WEBVTT - The Questionable Confession 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.800 You are listening to History on Trial, a production of 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:11.879 iHeart Podcasts. Listener discretion advised before we begin today's episode. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:16.000 A note on names. Today's episode focuses on a group 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:18.640 of Chinese men, all of whom came to the United 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:22.160 States from Shanghai. I will be using the shanghaiese order 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:25.840 for most names, with the surnames coming first, but the 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:30.040 trial's case name uses English naming conventions, with the surname 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:33.360 of the defendant following the first name. I've worked with 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.919 the Shanghaiani speaker to get the pronunciations of names correct, 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:41.000 but I apologize in advance for any errors in pronunciation, 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:48.120 which are mine alone. With that, let's get started. Doctor 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:51.440 Lee Gang was getting very worried about the occupants of 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:55.480 twenty twenty three Calorama Road, a ten room row house 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:59.000 in Washington, d c. Twenty twenty three was home to 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:04.440 the Chinese at dad occasional mission. Three men, doctor Theodore Wang, Shia, 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.919 Cheng Shi, and U Bin Shin staffed the mission. Doctor 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:11.120 Lee was used to seeing the three of them coming 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.280 in and out of the mission, but he hadn't seen 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:18.440 any of them in three days, and neither had anyone else. 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:23.400 It was now Friday, January thirty first, nineteen nineteen, and 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.520 Lee was growing increasingly worried. He lived across the street 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.319 from the mission, and over the past three days he 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.120 had seen mail pile up on the stone steps of 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:37.959 the house. Not just mail, but milk bottles and newspapers 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:41.360 and laundry too. Why was no one picking up the 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:46.120 mission's deliveries. Lee knew Wang and Shiah well, and he 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:47.920 was sure they would have told him if they were 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:52.520 leaving town by Friday evening. Lee couldn't contain his anxiety. 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:56.200 He walked across the street and rang the bell. No 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.200 one answered. He looked into the windows of the first 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.960 floor living room, but could not see inside. Then he 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.280 noticed that one of the windows was open, just a crack. 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:12.040 Lee considered his options. Breaking in seemed extreme, but something 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.639 was not right here. He pushed up the bottom pane 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.400 and wriggled inside. It was pitch black in the mission. 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.720 Groping in the darkness, Lee made his way into the 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:26.720 front hall, heart pounding, Lee flipped the wall switch and 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:31.080 the hall flooded with light. Suddenly Lee could see everything, 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.600 the dark wood paneling, the patterned rug, and lying atop 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:40.000 the rug, a man's body, Lee ran to get help. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.200 Soon the mission was swarming with officers, and what they 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:48.120 found inside was horrifying. The body in the front hall 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:51.840 belonged to forty three year old doctor Theodor Wang Wang, 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.399 had been beaten about the head and shot twice. Furniture 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.840 strewn about the first floor pointed towards a struggle. A 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:01.800 blood trail led the officers from the front hall into 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.480 the basement. In the small basement kitchen, police found a 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:09.919 bloody handkerchief and a revolver, which doctor Lee identified as 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.160 belonging to Wu bin Chin, the mission's twenty two year 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:18.160 old secretary. In the nearby furnace room, police found Wu dead. 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.280 He had been shot once in the head and once 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.520 in the heart. Wu lay with his head touching the 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:28.560 head of thirty two year old Sia Changxi, the mission's treasurer. 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.679 Tia too had been shot in the head. It was 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.960 a horrific and baffling crime. Who would have wanted to 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:39.840 kill these men? Their work was not controversial. They helped 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.360 supervise and support Chinese students studying in the United States. 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:47.360 They were well regarded members of their community. The police 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:51.200 wanted to solve this case quickly. Fortunately, doctor Lee was 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.840 able to provide them with a lead. Two days earlier, 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.840 on Wednesday, January twenty ninth, Lee had visited the mission. 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:03.640 When he knocked, no one answered. He tried again. Finally 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.960 a man opened the door, but only a crack. He 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.640 did not invite Lie in. This man was twenty three 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.760 year old Who Jiangsung. Jiangsung, who knew both Wang and 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.800 Who had been staying at the mission earlier in the week. 