Re: Well, the world is certainly looking grim, isn't it? 36023

said:

"Received as you had been into the father's house in charity, you
availed yourself of the opportunity to steal his child, and tried
to sell the child openly, probably having hawked him from door to
door. The sentence of the Court on you, Tang Atim, is that you be
imprisoned and kept to hard labor for two years, and that you be
kept in solitary confinement for a period of one week in every two
months of your imprisonment."

Chan Achit, an old woman, convicted of having unlawfully detained a
female child of 11 years of age, with intent to sell her, was next
placed in the dock. His Lordship said:

"The evidence in this case has shown the extraordinary extent to
which, under cloak of China custom, the iniquity of dealing in
children has extended. From the evidence, I have no doubt that a
vagabond clansman to whom the father had occasionally given out of
his penury had originated the crime in enticing the child away,
and it seems to me to be clear that the prisoner was as well known
as a 'broker of mankind' as a receiver of stolen children, to sell
them on commission, as receivers of old iron and marine stores
could be found in this Colony to dispose of stolen property. The
little girl bought and sold, aged 11 years, is a very intelligent
child, and described the negotiations for her sale with great
clearness."

The Chief Justice then went on to repeat the little girl's testimony
as to these "brokers of mankind," and the child's knowledge, from
personal observation of these purchases and sales, to which he adds:

"Let me here ask, Is the trade, or rather profession, 'broker of
mankind,' also a sacred China custom? I will not ask the queries
which would naturally arise in case the question were answered in
the affirmative. At present, however, I must say that, cus