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Foreword by Mei Xiaokan and Mei Xiao’ao

THE TOKYO
TRIAL AND
WAR CRIMES
IN ASIA
MEI JU-AO
The Tokyo Trial and War Crimes in Asia
 Mei Ju-ao

The Tokyo Trial and

War Crimes in Asia
Mei Ju-ao

Translated by Cao Yan, Zhan Jixu, Xu Tianlun

ISBN 978-981-10-7403-5    ISBN 978-981-10-7404-2 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7404-2

The print edition is not for sale in China Mainland. Customers from China Mainland please
order the print book from: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press.
ISBN of the China Mainland edition: 978-731-3150-80-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017964270

Based on a translation from the Chinese language edition:

东京审判亲历记 by Mei, Ju-ao
Copyright © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, All Rights Reserved 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-
lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu-
tional affiliations.

Cover illustration: The National Archives and Records Administration.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-­01/04 Gateway East, Singapore
189721, Singapore
An Old Preface to International Military
Tribunal for the Far East (I)

Dr. Mei Ju-ao passed away for years. My memory of him awoke when Mei
Xiao’ao, his son, came to me with his book, The International Military
Tribunal for the Far East (unfinished), and asked me to write a prologue
for it. I am pleased to do so both for the reading public and out of my own
interest. Although this book remains unfinished, it is still of great signifi-
cance because it introduces the establishment and development of the
principles concerning crimes of war after World War II. Implementation of
these principles throughout the Tokyo Trial further clarified the condem-
nation and punishment of aggressive wars. Like the Nuremberg Trial, the
Tokyo Trial not only prosecuted conventional war crimes that went against
the laws and customs of war as provided for in traditional international
law, but also defined crimes against peace and crimes against humanity,
and went further to elaborate in great detail the concept of “conspiracy”
in aggression. While the four chapters completed by Dr. Mei put more
emphasis on the facts and procedures of the Tokyo Trial, this book does
contain a general explanation in its Chap. 1 as of the legal basis for punish-
ing the Japanese Class-A war criminals. Of course, a general explanation
may not replace a penetrating legal analysis, but it can help the readers
perceive the starting point and the direction of the Tokyo Trial, especially
as one can take a reference to the text of the Tribunal’s final judgment.
This is why I say that it is still of great significance although unfinished.
Another aspect for which importance should be attached to Dr. Mei’s
book is that it reveals a large amount of information on the Tokyo Trial that
outsiders do not have access to, which includes the process of organizing the

v
vi AN OLD PREFACE TO INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL FOR THE FAR…

Tribunal and the coordinative relations among its various departments, the
details about the determination of the list of Class-A war criminals and their
arrest and interrogation, the seat arrangement of the bench and its internal
working system, the organization, duties and working procedures of the
prosecution and the defense, the participation of American defence counsels
and the significance thereof, and so forth. It is a big pity, however, that the
final stage of the Trial, that is, the process of convicting and sentencing the
defendants, especially the war criminals responsible for the invasion of
China, is not reflected in these four chapters. Dr. Mei may have planned to
cover this part in his subsequent chapters, which would no doubt be a fasci-
nating story. At the time of the Trial, the KMT government lacked correct
comprehension and estimation. They thought since the fact of Japan’s inva-
sion of China was undisputable, the Trial must be no more than a formality,
with the war criminals punished accordingly, without the victim countries
having to provide much evidence. This being a misunderstanding already, to
their greater surprise, the United States sent a troop of lawyers to defend the
accused, in addition to the fact that seven of the eleven judges came from
common law countries, which caused imbalance between the prosecution
and the defence in favour of the accused. Although the Tokyo Charter stip-
ulated that “The Tribunal shall not be bound by technical rules of evi-
dence”, the Tribunal basically adopted the common law procedural rules.
Pressured by this situation, China had to on one hand object to the mechan-
ical application of highly technical rules of evidence, and on the other hand
to race against time, searching for evidence in the greatest possibility, includ-
ing relevant telegrams archived in Japan’s Ministry of War. These evidences
were presented at the final stage of counter-examination of the defendants
and their witnesses, so as to further substantiate the proof of their crimes in
China. It paid off finally. All the major war criminals responsible for the war
of aggression against China, such as Kenji Doihara, Seishiro Itagaki, Iwane
Matsui, Akira Muto and Koki Hirota, were all duly convicted and sentenced
to death, with their crimes made well known to the world.
As to its practical meaning, China has adopted an opening-up policy
since the third plenary session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China, and the number of foreign-related legal cases
have increased dramatically, most of which are taking place abroad. “To
know both yourself and your enemy”, we need to learn more about litiga-
tion procedures of other countries, especially those of common law coun-
tries, for which we are short of materials at present. In Chap. 4 of this
book, Dr. Mei elaborated on the trial procedures under the common law
 AN OLD PREFACE TO INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL FOR THE FAR… vii