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:21.120 But Lee thought Jiang Sung had returned to New York 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.480 where he lived on Monday. What was he still doing 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:28.280 at the mission on Wednesday? Jiangsung told Lie that no 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.560 one else was in. Lee shrugged and decided to come 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:35.159 back later. Once Lie told the police about this encounter, 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:39.960 the police became curious about Jiangsung. Detectives were dispatched to 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.880 New York to question him, and when police learned that 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:45.960 a Chinese man had tried to pass a forged check 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.720 purported to be from the mission the morning after the murder, 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:55.039 they thought they knew what had happened. Jiangsung was struggling financially, 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:58.320 he must have tried to steal money from the mission. 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.640 When his actions were discovered, he had killed the mission 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.240 staff to cover up the crime. The police brought Jiangsung 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:10.320 back to Washington, d C. And questioned him. Eventually, he confessed. 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:15.360 It seemed like an open and shutcase, but at Jiangsung's trial, 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:19.560 his defense would claim that the police had coerced his confession. 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:24.480 They alleged that the police had employed questionable tactics, denying 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:28.640 Jiangsung food and sleep, among other things, to get him 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.919 to break This wasn't the first high profile case with 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.880 a coerced confession. For years, the public had been concerned 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.800 about the lengths the police would go to secure a conviction. 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.919 At Jiangsung's trial, the question of what made an acceptable 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.919 confession would come under scrutiny and change the nature of 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:52.919 police work and the rights of suspects forever. Welcome to 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:57.400 History on Trial. I'm your host, Mira Hayward. This week 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:04.480 Jiangsung who VI United States. In nineteen oh nine, the 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:09.039 Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program funded its first group of students. 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:14.039 The program, created via a complicated financial negotiation between the 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:17.040 Chinese and US governments in the wake of the Boxer Rebellion, 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:21.120 sponsored Chinese students to study in America. More than twelve 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:24.039 hundred Chinese students would take part in the program over 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:28.000 its twenty six year existence. In nineteen eleven, the Chinese 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.760 Educational Mission was founded to help administer the scholarship and 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:36.000 to support and supervise the program students. Doctor Theodor Wang 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.359 was selected as the mission's first director. He was a 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:43.520 natural choice. A member of a prominent Shanghai family, Wang 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.280 had himself studied in America, graduating from the University of 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:51.720 Virginia in eighteen ninety six. Xia Chang Shi soon came 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.599 on as the organization's treasurer. Thirteen years younger than Wang, 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.240 Shiah had experience with both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.719 with Universe City administration. Shia and Wang moved to Washington, 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.720 d C. In nineteen eleven to set up the mission operations. 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.200 Four years later, Wang returned to China to reunite with 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.160 his family. He had had to leave his wife, Julia 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.200 and their seven children in Shanghai when he moved to 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.960 the United States, and couldn't wait to see them again. 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:22.720 He spent a year in China, but soon duty called 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:27.280 and he returned to America in nineteen sixteen. Wang didn't 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.960 travel alone. Accompanying Wang on the voyage was U Bin Shing, 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.720 a seventeen year old scholarship student, Wu, who spoke little English, 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.800 came from a powerful family with government connections. While studying 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.120 at George Washington University, Wu would also be serving as 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.720 the mission's secretary. On the journey across the Pacific, Wu 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.680 shared a state room with twenty year old Hu Jiangsung. 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.400 Wang had known Jiangsung since he was a child. Both 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:57.520 families were part of the same episcopal church. Jiangsung, like Wu, 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.400 would be studying in the United States. He was not 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:04.360 a scholarship recipient. His wealthy mother was funding his education 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.920 as part of a final attempt to get Jiang Sung 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:12.120 to straighten his life out. Jiangsung's father had died young, 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.560 leaving his mother with a large fortune and four children 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:20.600 who she struggled to discipline. Jiangsung had grown up privileged, spoiled, 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.920 and aimless. Hoping that a change of scenery would inspire 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.160 Jiangsung to get his act together, his mother suggested that 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.720 