In the Matter of the Application of Andrew J. Sawyer for Writ of Habeas Corpus for Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun, and Look Fung
In the District Court of the United States for the District of Nebraska.
In the matter of the application of Andrew J. Sawyer, for Writ of Habeas Corpus for Chin Tee Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung.
Upon reading the petition of Andrew J. Sawyer, United States Attorney for the District of Nebraska, The Mee Lee Wah Village Company and Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, it is ordered that a writ of habeas corpus issue directed to Geo. D. Shand, Jailor of Douglas County, Nebraska, John McDonald, Sheriff of Douglas County, Nebraska, and Dr. Wykoff (whose name is otherwise unknown), directing them to produce the bodies of said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung at the Federal Court Room, in Omaha, Nebraska, District aforesaid, at the hour of 1 o'clock P.M. June 18th 1898.
W. H. Munger
Judge.
Form 60.
District of Nebraska, ss
I hereby certify and return, that on the 18 day of June, 1898 I received this Order, and on the 18 day of June, 1898 I served the same upon the within-named John McDonald at Omaha in Douglas County, State, and District of Nebraska, by delivering to and leaving with him a certified copy thereof, with all the endorsements thereon.
Geo. H. Thummel
United States Marshal for the District of Nebraska.
By H A Homan
Deputy United States Marshal.
In the District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska.
In the matter of the application of Wah Lee for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Lun Kim, Lun Yuk and Lun Ten.
Journal Entry.
This cause coming on to be heard on the petition, the return of the officer and the answer of respondent, Lem You to the writ of habeas corpus issued in the case, and the sheriff being present with the bodies of Lun Kim, Lun Yuk and Lun Ten, and after hearing the proofs, I find that said girls are detained and kept by Lem You for immoral purposes, and that the surroundings of said girls and the conditions under which they are kept are not conducive to morality, and that the keeping of said girls for said purposes and under said circumstances is unlawful and contrary to good morals;
It is therefore ordered that the said girls be discharged from the custody of the said Lem You, and are hereby remanded to the custody of Dr. Wyckoff to be dealt with according to the
best interests of said girls. Respondent to pay costs in the case.
Cunningham R. Scott
Judge.
Omaha, June 18, 1898.
In the United States District Court in and for the District of Nebraska
In the matter of the Application of Andrew J. Sawyer United States District Attorney for a writ of Habeas Corpus for Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung citizens of China.
Ordered that the above named Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung be remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal to be by him heed and produced to the Court on Tuesday June 21st 1898 and until the final order of the Court herein
Dated June 18th 1898
Wm H. Munger
Judge
United States of America
District of Nebraska. ss.
The President of the United States of America, To John McDonald, Sheriff of Douglas County, George D. Shand, Jailor of Douglas County, and Dr. Wykoff (whose name is otherwise unknown):
We command you that the bodies of Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, in your custody detained, as it is said, together with the day and cause of their caption and detention, you safely have before Wm. H. Munger, Judge of our District Court of the United States within and for the District aforesaid, to do and receive all and singular those things which the said Wm. H. Munger, Judge of our District Court, shall then and there consider of them in this behalf; and have you then and there this writ. And George H. Thummel U.S. Marshal of this district, is hereby directed to serve and have obeyed the writ and order wherewith served.
Witness, The Honorable William H. Munger, Judge of the District Court of the United States for the District of Nebraska, at Omaha, this 18th day of June, 1898
Attest:
Oscar B. Hillis
In the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
The United States
vs.
In the Matter of the application of A. J. Sawyer for a writ of Habeas Corpus etc.,
No. 262 Doc. M.
Answer
Now come John McDonald, George D. Shand and Dr. Wyckoff, respondents named in the petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed herein and, for answer to said petition, say;
These respondents allege that they have no means of information as to the truth or falsity of the allegations as contained in paragraphs one, two, three, four and five of the petition filed herein, and therefore deny the same and demand strict proof.
Further answering, these respondents say they have no information as to the truth of the allegations contained in paragraph six of said petition, and therefore deny the same.
These respondents deny each and every other allegation in said petition contained not hereinafter specifically admitted.