system and their applications in practice. Despite any differences between

the Tokyo Trial as an international criminal trial and the foreign-related
cases we are handling, mostly civil and commercial ones before domestic
courts in foreign countries, many procedural rules, and rules of evidence in
particular, are equally applicable for the trials in those domestic courts,
whether criminal or civil and commercial in nature. Dr. Mei’s book will not
only enlighten our research on procedural law in general, but has provided
urgently-needed references for dealing with foreign-related cases today.
Dr. Mei and I met in Chongqing during the anti-Japanese war. In early
1946, I visited the United States and Britain, conducting a field survey on
their judicial systems and practices. When I heard that Dr. Mei would act
as a judge in the Tokyo Tribunal, I was very happy about this excellent
choice. In early 1947, I was invited to join the Chinese prosecution team
in Tokyo. While working in different positions, both of us went through
the tortuous process of the Tokyo Trial. It has been 13 years since Dr. Mei
passed away. And other Chinese who worked for the Trial are now scat-
tered in various places, except for Professors E Lvgong and Wu Xueyi who
have also passed away. Mr. Xiang Zhejun, then Chinese prosecutor, is 95
years old and now confined to bed. Mr. Liu Zijian teaches at Princeton
University, Mr. Gui Gongchuo at Taiwan University, and Messrs. Qiu
Shaoheng, Yang Shoulin, Gao Wenbin, Zhou Xiqing, and Zhang Peide at
different universities in Beijing or Shanghai, for years and years as hard-­
working as they were in the past. Part of Mr. Qiu’s job relates to China’s
legal system. Mei Xiao’ao’s visit has reminded me of the events over 40
years ago, which are so vivid in my mind as if they had happened yesterday.
To take the opportunity of writing this prologue, I express my sincere
hope that these old colleagues of mine stay healthy, and continue to con-
tribute to China’s prosperity, and to the world peace and human progress
till our last breath.
How I wish we could see each other again, recollect the past together
and supplement this unfinished writing for Dr. Mei!

August 1986 Ni Zhengyu

[Ni Zhengyu (1906–2003), joined the Tokyo Trial in 1946–1948 and

prosecuted Kenji Doihara, Seishiro Itagaki, Iwane Matsui and other Class-A
Japanese war criminals. He was appointed as an associate fellow with the
Institut de Droit International in 1991. He passed away in 2003 at the age
of 97.]
An Old Preface to International Military
Tribunal for the Far East (II)

Dr. Mei Ju-ao, my dear friend, has passed away for more than ten years.
Now, his posthumous work International Military Tribunal for the Far
East is published and made known to all, which is a blessing for the legal
circle in China.
Dr. Mei dedicated his whole life to the law. He studied law in early years
and, at the age of twenty-four, earned his J.D. from the University of
Chicago. After returning to China, he engaged in legal education and
took part in legislative work. In 1946, as the Chinese judge, he partici-
pated in the trial of major Japanese war criminals in the International
Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo, which lasted for three years.
On the eve of the founding of new China, the KMT government appointed
him as Minister of Justice, but he resolutely refused to assume office, and
took a personal risk to return to Beijing from Hong Kong. After that, he
served as a legal adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until his death.
During this period, he attended many international conferences as an
expert in law and diplomacy. Dr. Mei made a great deal of contributions
to law in his life, while his work in the International Military Tribunal for
the Far East constituted one of the most important ones.
The trial of war criminals, as pointed out by Dr. Mei, “is an important
event in international life after the Second World War and a pioneering
undertaking in human history.” Learning a lesson from the failed attempt
after World War I and in order to succeed this time, the major allies during
World War II repeatedly affirmed the principle of punishing war criminals
in several agreements. Thus, two international military tribunals were set
up after the war, in Nuremberg, Europe and Tokyo, the Far East, for the

ix
x AN OLD PREFACE TO INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL FOR THE FAR…

trial of war criminals. The two tribunals successfully completed their tasks
in about one year and over two years respectively, which was a great
victory.
From the perspective of international law, war crimes and war criminals
are new concepts established through the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials.
Their establishment demonstrates a new development of international law,
especially the law of war. For a long time, there has been a distinction
between just wars and unjust wars in international law, while in modern
times this distinction is expressed as the difference between wars of aggres-
sion and wars against aggression. Although, in the strict sense, rules of
international law concerning such distinction have not yet been well
formed, condemning wars of aggression has long become part of the legal
consciousness of mankind and part of the new content of international
law. The punishment of war crimes and war criminals is derived from the
principle of differentiating wars of aggression and wars against aggression
and the principle of condemning wars of aggression, which, in turn, pro-
motes the development of such principles so that their status in interna-
tional law has been confirmed. As such, the two trials of war criminals
following World War II, i.e., the trials in Nuremberg and Tokyo, marks
indelible achievements in the history of development of international law.
It is very meaningful for Dr. Mei to write down his personal experience
of participation in the trial of war criminals in the International Military
Tribunal for the Far East. He started to write this book in 1962.
Unfortunately, once the “Cultural Revolution” broke out, his writing plan
was brutally interrupted. Before his death in 1973, he no longer had the
chance to continue writing. Therefore, this book represents an unfinished
draft with only four chapters. However, despite being unfinished, the four
chapters have discussed many important issues such as the establishment
of the Tribunal and its jurisdiction, the Charter and organization of the
Tribunal, the arrest and prosecution of major Japanese war criminals, the
trial procedures of the Tribunal, and so forth. This book is rich in materials
and deep in analysis. It is a valuable book and can serve as an important
reference book for the study of international law and international politics.
Books about the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the
trials of war criminals which bear as great significance as this one are rare
even in the world.
As a jurist, it was a glorious and arduous task for Dr. Mei to participate
in the trial of international war criminals. With great efforts and after over-
coming tremendous difficulties—lack of attention and support from the
 AN OLD PREFACE TO INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL FOR THE FAR... xi

KMT government, delay and obstruction by the international reactionary

forces, etc.—he finally succeeded in making the International Military
Tribunal for the Far East pass a judgment against the major Japanese war
criminals that was basically consistent with the requirements of justice.
This was very much commendable.
Dr. Mei Ju-ao and I became friends after 1949. Just a few days after he
returned to Beijing, we attended together the inaugural meeting of the
Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs. At that meeting, Premier
Zhou Enlai praised his work and pointed out that “he has done a great
thing for the people and won honour for the country”, which was a best
appraisal of one important work Dr. Mei had undertaken in his life.

