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.
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Current Page Transcription [edit] [history]
Hope B. C. 26 September 1884
PAE Irving Esq Deputy Attorney General Victoria
Sir
I have the honour to enclose the Inquisition and Depositions of the witnesses taken at an Inquest held by Mr. Wardle, Deputy Coroner on the body of Ah Soy, a Chinaman found dead at Hope. The deceased was engaged in hoeing potatoes in a field about half a mile from Hope last Saturday. There was another Chinaman named Ah Leong who worked with him until noon on that day. The latter then came up to Hope for dinner and says that he left the deceased alive in the field and when he returned to work at about two o'clock he found his partner dead.
It seems impossible to obtain any further evidence in this case everyone here suspects Ah Leong of the crime but no one saw him do it. He is said to be a passionate man and it is well known that the deceased was disliked by his countrymen here. This together with the fact of Ah Leong being the last man in company with the deceased and his actions when
BC Archives, GR-0431 Box 3 File 7 / BRITISH COLUMBIA. ATTORNEY GENERAL. / Inquisitions / inquests conducted by coroners in British Columbia.