SENSATIONAL TRIAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 282, 13 November 1929, Page 7

SENSATIONAL TRIAL

CHINESE VICE-CONSUL AND WIFE SENT TO GAOL. CHARGES OF ATTEMPTING TO SELL OPIUM.

Shanghai, November 11. The sensational trial of Kao Ying, former Vice-Consul at San Francisco, and his wife, also another wealthy Chinese, charged with illegally transporting and attempting to sell a million dollars’ worth of opium, ended at Nanking to-day, when the wife was sentenced to four years and fined 5000 dollars, and the husband was sentenced to seven years and fined 6000 dollars. The third party, Suen Foon, was found not guilty. The arrest of the Kao Yings and an alleged accomplice at San Francisco created a most profound sensation in local political circ’- causing attempts by the Anti-Opium Association to influence the Nanking Court to inflict capital punishment. Kao Ying’s wife was arrested at San Francisco on arriving from Chia with six trunks of opium and attempting to pass the customs under the diplomatic immunuily clause, the authorities ordering her arrest and return to China.

Mrs Kao Ying during the trial created a sensation by appearing daily in court dressed in the height of European fashion, which was adversely commented upon by Nanking officials. She nonchalantly answered a barrage of the prosecution's questions with repeatedly saying, “I don’t know.” Nevertheless, under pressure she involved persons in leading cities of the Orient, Honolulu, and .San Francisco. The. defence alleged that the Kai Yings carried a friend’s baggage and were not aware of the contents.