May 25, 1986 Wang Tieya

[Wang Tieya (1913–2003), outstanding jurist of international law in

modern China, professor at Peking University, and at Beijing Institute of
Politics and Law. He also served as director of the Institute of International
Law at Peking University. In 1987, he was elected Academician of the
Academy of International Law. He passed away in Beijing on January 12,
2003 at the age of 90.]
 In Memory of Our Father (Foreword)

Thanks to the efforts the Tokyo Trial Research Center and Shanghai Jiao
Tong University Press, My Personal Experience at the Tokyo Trial is to be
published, which is of great significance not only to our family but also to
the country. It will undoubtedly promote an in-depth study of the Tokyo
Trial, while expressing our lasting memory of our beloved father Mr. Mei
Ju-ao.

I
Our late father Mei Ju-ao, Ya Xuan (courtesy name), was born on
November 7, 1904 in Zhuguqiao Mei Village in Nanchang, Jiangxi
Province. Compared with provinces like Hunan, Guangzhou, Jiangsu and
Zhejiang, Jiang accepted new things slowly. However, our grandfather, a
clear-minded, knowledgeable and enlightened gentry, decided to send his
eldest son, our father, to the Exemplary Primary School of Jiangxi
Province, a school of the modern type which was rarely seen and not
highly praised then and there. Under firm support of our grandfather, our
father, who was only 12 years old, was admitted to Tsinghua School in
Beijing in 1916. With no connections, being far away from home and even
unable to speak the official language (Mandarin) well, the difficulties he
encountered in studying at Tsinghua were really not small. Students had
to strictly follow a semi military timetable and to take an active part in
western style physical exercises. No subject could be treated carelessly.
Otherwise, one would fail to go up to the next grade or run the risk of
being expelled from school. Many foreign teachers taught in English and

xiii
xiv IN MEMORY OF OUR FATHER (FOREWORD)

most of the students had a good command of English. But our father
knew little of the language, which made it almost impossible for him to
understand the lectures. What should he do? He was determined to learn
from scratch and catch up with others.
Then, every day at the break of dawn, there would be two young stu-
dents by the lotus pond on Tsinghua campus. Sometimes they mumbled;
sometimes they asked and answered questions to each other; sometimes
they recited texts individually. Gradually, they became more fluent, and
their exercises became more sophisticated. That was our father and our
granduncle, Mei Yangchun, studying English together. Mei Yangchun was
only four years older than our father and was admitted to Tsinghua School
from Jiangxi Province in the same year. Working day and night, their
English improved rapidly, which helped them to make progress in other
subjects. During the eight years, their teachers and schoolmates looked at
them with completely new eyes because of their excellent academic
records. Later on, Mei Yangchun became a famous engineer, presiding
over the design and construction of important bridges such as Nanjing
Yangtze River Bridge.
Our father’s vision was increasingly open and he developed wider inter-
ests in his advanced years at Tsinghua School. He served as chief editor of
the Tsinghua School Magazine, and organized a progressive group named
“Chao Tao” together with some other students including Shi Huang, Ji
Chaoding, Xu Yongying, who were early members of the Communist
Party of China. Shi Huang died young as a martyr. Ji Chaoding and Xu
Yongying engaged in revolutionary work ever since and served as impor-
tant leaders in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1924, our father went to study in the United States. He studied at
Stanford University and University of Chicago Law School, where he
received his J.D. degree at the end of 1928. Living abroad, he had always
been concerned about the destiny of his country. In response to the call
for the Northern Expedition to “overthrow the governance of the
Northern warlords” by the National Revolutionary Army, he joined Shi
Huang, Ji Chaoding, Xu Yongying and some other Chinese students in
the United States in initiating the Research Institute of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s
Thoughts, to actively promote revolutionary ideas among Chinese stu-
dents studying there and beyond.
In 1929, after visiting European cities including Paris, Berlin, London
and Moscow, he returned to China, following an absence of nearly 5 years.
 IN MEMORY OF OUR FATHER (FOREWORD) xv

II
In the 16 years from his graduation to assuming the position of judge in
the international court, he taught courses in civil law, criminal law, com-
mon law, international law and politics at Shanxi University, Nankai
University and Wuhan University successively. He also served as a part-­
time professor at Fudan University, Central School of Politics, and Judge
Training Institute of the Ministry of Justice. From 1934 onwards, he
became a member of the Legislative Council of the KMT government,
participated in its legislative work and served as acting chairman of its for-
eign affairs committee. At the same time, he worked as deputy director of
Sun Yat-sen Institute for the Advancement of Culture and Education and
chief editor of Collection of Current Affairs (a semimonthly journal), writ-
ing, translating and editing a significant volume of articles on law, foreign
affairs and international politics.
His writings in this period involved common law, civil law, Chinese and
western legal thoughts, and China’s constitution and criminal law, for
example, A Research on the Anglo-Saxon System of Law, The Napoleonic
Code and Its Influence, The History and Organization of Soviet
Revolutionary Courts, The History, Schools and Trends of Modern Law, The
Rule of Law in China’s Old Legal System, Criticism of the Constitutional
Guarantee Section of the Draft Constitution, and Comments on the
Amendment to the Criminal Code. A wide horizon, great variety of topics,
emphasis on both theory and practice, and rich research findings, these
could characterize his academic career at that time. His long-standing lec-
turing, investigation, reading and writing laid a solid foundation for his
legal theory and practice, which prepared him for his position as an inter-
national court judge in Tokyo.
Based on his perspective as a scholar of law, he had pointed out that
under a political system of KMT’s “one-party dictatorship”, “the party is
above all else. Each government act is based on the party’s principles and
assumes responsibility solely for the party. It does not make a contract with
its people and has no obligations to the people. In other words, the party
only has rights over the people, not obligations.” (Political Tutelage and
Provisional Constitution) As to the fact that the law was used as a tool for
the powerful and the rule of law could not be implemented, he prompted
a sharp question, “What had destroyed people’s liberty and trampled on
people’s rights? The law or the extralegal forces of government, the
xvi IN MEMORY OF OUR FATHER (FOREWORD)

