File No. 7655/36.
Memorandum from the Chinese Legation.
Washington, June 9, 1909.
In the case of Douminet [De Menil], an American citizen, who caused the death of Pu Keng Lung, a lama monk, at Weihsi Ting, Yunnan Province, the prisoner was arrested and handed over to the American consul at Chungking, and by the latter transported to Shanghai, where the case was tried by the judge of the American court in November, 1907. The verdict was in favor of the accused, and before the Chinese assessor could pay a protest, the accused was acquitted. Much dissatisfaction was expressed at the verdict, for whether the killing was intentional or accidental, punishment should have been meted out to the prisoner or a fine imposed to be paid to the family of the dead man as compensation. The case was drawn by the Wai-wu-Pu to the attention of the American minister, who expressed his inability to interfere, as it was a matter decided by the judiciary.
Now a dispatch from the Wai-wu-Pu to the Chinese minister states that in a communication from the viceroy of Yunnan the relatives of Pu Keng Lung, the deceased, set forth that he was the breadwinner of the family, supporting his parents, wife, and children, and that his untimely death at the hands of the American citizen should receive some sort of satisfaction. It is also set forth that Douminet [De Menil] promised the parents of the deceased to compensate them in any manner they might desire for the killing of their son and to hold himself responsible for the consequences of his act. This promise is on record in his deposition at the examination before the court at Likiang Fu. Now that the American court has acquitted Douminet [De Menil] it seems but fair that the American Government should devise some way by which the relatives of the dead man should receive some sort of satisfaction, or that Douminet [De Menil] should be made to fulfil the promise he made to the relatives of Pu Keng Lung in Yunnan.