhong County Government.

Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army entered Sichuan for the second time, sent a commissioner to Zizhong, saw this plaque, and was displeased: "Outside the rule of law, the tone is too big, our Chinese law can only govern Chinese, not foreigners, so take this plaque down quickly." So the plaque was removed.

The significance of the Zizhong County Government's judgment on the case of foreigners committing theft lies in the fact that at that time, when the national strength was weak, foreign forces invaded China, foreigners played with privileges in China, ran amok, and did not pay attention to Chinese, foreigners carried out illegal activities in China, and the Zizhong County Government was able to make a judgment in accordance with the laws of the Republic of China, safeguarding the dignity of the law and protecting the property of the Chinese people. What is particularly precious is that the two passports of Oglai and Hu Duan have been preserved in this case file, which is of great value to the study of the diplomacy and commerce of the Republic of China, and is also a case of truly implementing the provisions of the "Oglai Passport" that "if the person is found to have violated the law, it will be handled according to law".