­ ilitary and violence?” (Comments on the Revised Initial Draft of the

m
Constitution)
In addition, he was much critical of the legal education of the time,
perhaps out of his observations from teaching. Legal science and law
should be seriously treated, “however, law in China has become the most
shallow and boring subject”, and increasingly the teaching of law was
reduced to “fiddling around”. The teacher taught for money, the students
learned for a diploma, therefore “the society often regards law as a tool for
making a living or playing tricks, not as an academic subject or science.
The reasons why China’s rule of law cannot be achieved and the cause of
law is despised may vary, but the corruption in legal education is one of
the leading ones.” (A Discussion on the Textbooks and References for
Common Law Courses)
The above examples are but the tip of the iceberg of his ideas on the
science of law, which may still have an enlightening significance today.
(For the quoted articles, please refer to A Collection of Mei Ju-ao’s Essays
on Law, China University of Political Science and Law Press, 2007.)
In our father’s time, land was shattered and devastated, and people
lived in griefs. As a man of letters, when he thought of his parents, families
and friends being displaced by the Japanese invasion, Chinese troops fight-
ing in a bloody war, his fellow countrymen struggling under Japan’s occu-
pation, whilst some government officials profiteering from our nation’s
calamity, he was gloomy like the fog surrounding the wartime capital
Chongqing (a mountain city known for its thick fog). On the other hand,
he was impressed by Mr. Ma Yinchu’s brilliant analysis of China’s wartime
economy and the insightful comments published by Xinhua Daily and Ta
Kung Pao. However grim the reality was, our father’s ideals and his faith
in justice and fairness never faded. All he needed was an opportunity.

III
Together with the peace-loving people all over the world, the Chinese
people have finally triumphed in the anti-fascist war through extremely
severe struggles and at very high cost. After the war, the international
community set up military tribunals in Nuremberg, Germany and Tokyo,
Japan, where those major responsible persons of Germany and Japan were
tried respectively. In February 1946, the GHQ appointed nine judges
(later revised to eleven) of the International Military Tribunal for the Far
East (the “Tokyo Trial”) on the nomination of the Allied Powers. As
 IN MEMORY OF OUR FATHER (FOREWORD) xvii

r­ ecommended by the people concerned, our father was appointed to the

solemn trial seat on behalf of China.
From March 1946 to the end of 1948, regarding the achievements and
life of our father as a judge of the Tokyo Trial, the anecdotes mostly circu-
lated include “a sword given by compatriots as a present”, “a dispute over
seating arrangements”, “insistence on the death penalty”, “making an oath
by the sea”, and so forth. In the second chapter of The International
Military Tribunal for the Far East (unfinished) enclosed in this book, our
father presented in greater detail the dispute over seating arrangements
prior to the trial and revealed its importance for the maintenance of national
interests and dignity. The clue to the heated debate on measurement of
penalty could be seen in The Tokyo Trial Correspondence, which was firstly
made known in The Tokyo Trial Manuscripts of Mei Ru’ao—“after a long
discussion, a heated argument … and the complex and odd process, it is
hard to explain all in just a few words. Besides, it is also improper for me to
make any disclosure here”. It is a great pity that our father failed to com-
plete the writing of The International Military Tribunal for the Far East
because of the “Cultural Revolution”. As a result, later generations will not
be able to know the details of the discussion on the measurement of pen-
alty, which were sworn confidential by the judges at that time.
The diaries of more than fifty days were also included in this book,
which started from our father’s setting out to Tokyo to the end of the first
few days of the court session. He had the habit of keeping a diary. In the
end of the diary, he wrote a line—“from (May 14, 1946), to see in another
notebook”, which other notebook vanished without a trace during the
“Cultural Revolution”. From the short remainder of his diary, we can also
be affected by his feelings then and there.
Having received the systematic legal training, he made a clear distinc-
tion between the function of the judges and that of the prosecutors under
the common law system. He was familiar with the judicial principles such
as presumed innocence, equality between the defense and the prosecution,
neutrality of the judges, benefit of doubt for the defendants, etc. Seeing
the Chinese prosecutor Hsiang Che-chun collecting evidence and drafting
the indictment day and night, he could not even give him a hand.
Moreover, he also had to avoid arousing any suspicion and explain to his
fellow countrymen the relationship between a judge and a prosecutor,
which made all sorts of feelings well up in his mind.
In fact, the Tokyo Trial was both a legal occasion and a political and
diplomatic occasion. Naturally, it cannot be equated with an ordinary
xviii IN MEMORY OF OUR FATHER (FOREWORD)