Further answering, these respondents allege that heretofore, to-wit,- on the 11th day of June, 1898, a petition was filed in the District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, entitled,- "In the Matter of the Application of Wah Lee for a Writ of Habeas Corpus on behalf of Lun Kim, Lun Yuk and Lun Teu." Said petition set out that the parties so named were Chinese girls of ages of from fifteen to eighteen years, and that they were then under the control of one Lem You, the respondent in said petition, and had been brought to America under false representations and were brought to America for the purpose of prostitution and for sale for like purposes; that the prayer of said petition was that a writ of habeas corpus might be issued and that the parties therein named be discharged from the custody of Lem You and that such disposition might be made of said girls as their own interests and the interests of society demanded; that thereupon a writ of was issued, placed in the hands of the sheriff of Douglas County and said girls were produced by the sheriff before the District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska; that the said respondent Lem You filed an answer in said cause and that evidence was heard upon the issues therein formed, and, after a trial lasting about four days, a judgment and decree was signed by His Honor Judge Scott in the following words;
"In the District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska.
In the matter of the application of Wah Lee for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Lun Kim, Lun Yuk and Lun Teu.
Journal Entry.
This cause coming on to be heard on the petition, the return of the officer and the answer of respondent, Lem You to the writ of habeas corpus issued in the case, and the sheriff being present with the bodies of Lun Kim, Lun Yuk and Lun Teu, ad after hearing the proofs, I find that said girls are detained and kept by Lem You for immoral purposes, and that the surroundings of said girls and the conditions under which they are kept are not conducive to morality, and that the keeping of said girls for said purposes and under said circumstances is unlawful and contrary to good morals;
It is therefore ordered that the said girls be discharged from the custody of the said Lem You, and are hereby remanded to the custody of Dr. Wyckoff to be dealt with according to the best interests of said girls. Respondents to pay costs in the case.
Cunningham R. Scott,
Judge.
Omaha, June 18, 1898."
That thereafter Dr. Wyckoff, one of the respondents herein, and other ladies began to raise funds for the purpose of sending said girls to the Chinese Sunday School Mission in San Francisco to be shipped from that point to China, and that pending arrangements for the shipping of said girls they were placed in the care of the respondents McDonald and Shand under a written order. from his honor Judge Scott, and were under their control and custody at the time of the issuance of the writ of habeas corpus in this action.
Respondents, answering further, allege that the girls now in the custody of the United States Marshal under the names of Chin Tu, Ling Lee Chun and Look Fung are the same girls who were before His Honor Judge Scott in the District Court of Douglas County under other names.
These respondents further answering deny that the United States authorities properly inspect or have any control over said girls and other women imported from China, as alleged in the petition.
Respondents further allege that it is not the intention of the Mee Lee Wah Village Co. to return said girls to China, but it is the intention of said company to sell said girls in the United States for immoral purposes. That said girls are slave girls or in other words public women
These respondents, further answering, submit to this court that it is without jurisdiction in the premises for the reason that the complainants have taken no appeal from the findings of the District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska.
Wherefore, your respondents having made full answer to the charges set out in said petition against them pray that the persons now in the custody of the United States Marshal may be released from such custody and again returned to the control, charge and direction of your respondents.
Edson Rich,
Attorney for Respondents.
State of Nebraska
Douglas County ss.
John McDonald, being first duly sworn, on his oath says that he is one of the respondents in the above entitled action; that he has read the foregoing answer and the statements therein made are true, as he verily believes.
John McDonald
Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this 27th day of June, 1898.
Helen L. Knapp
Notary Public.
In the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
In the Matter of the Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus by the Petitioners Andrew J. Sawyer, United States District Attorney, for the District of Nebraska, Mee Lee Wah Village Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, citizens of China.
Reply.
1. Replying to the answer filed to the petition herein, your petitioners deny each and every allegation in the said answer.
2. For further reply your petitioners allege that His Honor Judge Scott had no jurisdiction to entertain the case and that if any such judgment as set forth in the answer of respondents was made by His Honor Judge Scott that the same is null and void.