he go study in America. She asked her friend Theodor 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.160 Wang to keep an eye on her son. Upon arrival 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.240 in the US in the spring of nineteen sixteen, Wang 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.880 and U headed to Washington, d c. Jiangsung did not 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.400 join them. He was going to Ohio to attend Ohio 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:49.199 Northern University. His younger brother, Sang Ying, was also studying 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:53.240 in Ohio. Within a year, Jiangsung had completed his Bachelor 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.880 of Arts degree, thanks in part to transfer credits from 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:59.040 his school in Shanghai. In search of more excitement, he 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:02.840 went east, landing in New York City. Sang In soon 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.079 joined him. The brothers rented a furnished room in Morningside 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:10.200 Heights and set about enjoying city life. Jungsung does not 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.960 seem to have picked up more responsible habits during his 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.920 year in college. He soon ran through the money his 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.439 mother sent him. He tried to run a movie theater, 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.680 it quickly failed, and then took a job as a valet, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.160 but that job didn't last long either. At some point 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:29.960 in nineteen eighteen, Jung Sung contracted the Spanish flu. Between 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.520 nineteen eighteen and nineteen nineteen, the flu killed millions of 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.640 people around the world. Jung Sung did not die, but 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.840 he was profoundly ill, and the after effects of the 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.640 flu with linger for months, leaving him weak and sickly. 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.240 By January nineteen nineteen, Jang Sung was in a very 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.800 dark place. He had only forty one dollars in his 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:55.080 checking account and no job to replenish the coffers with. 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.520 He was sick and frequently confined to bed. Stressed, he 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:04.120 drank heavily and argued with his brother. Jiangsung needed a change. 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.840 Inspiration arrived in the form of a telegram Hubinchin, his 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:12.280 shipmate on the voyage over, and the Chinese Education Mission 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:16.280 secretary invited him to visit d C, who also sent 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:21.000 him fifty dollars in late January. Jiangsung decided to take 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.240 U up on his offer. On January twenty second, he 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.240 took a train to Washington. By that evening he was 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.880 the Chinese Educational Mission's house in Caalorama, where the mission 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:34.640 staff both lived and worked. Jiangsung was given the guest 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.720 room on the first floor. But the Washington trip was 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:41.040 not the peaceful respite that Jiangsung had hoped for. The 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.360 mission staff were busy with work and did not have 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:46.280 the energy to tend to a sick house. Guest Wu 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:49.400 helped care for Jiangsung at nights, but Jiangsung came to 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.840 feel like a burden, and doctor Wang's paternalistic presence probably chafed. 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:58.960 Two After five days, Jiangsung decided to leave. He did 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.080 not head back to New York immediately, though Instead, he 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.240 took a room at the Harris Hotel near the train station. 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.120 He telegraphed his brother, asking Sung Ing to come take 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.400 care of him. Song Ing hurried south, arriving in the 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.360 middle of the night on January twenty eighth, he found 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:17.920 his older brother in rough shape. In addition to the 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:21.360 fatigue from the flu, he was now suffering severe bowel pain. 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:26.240 But Jiangsung also had some errands to run. On the 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.160 evening of January twenty ninth, he went back to the mission. 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.240 It was during this visit that doctor Li Gung knocked 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.080 on the door and Jongsung told him that everyone else 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.320 was out. This turned out to be true. The mission 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.400 staff were all attending dinners celebrating the Chinese New Year 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:46.200 that evening. The next morning, Thursday, January thirtieth, Jung Sung 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:50.760 and Sung En visited Riggs National Bank. Jiangsung stayed in 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.720 the taxi while Sung In went in and attempted to 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:57.679 deposit a five thousand dollars check. The check, made out 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:01.040 from the account of the Chinese Educational Mission, was only 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:06.680 addressed to quote bearer, not to any specific recipient. The 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:10.760 teller thought this was suspicious. He pulled up a previous 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:14.400 check from the mission and compared Wang's signatures on each document. 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.280 They didn't match. The teller alerted an assistant cashier, who 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:24.040 attempted to reach the mission by phone. No one answered. Eventually, 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:27.920 Sung Inn was told to return with Wang. Sang In 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.960 did not do so. Instead, he and Joangsung went to 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.800 Union Station and boarded a train for New York. The 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:38.760 next evening, Lie Gung discovered the bodies in the mission. 