court. The interests of different countries varied as the world pattern

changed, which would definitely affect the Tokyo Trial. At the same time,
there were disputes such as the one between “substantive justice” and
“procedural justice”. Whether it was the problem of “bias of the judge” or
the argument on “abolition of death penalty”, the general principles laid
out in the textbook and some of the views in the academic discussions
should not be used as criteria for appraising the Tokyo Trial, a particular
one under special circumstances.
While working on the upholding of justice in Tokyo, our father never
stopped observing and reflecting on the Japanese society, neither did he
stop worrying about and blessing the destiny of his motherland. He was
keenly aware that the post-war Japanese economy was not as bad as it had
been propagated, that is, they might have “made a poor mouth”. In terms
of national mental outlook and health, Japanese people were stronger than
Chinese people. He wrote in his diary: “I wonder why the General
Headquarters of Douglas MacArthur was so considerate of Japanese peo-
ple for food panic, and why they made meticulous plans for them. Such a
defeated country should really be regarded as ‘God’s favoured one’. As
compared to my victorious country in great difficulty and misery, I cannot
but sigh for our inferiority”. (May 2, 1946) “However, we should be vigi-
lant while being lenient … What I am most concerned about is whether
his (MacArthur’s) policy is detrimental to the national interests or hinder-
ing the development of my country—this problem has been hovering in
my mind all day today.” (April 12, 1946)
Although our father received Western education, affection for his coun-
try and homeland as a traditional Chinese intellectual were deeply rooted in
his mind. “Those who are in foreign countries feel most painful to their own
country’s failure to live up to their expectations.” (April 9, 1946) “‘There is
no better way to stop evil speaking than self-cultivation’, China has to win
credit for its people.” (April 26, 1946) “All the judges sent by countries are
experienced and prestigious, so I have to work extremely conscientiously
and sincerely, never be sloppy.” (April 10, 1946) and “I shall be vigilant! I
shall be solemn! For the opportunity I can sit at the bench today to punish
these culprits was built on the flesh and blood of millions and millions of my
compatriots.” (May 3, 1946) Taking an overview of our father’s diary, you
can find that “to win credit for” and “to be solemn” are the recurring
words. In his telegram to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on 24 April 1948,
he wrote: “It is my duty to strive with all my might to win the victory of this
unprecedented international war of law and justice.” Our father’s sense of
 IN MEMORY OF OUR FATHER (FOREWORD) xix

mission and his vision of the overall situation stood vividly revealed on the
paper. Therefore, it is obvious to see that our father contributed heavily to
the more or less satisfactory results achieved in the Tokyo Trial.

IV
At the time when the work of the Tokyo Trial came to an end, the regime
of China was in the process of being changed. Our father refused to
assume the position of “State Councilor and Minister of Justice”, and
refused to go to Taiwan for a living. Passing through Hong Kong, he
arrived in Beijing to serve as an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the People’s Republic of China, with a commission document signed by
Zhou Enlai, premier and then foreign minister of PRC.
At the beginning of returning to the mainland, our father lived in peace
with liberal wages and benefits, and was highly esteemed in professional
work. On the one hand, he was very joyful, humming Beijing opera in the
spacious courtyard and sketching cartoons on the frosting windows. He
taught his daughter singing nursery rhymes in his hometown dialect, and
bought toy swords for his son. On the other hand, he could not help but
be nervous, as it was unavoidable to face political campaigns one after
another as well as to report one’s ideology, transform the world view and
learn Russian. Luckily though, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was a bit
different from other government organs or institutions after all. The “local
climate” there was still somewhat pleasant as it was directly led by Zhou
Enlai, Chen Yi and other senior leaders, with most colleagues having
higher moral qualities. Even against the backdrop of the faculty adjust-
ment with sociology and political science being abolished and the “overall
Soviet-Unionization” of law, the senior experts of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs were still able to carry out researches on certain issues in interna-
tional law and international politics, and could give consideration to aca-
demic theories while serving the immediate need of reality. By the time
when the “Cultural Revolution” approached, Zhou Gengsheng, Liu
Zerong and other seniors had published academic treaties, with our father’s
International Military Tribunal For The Far East completed in half, and
New Concept of War Crimes, On Tani Hisao, Matsui Iwane and the
Nanking Massacre and some other papers issued. Despite the unfair treat-
ment in the anti-rightist movement from 1957 to 1958, our father stayed
patriotic as always, making serious and conscientious self-­examination, and
in the meantime having research works coming out constantly.
xx IN MEMORY OF OUR FATHER (FOREWORD)

However, when the “Cultural Revolution” suddenly broke out, the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not be spared and the relatively pleasant
“local climate” no longer existed. Our father was labeled as “reactionary
academic authority” so that the materials accumulated for writing his book
was all confiscated, including notes, cards, clippings, and diaries, never to
know their whereabouts afterwards. The writing of International Military
Tribunal for the Far East was impossible to continue. In addition, apart
from labor reform under surveillance, he had to spend a lot of time and
energy in writing those “investigation materials” and “self-criticizing
reports”. His health deteriorated sharply as the shock of the news came in
continuous crowds—one old friend committed suicide, another former
colleague was beaten to death, and so forth. Sadly, he did not make it to
see the end of the “Cultural Revolution”, but passed away on April 23,
1973, at the age of only 68.
Like many intellectuals who take responsibilities for society at large, our
father had not stopped thinking and struggling despite his own awkward
position in the last years of his life. For some who took the name of “revo-
lutionary rebellion” to hurt the public interest and exerted dirty tricks to
damage the national reputation, such as setting fire to the British Office of
the Chargé d’Affaires and seizing powers of the ministry authority, he
resolutely submitted a written statement to a higher authority regardless
of his personal safety, and suggested inhibiting, investigating and not
trusting those whose greedy desire for power expanded endlessly. In
response to the charges such as “reactionary academic authority”, “oppos-
ing Sino-Japanese friendship”, “beautifying US-Japanese reactionaries”
and “hoping for restoration of the old regime”, he cautiously defended
himself by saying “I am nothing but a broken outdated little dictionary”,
“I have no special skills, not even a decent work written…”, “As is known
to all, I was the most earnest one to reveal the ambitious collusion of the
US and Japan to resurrect militarism” and “I was a principal offender
wanted by the Kuomintang government. To tell a joke, should the resto-
ration of the old regime take place, I am afraid that I would be killed by
them earlier than you young comrades!”
Today, of all our father’s remarks full of significance, the one most fre-
quently quoted was from the paper On Tani Hisao, Matsui Iwane and the
Nanking Massacre: “I am not a revanchist. Neither do I intend to ascribe
the debt of blood owed to us by the Japanese imperialists to the Japanese
people. I believe, however, that to forget the suffering of the past is to be
vulnerable to tragedy in the future.” But who can think of it that it was
 IN MEMORY OF OUR FATHER (FOREWORD) xxi