3. Further replying to said answer your petitioners would respectfully show unto this Honorable Court that at the time of the filing of the petition herein the said Chinese girls were then imprisoned and deprived of their liberty in the Douglas County Jail, contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and against the laws of the United States and of the State of Nebraska; and your petitioners further show unto this Honorable Court that at the time when said Chinese girls were taken under the writ issued out of the State Court by His Honor Judge Scott the said Chinese girls were in the custody of said Mee Lee Wah Village Company through and under its managers, and were by them held under color and by authority of the United States, in pursuance of a joint resolution passed by both Houses of Congress of the United States on the 30th day of June, 1897, and that said managers were entitled under said resolution to the possession of said girls for the purposes expressed in said join resolution, and that the taking of said girls from said managers of the said Village was in direct violation of said join resolution of Congress.
4. Your petitioners further show unto this Honorable Court that the girls described in the pretended writ issuing from the State Court were those of different names and were not so connected as set forth in the application in said Court for said writ, and that the persons against whom said writ issued were never before said State Court, and that the Chinese girls mentioned in the application herein for a writ of habeas corpus are desirous of being returned to the Mee Lee Wah Village Company to the end that they may in good faith carry out the contract made with said Village Company and to the end that the intent and purpose of the joint resolution of Congress may be fully performed upon their part and to the end that when they shall have rendered the service for which they were brought here that they may return to their native home in China.
Wherefore, your petitioners pray. that the writ may issue and that they may be restored to their liberty, and all things that they have thus far been unlawfully deprived of.
A. J. Sawyer
Hall & McCulloch
for Mee Lee Wah Village
State of Nebraska
Douglas County. SS.
Hung, Sling, being duly sworn, depose and say that I have read the foregoing reply and know the contents thereof; that the statements therein contained are true as I verily believe.
Hung Sling
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 29 day of June, 1898.
Oscar B. Hillis
Clerk
In the District Court of the United States for the District
of Nebraska.
In the Matter of the Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus by the Petitioners, Andrew J. Sawyer, United States District Attorney for the District of Nebraska, Mee Lee Wah Village Company, a corporation organized under the Laws of the State of Illinois, Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, citizens of China.
Stipulation.
The parties hereto stipulate and agree to the following facts:
1. That the three girls now in Court were brought over to the United States by the Mee Lee Wah Village Company, by authority of the join resolution of Congress, of June 30, 1897 (a copy of which is hereto attached), for the purpose of being exhibited in the Chinese Village at the Exposition Grounds as claimed by it; that said Village Company has a contract with the Exposition Company for such an exhibition.
2. That the writ of habeas corpus in the case before Judge Scott, referred to in the answer of respondents herein, was issued against three Chinese girls described as three sisters, under the names of Lun Kin, Lun Yuk and Lun Tew, and that the three girls produced by the Sheriff before Judge Scott under those names are the same girls as are now before this Court and in the custody of the Marshal.
3. That the application for a writ of habeas corpus before Judge Scott, was made without the knowledge or consent of the three girls now before this Court; that said application was made by one Wah Lee, a Chinaman living in Lincoln, Nebraska, and who was at the time unknown to the three parties now before the Court under this writ.
4. That at the time the writ issued in this case these three girls were incarcerated in the Jail of Douglas County, Nebraska, without any charge having been made against them or either of them, in any Court of the State of Nebraska or of the United States, and against their will.
5. That the Mee Lee Wah Village Company is a corporation organized under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Illinois., and that they have a contract with the Trans-Mississippi & International Exposition Company for an exhibit of Chinese habits, amusements, customs, etc.
6. That at the time when the writ of habeas corpus was issued and at the time when the application was made therefor before Judge Scott the said three Chinese girls were under the control and custody of one Lem You, (an agent or employee of the Mee Lee Wah Village Company,) in pursuance of the joint resolution passed by Congress, and had not yet been taken to the Mee Lee Wah Village on the Exposition Grounds for the reason that the same had not been completed nor ready for occupancy.
7. That the Mee Lee Wah Village Company was not a party to the habeas corpus proceedings in the District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska.
8. That the case in the District Court before Judge Scott was entitled "In the matter of the Application of Lee Wah for a Writ of Habeas Corpus on behalf of Lun Kin, Lun Yuk and Lun Tew".
9. That said Chinese girls were brought into the United States under color and authority of the United States and were so held at the time the writ was issued by the State Court.