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:41.960 There was no sign of forced entry or robbery, so 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:46.160 the police suspected a more personal motive. After Lee told 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.520 police about his strange interaction with Jiangsung on the twenty ninth, 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:53.680 the police decided to investigate further. Washington Chief of Police 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:58.240 Major Raymond Pullman sent to detective Sergeants Guy Burlingame and 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.120 Edward Kelly to New York. The detectives arrived at Jiangsung 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.080 and Song In's apartment at seven thirty a m. On 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:08.679 February first. The Who brothers and the detectives would give 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.760 very different accounts of the interaction that followed. The detectives 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.000 claimed that Jiangsung expressed no surprise at the news of 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.760 the deaths. He asked many questions but seemed calm. Jiangsung 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:24.480 told them he had left d C on January twenty seventh. 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:29.440 In the brothers telling, things were much less amicable. They 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:33.120 said that the detectives had entered their rooms with guns 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.760 drawn and begun tearing the room apart searching for a gun. 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.679 Jiangsung denied, ever, saying that he returned on the twenty seventh. 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.240 Both versions of this encounter end in similar ways, though 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.920 with Jiangsung agreeing to accompany the detectives to d C 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:52.480 to help answer questions. Jiangsun pulled together the toiletries and 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:56.600 clothes necessary for a short trip. But this trip would 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:01.560 not be short. Soon, Jiangsung would discover the police did 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:07.199 not intend to let him go home. When the train 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:11.679 carrying Jiangsung and the detectives arrived in Washington, dozens of 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.880 reporters and photographers lined up to meet them. Anticipating this, 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.760 Chief Pullman had the group exit off the rear of 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:22.440 the train, and then, instead of taking Jong Sung to 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.960 the police station where more reporters were waiting, Pullman had 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.040 him taken to the Board of Police Surgeon's health clinic. 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:33.680 At the clinic, Pullman himself began the questioning, assisted by 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:38.920 Chief of Detectives Clifford Grant. Jongsung did not admit to anything. 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.640 Juan Sung was next asked to appear in front of 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:46.560 a group of employees from Riggs National Bank. Police hoped 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.480 that the employees would i d Juangsung as the man 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.840 who had tried to deposit the forged check, but the 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.280 employees said that he was not the man they had seen. 0:14:56.120 --> 0:15:00.040 Tired and feeling ill, Jangsung asked to leave, but but 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.480 the police, who had not formally arrested Jiangsung at this point, 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.240 would not let him go. Instead, they took him to 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:11.840 the Dewey hotel. Why not to the police station. As 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.320 historian Scott Seligman says in his book The Third Degree, 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:19.720 the police quote intended to keep him in communicado for 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.360 as long as they interrogated him. This way, no one, 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.360 not reporters nor voyeurs, but also not any of his 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.440 friends nor any attorneys could find out where he was. 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.400 While Jang Sung sat cloistered in the hotel, the Washington 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:40.080 police were returning to New York. One of the bank 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.000 employees had mentioned that the man who brought the check 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.800 looked younger than Jiangsung, so the police were working on 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.080 the theory that it had been twenty year old Song 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.680 In who visited the bank. Early on Monday morning, Detective 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.080 Kelly showed up at Sung Inn's door to get song 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.280 In to accompany him back to Washington because the police 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.720 had no grounds to formally arrest him at this point, 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:06.560 Kelly lied, telling song In that Jiangsung was ill and 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.400 asking for his brother. Sang In quickly agreed to return 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.760 with Kelly, but when the pair arrived in Washington, song 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.760 In was not taken to Jiangsung. Instead, he was taken 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.640 to the police clinic, where officers interrogated him and accused 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:25.720 him of murder. They questioned him all night without giving 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.360 him any food. Early the next morning, the police checked 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.240 song In into the Dewey hotel. He did not know 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.200 that his brother was staying there as well. While sang 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.240 In finally got some sleep, the police took his photo 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.200 around to the bank. All the employees confirmed that this 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:43.960 was indeed the man who had tried to cash the 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.760 forged check. Police were now certain that they had their men. 