in September, courtesy of another Chinese man, Tommy Ah Foon, a cook in the camp, who freely admitted that he had turned informer for the money.311 But the Chinese were not innocent in the area of crime, although they were sometimes wrongly accused. In a case in November 1881 involving Ah Sam, an employee of Sin Sam Lee’s store, the Judge, after hearing all the evidence, directed the jury to acquit and cast doubt on the girl’s statement. Ah Sam had been accused of assaulting a 13 year old girl Mary Ellen Patterson.312 A similar case occurred in 1887, when Tom Ching was charged with unlawfully carnally knowing a girl between 10 and 14 years. There were, however, serious discrepancies in the girl’s statement, and several witnesses made strong statements testifying to Ching’s good character. He was found not guilty.313 Not so innocent was Ah Hong, a cook at the Commercial hotel, who was charged with assault on the 11 year old daughter of the hotelkeeper. He was sentenced to years gaol plus three private whippings of 20 lashes each.314 Chinese men sometimes accused their own countrymen of assault and theft and took them to court, often for seemingly trivial offenses, but also for more serious ones, and at other times there were brawls. These incidents served to add an impulsive and hot-tempered dimension to life in the Wagga Chinese community. The earliest known case was in 1859 when Tan Seang was gaoled for 14 days for assaulting John Sain, another Chinese man. Sain had been walking into Wagga from Gumley when he was assaulted by Seang, who was with two other Chinese men.315 Some months later a Chinese man named Jugiong was bound over to keep the peace, after threatening J.B. Calwell, the owner of the Squatter’s Hotel, with a knife. Jugiong had been a cook, but latterly had been ‘extremely insolent, lazy and disobedient’, and took umbrage when the new cook arrived.316 In December 1870 a Chinese man called Juliong (Jugiong?) was charged by Tee Song for unlawfully using language inciting to a breach of the peace. He had confronted Song in a Wagga street and abused him, saying if he got a chance he would cut him in two. Juliong was fined £1 with costs, but as he was ‘behaving indecorously’ in court the sentence was changed to one month’s imprisonment.317 In January 1873 John Ah You was charged with assaulting Billy Sam, a cook at the Commercial Hotel. Sam was in an opium shop having a lie down and a smoke when an argument ensued, Ah You striking him three times with a stick. He was fined £3.318 The following month, it was Billy Sam’s turn to be in the dock. He was charged with stealing £1 3s and other material from John Ah Young. However, the case was dismissed. That same month Ah Coey (Cooey?) laid a charge against Goh Suey, who had been in their house and had offended his wife. When Coey ordered him out and ejected him, Suey assailed him with a torrent of abuse in Chinese.319 More serious was a case in March when John Sam and Gan Loo were charged with setting fire to haystack belonging to Ah Ching, who had a farm at the lagoon. Gan Loo was discharged, but John Sam was sentenced to two years gaol.320
311
Riverine Grazier, 20 September 1892.
312
Daily Advertiser, 19 November 1881.
313
Daily Advertiser, 14 July 1887.
314
Daily Advertiser, 20 September 1885.
315
Wagga Express, 12 March 1859.
316
Wagga Express, 9 July 1859.
317
Daily Advertiser, 21 December 1870.
318
Wagga Express, 11 January 1873.
319
Wagga Express, 12 February 1873.
320
Wagga Express, 15 March, 9 April 1873.
107