that sentence “to forget the suffering of the past is to be vulnerable to

tragedy in the future” that had incurred the accusation of “slandering our
party’s forgetfulness”. In fact, a few years before that, some of his argu-
ments that resulted in unfair treatment were equally thought-provoking:
“Some problems shall be ascribed to the system rather than to certain
people. For instance, Liu Qingshan grafted dozens of billions (old denom-
ination), which would have been impossible even in the KMT days. So we
should initiate reform on the institutional level.” “We are facing serious
problems of craving greatness and success, keeping subjectivism and doing
things beyond our means in order to be impressive (in economic construc-
tion).” “It is dogmatism to worship and fawn on the Soviet Union as deity
and to follow the words of the Soviet experts as a golden rule.”
As an ancient poem describes, “The sound lingers when the vermilion
string is flicked, as it comes from a lonely heart in the past.”
Our beloved father has left us for forty years. While the things he left
behind still look fresh, the trees on his graveyard have already grown tall.
What we are gratified is that the rule of law in our motherland has begun
to take shape, and the in-depth study of the Tokyo Trial has been carried
out step by step. We are in the hope that the great regret at our father’s
suspended writing and lost information could be made up by our young
talents’ concerted efforts today. If so, what a blessing it would be both for
our late father and the country!

Mei
September 2013 Xiaokan

 Mei Xiao’ao
 Editor’s Note

This is an unfinished manuscript, written between 1962 and 1965. In

Mei’s plan, there were seven chapters. However, the Cultural Revolution
disrupted his writing and Mr. Mei was purged; all of his manuscripts were
confiscated. Until the year of 1973 when he passed away, only four chap-
ters that were completed during those three years were found. In 1988,
China’s Law Press published the chapters for the first time; nearly three
decades later, its new edition was published. Till then, the value of this
manuscript was unrecognized. Unfortunately, Mei’s synopsis, un-­
transcribed writings and references were missing in history, which have
become an irreparable loss and regret. Ni Zhengyu and Wang Tieya, two
prominent figures in law who enthusiastically supported Mei’s publica-
tions, had already died when the manuscript was published. In memory of
their dedicated support, their prefaces are also appended in this book.
With due respect to Mei, the Chinese translations of English names that
may differ with current translations were not revised.

xxiii
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Toying with fate;
or, Nick Carter's narrow shave
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
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eBook.

Title: Toying with fate; or, Nick Carter's narrow shave

Author: Nicholas Carter

Release date: August 6, 2022 [eBook #68697]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: Street & Smith, 1903

Credits: David Edwards, David E. Brown, and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOYING

WITH FATE; OR, NICK CARTER'S NARROW SHAVE ***
 TOYING WITH FATE;
OR,

Nick Carter’s Narrow Shave

BY
NICHOLAS CARTER

Author of the celebrated stories of Nick Carter’s adventures,

which
are published exclusively in the New Magnet Library,
conceded
to be among the best detective tales ever written.

NEW YORK
STREET & SMITH, Publishers
79-89 Seventh Avenue
 Copyright, 1903
By STREET & SMITH

Toying With Fate

All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign

languages,
including the Scandinavian.
 The Best of Everything!
Our experience with the American reading public has
taught us that it expects better reading than readers of any
other nationality. Why? Because Americans, as a rule, are
better educated and more intelligent. We make it a point to
cater to all classes of readers with our paper-covered
novels. If a man likes adventure or detective stories, he
can find more and better ones in the S. & S. novel list than
he can among the cloth books. If a woman wants love,
society, or mystery stories, the S. & S. catalogue again
contains just what she wants at the lowest possible price.
If a boy wants up-to-date baseball, athletic, or treasure-
hunt stories, he cannot get anything that will please him so
much as the books in the Medal and New Medal
Libraries, no matter how much he has to spend for his
reading matter.
Here are a few suggestions:

BOOKS FOR MEN.

The Nick Carter stories in the New Magnet Library.
The Howard W. Erwin stories in the Far West Library.
The William Wallace Cook stories in the New Fiction
Library.
The Dumas stories in the Select Library.

BOOKS FOR WOMEN.

The Mrs. Georgie Sheldon stories in the New Eagle
Series.
The Charles Garvice stories in the New Eagle Series.
The Bertha Clay stories in the Bertha Clay Library.
The Southworth stories in the Southworth Library.
The Mrs. Mary J. Holmes stories in the Eagle and Select
Libraries.

BOOKS FOR BOYS.

The Burt L. Standish stories in the New Medal Library.
The Horatio Alger stories in the Medal and New Medal
Libraries.
The Oliver Optic stories in the Medal and New Medal
Libraries.
The Edward C. Taylor stories in the New Medal Library.
Send for our complete catalogue and look these stories
up. It will pay you.

STREET & SMITH, Publishers, NEW YORK

 Why Take
a Chance?