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.960 They believed that Jiangsung had forged the check and then 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:53.960 killed the mission staff when they discovered his crime, but 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:57.720 their case was circumstantial. To make it air tight, they 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.080 needed a confession. Over the night. Next five days, the 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:05.880 police questioned Juangsung and song In incessantly, even interrupting their 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.919 sleep to get more questions. In Per the brother's later accounts, 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.119 the police did more than just question them. They also 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.760 insulted them, using racist slurs and abusive language. They pinched 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.800 and pushed the men. They refused to let them see 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.400 each other. They did not allow Jiangsung, who was now 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:28.840 very ill, to get adequate rest. After five days of this, 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.760 song In cracked he admitted that he had tried to 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:36.320 cash the check. When detectives told Jiangsung what his brother 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:40.120 had said, he was shocked and angry. The police thought 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.960 that he might just be close to breaking two. His 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:46.439 little brother was his weak spot. Jang Sung wanted to 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:50.160 protect him. Maybe if detectives allowed them to see each other, 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:54.280 Jung Sung would open up. The Next day, the police 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.119 took the brothers to the murder scene. When he saw 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.440 his younger brother, Jung Sung excitedly shook some in his 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.840 hand and asked after his well being. But this was 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:08.359 not to be a long reunion. Soon the questioning started again. 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.040 Pullman implied to jog Sung that song In was about 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.359 to be arrested for the crime unless Jeong Sung did 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:19.280 something to stop it. You know what you did, song 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.520 In remembered Chief Pullman telling his brother, why don't you 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.880 say something and let your brother go? Your little brother 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.800 has a good future. We just want you to say 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.800 something and let him go out. When this emotional pressure 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.880 did not work, the detectives increased the prisoner's discomfort. They 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.399 denied them trips to the bathroom. They gave them no food. 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:45.080 When Jangsung, increasingly ill, slumped in his chair, song In 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:49.600 handed him a cushion, Detective Kelly took it away, saying, 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.240 don't think you are home. You are in our power. 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.800 You have got to do what we say. The questioning 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:01.639 continued all night. By five am, the detectives were exhausted 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:05.840 and Jiangsung was on the verge of collapse. The detectives 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.320 had to carry him out. Both brothers were taken to 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:14.280 the tenth Precinct station house. There, Jiangsung was finally allowed 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.439 to sleep. When he woke up that evening, the questioning 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:22.399 began again. Inspector Grant told Jiangsung, quote, if you are 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:26.000 guilty and your brother is innocent, now is the time 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:30.280 to tell it. After nearly a week of mental and 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:34.720 physical suffering, Jiangsung could take it no more. He told 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.320 detectives that he had been there when the killings happened, 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.800 but it had not been him who shot the mission's staff. 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:45.160 Oh Bin Shin had killed Theodore Wang and Shia Tchiangxi, 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:48.680 he said, and then a businessman named c h Chen 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:54.480 killed Whu. Xiang Sung, too tired to speak more, stopped there. 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.320 He told officers he would tell them more the next 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:00.880 day if they let him sleep. The next morning, Jiang 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:04.680 Sung laid out what happened. He and U Bin Chin 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:07.800 had plotted to forge a check from the mission, but 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.639 doctor Wang had discovered their plan and was going to 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.280 alert the police. Whu told Jiangsung to come over to 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:16.240 the mission on the evening of the twenty ninth to 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.400 figure out what to do. But at the mission, who 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:23.240 had lost his head, he had shot Wang and Siya. 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:28.639 Jiangsung had been horrified and furious, so he not a 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.520 businessman named Chen, as he had claimed the night before, 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.400 had shot Wu. Jiangsung said his brother had no idea 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:40.119 about any of it. My brother is absolutely innocent, he 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.159 told detectives. He had no part in the killing. He 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.280 knew nothing of it. He was only my tool in 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.480 attempting to pass the forged check. When the bank had 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:53.280 not accepted the check. Jiangsung had abandoned the plan and 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.560 headed for New York, throwing away the forged check in 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:01.840 the train bathroom. Jiangsung was arrested murder. The police did 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:05.119 not arrest Sung In immediately, but kept him in jail. 