10. That Mrs. Dr. Wykoff is a missionary doctor who has spent ten years of her life in China and interested in missionary work generally, and that the girls found in the possession of the Sheriff at the time the writ in this case was issued were in the Sheriff's possession at the request of Mrs. Dr. Wykoff until she could make suitable arrangements for them, but that they were in the possession of Mrs. Dr. Wykoff and the Sheriff contrary to their own wishes and desires; that Mrs. Dr. Wykoff is without knowledge of the language of these girls and unable to converse in their language.
That the order attached hereto as Exhibit "B" was made by Judge Scott the sheriff claimed to be holding said girls by virtue of said order & [unclear] of Dr. Wykoff let[?] to him The writ herein[?] was[?] issued, but complainants deny that said Judge had jurisdiction to make such order.
A. J. Sawyer
Hall & McCulloch
Attys for Petitioners
Edson Rich
Atty for Respondents
[Public Resolution–No. 17.]
Joint Resolution Authorizing foreign exhibitors at the Transmississippi
and International Exposition, to be held in the city of Omaha, in the State of
Nebraska, during the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, to bring to the United
States foreign laborers from their countries, respectively, for the purpose of preparing
for and making exhibits.
Whereas the Transmississippi and International Exposition Company, of Omaha, Nebraska, has extended invitations to various foreign nations to make exhibits at the Transmississippi and International Exposition to be held at said city anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, which invitations have been accepted and space for installing foreign exhibits has been applied for and duly awarded, and concessions and privileges have been granted by the exposition management to the citizens and subjects of foreign nations; and
Whereas for the purpose of securing the production on the exposition grounds of scenes illustrative of the architecture, dress, habits, and modes of life, occupation, industries, means of locomotion and transportation, amusements, entertainments, and the like, of the peoples of foreign countries, it has become necessary for the Transmississippi and International Exposition Company to grant concessions and privileges to certain firms and corporations of the right to make such productions: Therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act of Congress approved February twenty-sixth, anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty-five, prohibiting the importation into the United States of foreigners under contract to perform labor and the various Acts of Congress prohibiting the coming or bringing of Chinese persons into the United States, and all Acts of Congress amendatory of said Act or Acts shall not be construed to prohibit the bringing into the United States, under contract to labor, such mechanics, artisans, agents, or other employees or persons, natives of their respective foreign countries, as the Secretary of the Treasury may deem necessary for the purpose of making preparation for installing or conducting foreign exhibits, or preparing for installing or conducting any business authorized or permitted by virtue of any concession or privilege which may have been or may hereafter be granted by the Transmississippi and International Exposition Company of Omaha, Nebraska, in connection with such exposition. Nor shall any such Act or Acts of Congress operate to prevent, hinder, or in any manner restrict any foreign exhibitor, representative, or citizen of a foreign nation, or holder of a concession or privilege from the Transmississippi and International Exposition Company, from bringing into the United States under contract any such mechanic, artisan, agent, or other employee deemed necessary by the Secretary of the Treasury for the purpose of making preparations for installing or conducting foreign exhibits, or preparing for installing or conducting any business authorized or permitted under, have been or may be granted by the said Transmississippi and International Exposition Company in connection with such exposition: Provided, however, That no alien shall, by virtue of this Resolution, be permitted to enter the United States to perform labor therein, except by express permission, naming such alien, and then not for a longer time than three months after the close of the Transmississippi and International Exposition; and thereafter such person shall be subject to all the processes and penalties applicable to aliens coming into the United States in violation of any Act of Congress prohibiting alien contract labor from being brought or coming into the United States.
Sec. 2. That all articles and property of any kind that may be brought to the United States from any foreign country to be placed on exhibition at such Transmississippi and International Exposition, as well as all tools and implements necessary or proper to be used in preparing for an exhibition and the equipment and paraphernalia of the exhibitors, artisans, laborers, and the like shall be admitted to the ports of the United States free of duty, under such rules and regulations as maybe prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury: Provided however, That said articles shall be removed from the United States within six months after the close of said exposition. If not so removed, and the same shall be sold or disposed of in the United States, they shall be subject to the customs laws thereof: Provided further, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directedto make such rules and regulations as may be necessary, in his judgment, to carry into execution the provisions hereof and to prohibit the infraction of existing statutes, except as the same may be temporarily modified and changed by this Resolution.
