A Dying Declaration on South Second Street

The piercing screams of a Chinese man on South Second Street last evening, after dark, attracted a very large crowd. Constable Thornton, standing near by, was the first officer on the scene. The Chinese man held one hand over his stomach, and it was thought at first he was troubled with cramps, but when he withdrew his hand it was covered with blood, and the case assumed a more serious aspect. The Chinese man said he had been stabbed by a white man. The officer at once instituted an investigation, and shortly afterward found a white man lying in a dark, dirty corner of a basement under the saloon next door to where the Chinese man lived. There were several old mattresses in the basement for drunken men to lie on, but this fellow had crawled under an old sack in one corner. The constable took the fellow up, and the Chinese man identified him as the man who had cut him.

Dr. Nurt was called to dress the Chinese man's wounds. Examination showed a slight cut which extended through the left lobe of the liver, and it was at once concluded that the Chinese man was fatally stabbed. J. T. Ronald, Prosecuting Attorney, was notified, and at once proceeded to take the Chinese man's dying statement, which was substantially as follows:

“My name is Chin Ah Kin. I have lived in Seattle several years. For the past year I have lived in this house on South Second Street opposite the Standard Theater. For years I have sat in my front room, when I heard some one in the back part of my house. I went to see who it was and found this man (pointing to the prisoner). I asked him what he wanted. Without saying a word, he drew a knife from his coat pocket and plunged it into me. I do not expect to get well. I feel that I am dying. I am positive the man you brought here is the man who cut me.”

The prisoner was asked for a statement. He said his name was John Smith. “I am an honest, hard-working man, and think I am pretty well acquainted in Seattle. I have followed railroading for a long time. Have been boss and sub-contractor on both the Northern and Canadian Pacific Railroads. I am at present engaged in clearing land for Dave McKinlay's father, up White River. I came to town yesterday morning to have a good time. You have heard the Chinese man's story, but you have not heard mine, and you won't hear it till the proper time comes.”

There are a number of theories regarding the case, any one of which may be correct. One is that Smith had been asleep in the basement of the saloon, and, on waking up, mistook the doorway to the China house for the saloon stairway, and on being confronted by a big Chinese man, became angry and stabbed him. Another is that Smith did not cut the Chinese man at all, but that the cutting was done by a woman or another Chinese man; but this latter theory is not credited, as the Chinese man swears positively to the identity of the prisoner. Smith is now in the county jail. He has forty dollars in gold and one dollar and forty cents in silver, which he will give to some lawyer to defend him.