MOUNT ROSKILL TRAGEDY.
A CHINESE QUARREL
It was an Eastern tragedy in a "Western setting that Mr Gresham, the city Coroner, was called upon to investigate at Auckland on Friday.- Two Chinamen, engaged in market gardening, at Mount Roskill, had livsd quietly together in their little "house in May's Road, for some years past. They had a reputation for peacefulness and industry, and suddenly, on August 5,. the two quarrelled, and one of them, Fong Mong Chee, was found with a gunshot wound in his body, from which he died on his removal to the hospital. The inquiry into the circumstances surrounding this man's death was held at the hospital. In the open porch half a dozen Chinamen squatted, with the mud of the fields on their half- Wellington boots, chattering away, apparently unconcerned. Near by, .in the mortuary, lay the body of Fong Mong Chee, embalmed ready for transportation to China. The first witness to appear was a little boy, Robert John Salmon, 10 years of age. .To him fell the experience of describing how he "found the mortally injured Chinaman on the evening of August 5. It was his daily practice to^call in and have a talk with "Ah Jing,^ as the dead Chinaman was known to him, but this day he discovered "Ah Jing" lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the diningroom, and rushed away to, his home to.tell his father. The boy's" father,, Albert Salmon, was called, and he ,told how he had hurried to the scene with a ■friend, but found that the injured Chinaman had crawled from the diningroom to his bed in the adjoining chamber. He asked him what Was the matter, and received the reply that his companion, Loui Shue Hock, had shot him. He sent for the police and remained in possession "of the place until they arrived witK Dr Parkes. The police evidence was of a formal character, and Dr Parkes described the terrible injuries Fong Mong Chee had received. He thought the man was between 40 and 50 years old. The shot had entered at the top of the abdomen. The gun must have been discharged quite close to the body—not more than a foot away, and probably closer. Dr Inglis stated that he had performed an operation, but the man died from hemorrhage, arising from the wound. He did not think it could be a case of suicide, he said in reply to Mr Skelton, who appeared in the interests of Loui Shue Hock, who is in custody charged with the murder of his companion. Chief-Detective Marsack, who appeared for the police, produced the depositions of the dead man, taken by Mr Dyer at the hospital, and William Tong, Chinese interpreter, stated that Fong Mong Chee was very sensible at the time, and understood the questions put to him. The accused man, Loui Shue Hock, was present when the depositions were, taken. Fong Mong Chee [opened his statement by recognising Loui Shue Hock. He said that they lived ,at Mount Roskill. They were both at the house together on the previous day. In the morning they had a few words, and Loui Shue Hock got very angry with him. He accused me," said deceased, "of being lazy and not working at the gardens, always being in the house. About one o'clock we were both in the house, and I asked him to write an envelope for me as I wished to write to Napier. He asked me what I wanted to wi-ite a letter for. I said I wanted to send some money. Then we started a row between us. Then I punched him, and we both caught hold of one another, and we struggled for some time. J got the accused down on the floor. Then he got away from me and picked up a gun standing in the corner. Then I rushed and picked up a knife, and he caught hold of the blade of the knife and took it from me. Then accused got the gun and shot me and ran out." Asked by Mr Skelton whether he did not threaten to kill the accused and actually rushed at him with a knife, Fong Mong Chee replied, "No. Ihe reason that I picked up the knife was that the accused picked up the gun before. I never cut him with the knife. I used my fist on his face. 1 threw away the knife when I was shot, and accused ran away. Fong Ghung, a gardener working m Quong Sang's garden at Three Kmgs, who was sworn by the blowing out of a match, next gave evidence which was interpreted by Wm. Fong. He said he knew Loui Shue Hock and saw him on August 5. He came to his garden at two o'clock in the afternoon, and seemed excited. He had part of a blade of a bloodstained knife m his hand. The portion of the knife produced in the Court—a piece ot blade about 6in long, of the ordinary carving-knife type—was that which Loui Shue Hock was carrying. He said that he and his mate, Fong Mong Chee had had a row, and that long Mong Chee had tried to stab him with a knife. Quong Sang, gardener, at Epsom, said he knew Loui Shue Hock and saw him on the date mentioned, a .little after two- o'clock. Loui Shue Hock said he had been very nearly killed by Fong Mong Chee. His hands were cut across the palms, and he carried the portion of the knife produced. Witness asked Shue Hock to tell him all about it, and he said "Directly after dinner, Fong Mong Chee gave me an address to write on an envelope to be sent to Napier. I went into the bedroom, and addressed one. Fong Mong Chee came into the room and asked me to address another, which I did. -Fong Mong Chee looked at it and said the writing did not correspond with the other envelope. Then we had a few words, and Fong Mong Chee made a rush to knock me on the bed. Then he drew out a knife, and attempted to stab. me. I got hold of the blade of the knife and we struggled on the bed. Then I managed to break the blade of the knife. We both stru^o-led until we were exhausted. At last I managed to get near the door, which I opened, and then ran out." .Witness drove him to Panmure, where Loui Shue Hock said he would tell Fong Mong Chee's relations before reporting the matter to the police. To Mr Skelton: He saw some small wounds on the face. He could not say whether the wounds wrere the result of blows or not. The fact that
Loui Shue Hock was going to see Fong Mong Chee's relations before the police was not unusual, because of the Chinese custom, which ordained that the matter should be settled amongst the tribe—"otherwise civil war might be set" up in the village from which they_ came in China." The Coroner,.. in summing up, said deceased's own statements showed that the action was not premeditated. It was for the jury to decide between murder and manslaughter. The jury returned a verdict that deceased met his death by a gunshot wound in the abdomen, feloniously caused by Lord Shue Heck.
The Coroner mentioned that the verdict amounted to one of manslaughter.—New Zealand Herald.
Marlborough Express , Issue 203, 27 August 1908, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

Press AUCKLAND, November 19. At the Supreme Court a Chinaman, Louie Vug, otherwise known as Shue Hock, was arraigned on a charge of having on or about August 8 last at Mt. Roskill murdered a fellow-countryman named Fong Mong Chee. The jury brought in a verdict of manslaughter, and prisoner was sentenced to two years'.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVI, 19 November 1908, Page 4