Most everybody thinks that the public library is a mighty

fine institution—teaches people to read, and all that. Well,
so it does, but does any one ever think of the great risk
that a person, who takes a book out of a public library,
runs of catching some contagious disease?
Every time a bacteriological examination is made of the
public-library book, germs of every known disease are
found among its pages. Probably, from your own
experience, you know that lots of people never think of
taking a book from the public library, until some one in
their family is sick and wants something to read.
As records prove that ninety per cent of the demand for
books at the public libraries is for works of fiction, it strikes
us that the reading public would do better to patronize the
S. & S. novel list which contains hundreds of books to be
found in the public libraries, and many hundreds of others
just as good and interesting.
The price of the S. & S. novels is a low one indeed to pay
for protection from disease-laden literature. Why run the
risk, then, when you can get a fresh, clean book for little
money and thus insure your health?

STREET & SMITH, Publishers

NEW YORK
TOYING WITH FATE.
 CHAPTER I.
THE MYSTERIOUS OLD MAN.

“Move on, old man, and go home!”

It was the stern voice of one of New York’s finest policemen that
uttered these words.
“Home! I wonder where it is?” muttered the old man to whom the
policeman had spoken, and a shudder ran through his frame, as he
slowly moved down the street.
As he reached the corner near old St. John’s Church, on Varick
Street, he paused, rubbed his eyes and gazed dreamily around him.
For some time before the policeman had addressed him he had
been standing inside the church, looking through the railings into the
churchyard.
His form was bent by decrepitude and sorrow, and his hair was as
white as the flaky snow that clung to the steeple of the old church,
the bells of which had just sounded the knell of the dying year.
The old man only halted on the corner for a minute, and then,
crossing Beach Street, he shuffled along until he reached the center
of the block, where he came to a standstill in front of an old-
fashioned house, which was unoccupied.
Then, as if a faintness had come over him, he grasped the rusty iron
railing to prevent himself falling to the ground, and he closed his
eyes, as though the sight of the snow-covered houses was too much
for him.
The policeman had followed him at a distance, and was watching
him from where he was standing on the corner.
“Poor devil!” muttered the guardian of the peace, as he swung his
nightstick back and forth. “I wonder who he is! He seems weak!
Perhaps at one time he amounted to something. God save me from
ever coming to his condition. I wonder why he stands so long in front
of that old empty house, which has been closed for twenty years, to
my knowledge! I’ll watch him a while, but I won’t molest him, poor
devil!”
As the policeman concluded his soliloquy the old man straightened
up and walked up to the door of the house, the old knocker on which
he caught hold of and gave it a rap.
But suddenly, as if struck by some painful recollection, his hand fell
to his side and he staggered back to the middle of the sidewalk.
“Strange,” the policeman ejaculated, noting this action. “Perhaps he
lived there at one time.”
The old man looked up at the house, at which he gazed long and
intently.
Then, suddenly arousing himself, he ambled back to the corner,
stopping near the policeman. He looked confusedly around him, from
the left to the right, and the policeman gazed at him closely, but
spoke not a word. On his part, he did not seem to see the man in
uniform. He stood bewildered, appearing not to know which way to
turn.
“Why don’t you go home, old man?” the policeman asked, this time
in a softened tone of voice.
“Home!” the old fellow ejaculated—his voice was like a wail, a
heartbroken sob. “Home! where is it?”
“The Lord bless you, man, how can I tell you, if you can’t tell
yourself?”
“Twenty years ago—twenty years behind darkened walls—and this
——” He muttered the words in such a forlorn tone that the
policeman stared at him.
“Your brain is turned, old gentleman.”
The old man laughed and looked up into his questioner’s face with a
quizzical expression.
“My brain is clear, my friend,” he replied, in a clear, harsh tone. “I
have come from a prison—the world is strangely altered since I was
in it before.”
“In it before? Why, what do you mean? I suppose you will try and
persuade me that you have been dead and have risen from the
grave.”
“Figuratively speaking, I have—I have been dead to the world—in
prison at Sing Sing. Mark me well—Sing Sing Prison—for twenty
years—to-day I was released. See me now. I am old, decrepit, hardly
able to walk. Once I stood erect, my hair was as black as the raven’s
wing, and now—look at me, a wreck without home or friends. Wife,
children, all gone! I have never seen nor heard of them since the day
I was taken out of yonder house a prisoner, by the unjust, hard, and
cruel decree of a so-called court of justice. Twenty years! A prisoner,
buried alive, as it were.”
“You had committed a crime?”
“No. I was innocent, but powerful conspirators plotted against me—
the evidence was perjured—and I—I—was entombed.”
“You say you lived in yonder house twenty years ago?”
“Yes, and no man carried his head higher than I did. I was rich—but
bah! what is the use of rehearsing those things to a stranger!
Hardened as you are by association with crime, you would not
believe my story. You would think that I was romancing. Things have
sadly changed in this neighborhood.”
“You may bet they have.”
“Once all these houses were occupied by rich people, but to-day
they are the abodes of the poor and the outcast.”
“What is your name?”
“My name! It matters not. Good night.”
“Well, well, keep your secret, old man. God bless you, and may this
new year bring you happiness.”
“Happiness! I shall never know that again. Good night, again.”
He moved off slowly, and the policeman watched him until he turned
the corner into West Broadway, when he proceeded to patrol his
beat.
As the policeman moved away, a dark form came out of a near-by
doorway and hurried around the corner.
The man was tall, he wore a long ulster with the collar turned up
around his neck, and a slouch hat was pulled down over his eyes.
He followed closely in the old man’s trail.
The old man halted several times, and as he did so his form seemed
to lose its decrepitude. As the light from the street lamps shone upon
his face it could be seen that his eyes glared like two living coals; he
threw his hand aloft, and so fierce and startling was the action that
the man who was following him halted and shrank back for an
instant, as if he had been struck.
“Vengeance!” the old man hissed, and then he started on again.
The street was deserted, save by the old man and the man who was
following him.
The former walked on, looking up at the tall warehouses and store
buildings, muttering to himself.
More than once he put his hand up to his head and gazed about in a
bewildered manner.
His limbs shook under him, for a long time had passed since they
had been used to such exertion.
The fresh air came so strangely upon him that he panted for breath.
Suddenly he halted in front of an old-fashioned three-story brick
building near Chambers Street. A beacon-shaped red lamp was
burning over the doorway, and upon the front pane of glass was
painted:
THE RED DRAGON INN.
Established by William Sill—1776.
It was an old landmark in the neighborhood, and it had always been
a hostelry. In revolutionary times it was a post roadhouse, and was
famous as the headquarters of many of the British officers. During
later days it became the resort, at the noonday hour, of many of New
York’s most staid and solid merchants, whose places of business
were in the vicinity.
At this time the ground floor was occupied by a man who ran a
saloon and restaurant, and who rented out the upstairs rooms to
transient lodgers. No improvements had been made about the place,
and it stood just as it did when it was conducted by its original owner.
As the old man paused in front of the inn the sound of voices and the
clinking of glasses came from within. He walked up to the door and
opened it. Then he stepped into the saloon, staggered up to the bar
and, in a low tone, ordered a glass of toddy, which was supplied to
him.
A number of men were seated at the tables, drinking, and none of
them paid any attention to the newcomer, who drank his toddy while
standing and leaning against the bar.
The old man placed his empty glass back upon the counter, and
facing the bartender, said:
“I want a room for the night.”
“There is only one empty,” the bartender replied. “It is in the attic.”
“That will answer my purpose.”
“It will cost you one dollar.”
The old man drew a purse out of his pocket, took out the amount,
and handed it to the bartender, who asked:
“Do you want to retire now?”
“I do,” the old man answered.
“I will show you the way up.”
“It won’t be necessary. I am familiar with every room in the house.
Many a time I have stopped here in other days. If you will tell me
which room I am to occupy, I will go up to it.”
“The second room in the back part of the attic on the left of the
stairway is the one. You will find a lamp on a table in the hall on the
second floor.”
“All right.”
The old man left the room, while the bartender gazed after him with
curiosity. He climbed the stairway and reached the second floor,
where he found the lamp, and then proceeded upstairs to the attic
room.
An hour after he retired, the house was silent, all the midnight
revelers having gone home, and the bartender having closed up the
saloon.
New Year’s Day dawned bright and clear.
The proprietor of the Red Dragon Inn opened the barroom, and at
nine o’clock the bartender came downstairs.
For a time the two men stood talking.
There were no customers in the place.
At last the bartender asked the proprietor if he had seen anything of
the strange old man who had come in after midnight.
The proprietor said that the old man had not appeared.
“Did he request you to call him?” he inquired.
“No,” the bartender answered. “Shall I go up and ask him if he wants
breakfast?”
“Yes.”
The bartender ascended to the attic.
The door of the room which the old man had been assigned to stood
ajar.
The man knocked, but there was no answer. He pounded again and
shouted. Still no answer. Finally the man pushed the door open. A
terrible sight met his gaze. Stretched out upon the bed he beheld the
old man, with his throat cut from ear to ear. His hands were folded
across his breast, and he was covered by the coverlet of the bed.
Evidently there had been no struggle.
The bartender uttered a cry of alarm, but he did not enter the room.
As soon as he recovered from his surprise he dashed off downstairs,
crying “Murder!” at the top of his voice.
Instantly the house was aroused, and in a short time a great crowd
congregated in the street in front of the door.
 CHAPTER II.
SEARCHING FOR CLEWS.

