Ah Soy
As part of the Chinese Historical Wrongs Legacy Initiative, we’ve digitized a small selection of inquests and inquiries from 1872 to 1934, found in series GR-0431. These were chosen to reflect the experiences of early Chinese immigrants to B.C. – their living and working conditions, and their unfortunate accidental or unusual deaths. They range from a woman working in a brothel in Barkerville who died of natural causes to three sawmill workers who died from malnutrition. Learn more.
*All transcriptions are provided by volunteers, and the accuracy of the transcriptions is not guaranteed. Please be sure to verify the information by viewing the image record, or visiting the BC Archives in person.
*Please note that archival source materials are original historical documents that have not been censored, reviewed or otherwise altered by the Royal BC Museum. Some materials may contain content that is racist, sexist or otherwise offensive. The Royal BC Museum is only the custodian of archival materials; the content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Royal BC Museum.
Current Page Transcription [edit] [history]
William Yales of the town of Hope in the said District of Yale being sworn [?] as follows - On Saturday the twentieth [?] I was in the Hudsons Bay Companys store where I was employed I should say about one or half past [?] o'clock P.M. The chinaman Ah Chow came in to the store. There were some Indians in the store trading. I should judge Ah Chow stopped in the store about ten minutes. He then told me that there was a chinaman dead down [?] in his potatoe ranch and that he would like me to come down and see him as Mr. Wardle was not at home. Myself, [?] Ah Chow and two other chinamen went down to the ranch and [?] arrived the ranch and saw the deceased lying there dead. There was a scar above the right eye. There was a large quantity of blood on his the head of the deceased and on the ground close by. I felt the body of the deceased and found it a little warm. Myself and the chinese [?] examined the ground to see what damage the cows had done and found no tracks of cattle near the body. Ah Chow and Ah Leong informed me that that they thought the cows had killed the deceased and that was my reason.