Approved, June 30, 1897.
In District Court.–Fourth Judicial District of the State of Nebraska, for Douglas County.
At the May Term of said Court, to wit: On the 18th day of June 1898, the Honorable Cunningham R. Scott, one of the Judges, being present and presiding in said Court, the following proceedings were had In re Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus by Wah Lee on behalf of Lun Kim, et al, as appears of record on folio ___ Journal 58 of said Court.
In the Matter of the Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus by Wah Lee on behalf of Lun Kim, Lun Yuk and Lun Teu.
It being made to appear that there is danger of the three girls heretofore discharged from the custody of the respondent herein being returned to the said respondent, or his agents or principals, the court orders the Sheriff of Douglas county, Nebraska, to hold possession and care for said girls until such times as they can be shipped to San Francisco by Dr. Wyckoff; the evidence satisfying me that the proper protection of the girls demands such custody of them in the mean time.
June 18, 1898, Omaha, Nebr.
Cunningham R. Scott,
Judge.
In the District Court of the United States for the District of Nebraska.
In the Matter of the Application of Andrew J. Sawyer, United States District Attorney, for the District of Nebraska, Mee Lee Wah Village Company, a corporation organized under the Laws of the State of Illinois, Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, citizens of China, for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Order.
On this First day of July, 1898, came the parties by their Counsel, and this cause coming on to be heard upon the application or petition of the applicants and petitioners, the return of the respondents and the reply of the petitioners, and the issue of the writ and production in Court of the bodies of said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, after the hearing of the evidence, the argument of Counsel, and the Court being fully advised in the premises, the Court finds:
That said petitioners, Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, are unlawfully restrained of their liberty, and were so unlawfully restrained of their liberty at the time of the issuing of the writ herein.
The Court further finds that the said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung are lawfully in this country under contract with the Mee Lee Wah Village Company.
It is therefore considered and ordered by the Court that said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung be discharged from the custody of the said John McDonald, Sheriff of Douglas County, Nebraska, George V. Shand, George B. Striker and Mrs. Dr. Wykoff, as aforesaid, and that they be discharged to the end that they may fulfill their contracts with the Mee Lee Wah Village Company.
It is further ordered that the United States Marshal serve a copy of this order upon the said respondents, John McDonald, Sheriff of Douglas County, Nebraska, George V. Shand, Geo. B. Striker and Mrs. Dr. Wykoff.
July 1, 1898.
W. H. Munger
Judge.
To the Honorable Judges of the District Court of the United States in and for the District and State of Nebraska:–
The petition of Andrew J. Sawyer, United States District Attorney for the District of Nebraska, the Mee Lee Wah Village Company, a corporation duly organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, citizens of China would cause this Court to be informed that in the year 1897 the Mee Lee. Wah Village Company, which is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, obtained from the Trans-Mississippi & International Exposition Company, which has the power and authority to grant the concessions for the said Exposition, the concession for the Chinese village, by which said concession the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company was authorized and empowered to bring into the said Exposition Chinese persons for the purpose of representing a village, and producing on the Exposition grounds an illustration of the dress, habits, modes of living, industries, amusements, entertainments and the like of the Chinese Empire.
That the said Village Company, having obtained the said concession, and being so entitled to enter upon the Exposition grounds the said concession, for the purposes aforesaid, applied to the Treasurer of the United States, who was the proper person under the act and joint resolution of the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States, for leave to bring into the United States of America the said Chinese aliens for the purposes aforesaid.
That thereupon the Treasurer of the United States, who was the proper person empowered in that regard, authorized the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company to bring into the United States the number of persons requisite for the purposes heretofore set out to be represented upon the said Exposition Company; but that as a part of the duty involving upon the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company, it, the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company, gave to the United States of America its bond to return to China persons which it was authorized to bring, within a certain time after the termination of said Exposition, that being one of the rules and regulations adopted under the said law, and the terms under which this said Village Company was allowed to bring the said persons into the United States.
That in pursuance to its said agreement, and for the purposes of carrying out its contract with the Exposition Company, the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company did bring to the United States of America the persons which it was authorized to bring for the purposes above specified, and for no other.