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.600 The two brothers were allowed to share a cell, and 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:13.199 Thong In tended to his ailing older brother. Jiangsung signed 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:17.120 a type statement of his confession. He told Inspector Grant, 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:20.760 I'm glad this is off my mind. Doctor Wang was 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.120 my friend and my mother in Shanghai had entrusted him 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.800 to care for me in this country. I never wanted 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.359 him killed, so I killed U for what he had done. 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:32.639 I'm glad it is all over. You now have the 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.280 whole truth. I am not going to fight the case 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.560 you built against me. I want no lawyer. I know 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:41.400 what I have done, and I will take my medicine 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:45.679 as you Americans say. But just one day later, Jiang 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:51.199 Sung changed his mind. Now he wanted to fight. What 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:56.000 had happened to cause this change the coroner's inquest, which 0:21:56.040 --> 0:22:00.000 took place on February tenth and eleventh. The jury there 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:04.720 concluded that both Jiangsung and Sung In were responsible for 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:09.640 the murders. Jogsung was horrified. I must have a lawyer now, 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:12.080 he said, because they do not believe what I tell them. 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:14.480 I have told them the truth that my brother might 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.040 not suffer. Now they are going to punish him too. 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.159 I must make them understand that I am the only 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:24.399 man living who is to blame. Before, Jiangsung would have 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:28.040 said anything to protect his brother or to get some sleep, 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:31.159 But now it seemed that his eyes were open to 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.480 the dangers in front of him, and these dangers were 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:39.280 very real. If Jangsung was found guilty of first degree murder, 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:46.760 he would be sentenced to death. Shortly after the coroner's inquest, 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:51.200 the brothers were transferred to the district jail, an outdated, 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.719 dilapidated facility. The jail did not look much different than 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:58.480 it had when Charles Guitteau had stayed there forty years earlier, 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:02.600 and the gallows from which Guittau had been hanged spoiler 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:06.199 alert for episode four of History on Trial still stood 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:09.879 in the courtyard, an ominous reminder of what Jog Sung 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:13.560 was up against. He would have many days to watch 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:16.679 the gallows. It took more than seven months for the 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:20.920 grand jury to return indictments in the case. Though John Laski, 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:24.400 the United States attorney for d C, had publicly expressed 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:28.880 confidence in the case, he was actually very concerned. Laski 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:32.720 thought that Jangsun's confession, which the prisoner had now taken back, 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:36.760 might very well be thrown out at trial. Laski also 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:39.600 wondered whether the police had been too hasty to narrow 0:23:39.640 --> 0:23:44.080 in on one suspect, ignoring other possible leads, leads that 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:49.399 could introduce reasonable doubt at trial. Still, Laski managed to 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:52.879 convince a grand jury. In late September. The grand jury 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:57.320 handed down indictments, three for first degree murder for Jiangsung 0:23:57.720 --> 0:24:02.119 and one for passing a forged check sung In. Jiangsung 0:24:02.320 --> 0:24:04.600 must have been relieved that his brother was no longer 0:24:04.640 --> 0:24:08.760 implicated in the murder, but he had other concerns. His 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:11.720 medical condition was worsening, and he had to spend time 0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:16.080 in the jail's red cross room. On October seventh, nineteen nineteen, 0:24:16.440 --> 0:24:20.120 in the Washington d C. Supreme Court, Jangsung and Sung 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:24.920 In pled not guilty. Judge Ashley M. Goule granted Song 0:24:25.000 --> 0:24:28.639 In bail, and he headed back to New York. Jiangsung 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:32.919 returned to the district jail to await trial outside of 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:37.120 the jail, His lawyers, James O'shay, John Sachs, and Charles 0:24:37.119 --> 0:24:41.840 Fahey were working feverishly. How exactly these lawyers came to 0:24:41.880 --> 0:24:45.439 be hired or who was paying them is unknown, but 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:50.080 they would fight tirelessly for their client. The central issue 0:24:50.080 --> 0:24:54.679 of Jiangsung's trial was his confession. Was it admissible or not. 0:24:55.600 --> 0:24:59.080 Jiangsung's lawyers would argue that it was not, that it 0:24:59.119 --> 0:25:03.600 had been obtained through coercion and pressure. O'Shea introduced this 0:25:03.760 --> 0:25:07.800 idea as early as jury selection, asking jurors, in Scott 0:25:07.800 --> 0:25:12.119 Seligman's words quote, if they would afford a confession obtained 0:25:12.160 --> 0:25:16.560 after eight days grilling of a sick prisoner denied communication 0:25:16.720 --> 0:25:21.000 with his friends as much consideration as one given voluntarily 0:25:21.160 --> 0:25:26.200 under different circumstances. The prosecution also thought carefully about how 0:25:26.240 --> 0:25:29.679