This single column article was printed in London in 1888, before American publishers began respecting British copyright. The article was pirated and syndicated in American newspapers with this title and subheadings:

      The details in the St James Gazette article are based, with a change of names, on "The double nail murders" written by sinologist George Carter Stent (1833-1884). It was first printed in The China review (1874-jul), and can be read here.

A MYSTERIOUS CRIME.

SOME time ago a murder was committed at Soochow, in China, which at first baffled the skill of the doctors and left the police without any clue. The circumstances were as follows:— A small shopkeeper named Le was one morning found dead in his bed. This was at once, according to law, reported to the magistrate, who was ex officio coroner of the district, and who without delay sent his officers to make the preliminary investigation. These messengers found the house draped with every emblem of woe and the widow beside herself with grief. The body bore no outward signs of violence, and to all appearances suggested death from natural causes. In due course the magistrate held an inquest, and, having applied every test known to Chinese science, declared himself completely at fault.

      He reported, therefore, to the Prefect that there was no evidence to show how Le had met with his death. This result, however, failed to satisfy the Prefect, who was an austere man and abhorred ambiguities. He therefore referred the report back to the magistrate with direction to make further investigation and to arrive at a more definite finding. This rescript reached the magistrate when he was taking his ease in the bosom of his family, and awoke most unpleasant anticipations in his mind as to the course which it was probable the Prefect would take in case of a further failure. In his difficulty he took his wife into his confidence. Having listened carefully to all he had say, and having asked many questions as to the Le family and their surroundings, she said:—

      "Did you examine carefully the crown of his head under the thick locks of hair which form the queue?"

      "No," replied her husband, "it never occurred to me to do so."

      "Then if I were you I should," said his wife.

      Acting on this hint, the magistrate returned to Le's house, and having carefully parted the hair on the crown of the head found the end of nail which had been driven home into the skull. This discovery created the greatest consternation in the household, and Mrs. Le's grief gave way to undisguised terror when the magistrate ordered her arrest. Proud and triumphant, the magistrate reported to the Prefect the result of his second inquest.

      "I congratulate you on your skill and acumen," said the superior officer. "I suppose there can be no doubt that the widow is the criminal. But tell me what made you think of searching in that spot?"

      "I feel convinced, your Excellency, that Mrs. Le is guilty. Her terror when I pointed to the nail showed only too plainly that she was at all events a participator in the crime. As to your second question, I must confess that I acted on the suggestion of my 'dull thorn' [i.e., wife], to whom I had narrated the circumstances of Le's death."

      "Indeed!" said the Prefect. "May I ask who your wife was? So talented a lady doubtless belonged to some scholar's family."

      "My dull thorn," answered the magistrate, "was the daughter of the Taotai of Hangchow, and was the widow of merchant in that city named Ch'ên, who died within a few months of his marriage."

      "Suddenly?" inquired the Prefect.

      "Rather, I believe," said the magistrate.

      "I should like to make the acquaintance of so clever a lady," replied the Prefect, "and would take her evidence at the same time. Would you bring her at once to my Yamun?"

      "Delighted at the distinction thus conferred upon her, the lady readily repaired to his Yamun, where, after the usual compliments, the Prefect entered upon the matter in hand. He praised her ability, and drew from her a full account of the interview at which she had made the notable suggestion.

      "May I ask," he went on to say, "what put it into your head to think it possible that a nail should have been driven into that spot of the man's skull?"

      "I thought it possible," she answered, with some confusion, "as I remembered once having heard of a similar case."

      "Your first husband, I believe, died rather suddenly, did he not? May I ask what he died of?"

      This further question increased the lady's confusion so much that it was some minutes before she could answer.

      "He died by the decree of heaven, your Excellency."

      "Did the coroner discover the disease which proved fatal to him?"

      "No, your Excellency; but it often happens that coroners are at fault."

      "Where was your husband buried?" asked the Prefect.

      "In the family burying-ground outside the City wall at Hangchow."

      "Very well, go home now; and," said the Prefect, turning to the magistrate, "go on with the examination into the Le case and report to the result in due course."

      So soon as the magistrate had taken his leave the Prefect despatched a trusty messenger to the coroner at Hangchow with directions to exhume the body of Ch'ên and to examine minutely the skull to see whether it bore any marks which might have caused death.

      Meanwhile the magistrate interrogated Mrs. Le, on whom the sight of the instruments of torture exercised so powerful an influence that after some equivocation she confessed that she had murdered her husband in order that she might be free to marry a man on whom her real affections were centred. This confession, which was borne out by collateral evidence, left the magistrate's course clear. He reported the result to the Prefect, who, in view of the heinous nature of the crime, ordered the woman's execution without waiting for the usual reference to Peking. The Prefect, however, delayed carrying out the sentence until the return of his messenger from Hangchow. At the end of a few days this man came, bringing with him a despatch from the coroner at Hangchow, in which it was stated that on examining the skull of the deceased Ch'ên he had discovered a nail which had been driven through into the brain, thus causing death. On the receipt of this despatch the Prefect instantly sent to arrest the magistrate's wife; who, finding her case hopeless, acknowledged her guilt and suffered the penalty of her crime at the same time and place with the woman whose secret she had herself exposed.

(The End)