That among the persons so brought were the aforesaid petitioners, Chin Tu Ling, Lee Chun and Look Fung, who are Chinese girls, to be employed as actresses in the theater upon said grounds, or for such other purposes as may be illustrative of the dress, habits and modes of living of the said Chinese Empire.
That under the rules and regulations established by the Treasury Department, which was the proper department having control of the said matter, the said persons, including the petitioners herein, received from the Customs House officers at San Francisco their certificates, and were receipted for by the Customs House officers at Omaha, and have been by the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company had at all times ready to be inspected by the said Customs House officers, and the other agents of the United States government, in pursuance to the regulations of said department; and that they are now receipted for by the Customs House officers of the City of Omaha.
And the said petitioners represent to the Court that the said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Chun and Look Fung are now unlawfully detained from the said Village Company, from the control of the Customs House office, and from the United States authorities by force and violence, and are unlawfully deprived of their liberty by one Doctor Wycoff, and John McDonald The Sheriff of Douglas County and the jailer of said County George D. Shand and others aiding and abetting them therein; and are detained from performing their duties on the grounds of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, and are unlawfully restrained of their liberty and prevented from carrying out their contracts with the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company; and the said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung show to the Court that they were authorized by their parents and guardians, and those standing in the relations of parents to them, and having the right to authorize their employment, to enter into contracts with the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company to work for the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company in such ways as might be best calculated to exhibit upon the grounds of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition conceded to the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company, the dress, habits, modes of living, occupation and industries, amusements and entertainments of China, with the agreement on the part of the Mee Lee Wah Village Company with their parents and guardians to return them to China, and that the said Mee Lee Wah Village Company is now the proper guardian of the said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung.
Upon the said premises, the petitioners pray this Court for a writ of habeas corpus, to the end that the cause of the detention of the petitioners may be promptly and summarily inquired into by the Court according to the laws of the United States, and to direct that the said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung be returned to the custody of the said Mee Lee Wah Company, subject to the inspection and proper control of the Customs House officials of the United States, to perform upon the Exposition grounds as by the terms of their contract and agreement made, and with due observance of the laws of the United States and the regulations of the Treasury department; and this they will ever pray.
A. J. Sawyer
Hall & McCulloch
For Mee Lee Wah
& Chin Tu Ling
Lee Chun
Look Fung
United States of America
District of Nebraska. ss.
Hung Sling being being duly sworn on oath says, that he is the manager of the Mee Lee Wah Village Company; that he knows the facts set out in the foregoing application, and that the same are true as therein stated.
Hung Sling
Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this 18th day of June, 1898.
Oscar B. Hillis
Clerk of U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska
In the District Court of the United States for the District of Nebraska.
In the Matter of the Application of Andrew J. Sawyer, United States District Attorney, for the District of Nebraska, Mee Lee Wah Village Company, a corporation organized under the Laws of the State of Illinois, Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, citizens of China, for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Order.
On this First day of July, 1898, came the parties by their Counsel, and this cause coming on to be heard upon the application or petition of the applicants and petitioners, the return of the respondents and the reply of the petitioners, and the issue of the writ and production in Court of the bodies of said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, after the hearing of the evidence, the argument of Counsel, and the Court being fully advised in the premises, the Court finds:
That said petitioners, Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung, are unlawfully restrained of their liberty, and were so unlawfully restrained of their liberty at the time of the issuing if the writ herein.
The Court further finds that said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung are lawfully in this Country under contract with the Mee Lee Wah Village Company.
It is therefore considered and ordered by the Court that said Chin Tu Ling, Lee Shun and Look Fung be discharged from the custody of the said John McDonald, Sheriff of Douglas County, Nebraska, George V. Shand, George B. Striker and Mrs. Dr. Wykoff, as aforesaid, and that they be discharged to the end that they may fulfill their contracts with the Mee Lee Wah Village Company. It is further
Ordered that the United States Marshal serve a copy of this order upon the said respondents, John McDonald, Sheriff of Douglas County, Nebraska, George D. Shand, Geo. B. Striker and Mrs. Dr. Wykoff.
Wm. H. Munger, Judge.
July 1, 1898.