Early on New Year’s morning Nicholas Carter, the famous detective,

arrived in Jersey City on a train from Chicago, where he had been
investigating a diamond case, which he had closed up successfully.
Danny, his chauffeur, met him at the station, with his powerful touring
car; and in a few minutes they were crossing the Hudson River on
the downtown ferry over to Chambers Street.
They had just landed and were beginning to get headway along that
thoroughfare, when their attention was attracted by a loud
commotion in the street.
Leaning over, Carter beheld the crowd congregating in front of the
Red Dragon Inn, which was almost opposite. He heard the cries of
murder.
Instantly the veteran’s energies were aroused. He forgot all about his
not having had breakfast, and springing out, he pushed his way
through the crowd and entered the barroom of the Red Dragon Inn.
There he found the proprietor pacing up and down in a state of
nervous excitement.
A policeman was also there, and to him Nick applied for information.
“I can’t make head nor tail of it,” the policeman replied to Carter’s
inquiry. “I’ve sent word to the police station, Mr. Carter, and I am
expecting the captain every minute.”
“Have you been upstairs?”
“No, sir. I thought it best to wait until the captain arrived.”
“Where is the bartender?”
“Standing over there,” and the policeman pointed to the man, who
was leaning against the bar.
Carter stepped up to the bartender and asked:
“What is your name?”
“George Terry,” the bartender answered.
“How long have you been employed here?”
“Three years.”
“I believe you discovered the murder?”
“I did, sir.”
“At what time?”
“About twenty minutes ago.”
“Do you know the man?”
“No, sir, he is a stranger to me.”
“What is his name?”
“I forgot to ask him.”
“Don’t you keep a register?”
“No, sir.”
“What time did the man arrive?”
“Shortly after midnight.”
“Did he have any luggage?”
“No, sir.”
“Tell me all about your conversation with him.”
“As I said, he came in here shortly after midnight. He seemed weak
and exhausted as he slipped up to the bar. He requested me to
make him a hot toddy, which I did.
“After he had finished his drink he asked me if I could let him have a
room for the night, and I told him that the attic room was vacant and