United States v. Lau Sun Ho

• Decision Date: 02 February 1898
• Docket Number: 3,500.
• Citation: 85 F. 422
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. LAU SUN HO.

85 F. 422

UNITED STATES v. LAU SUN HO.

No. 3,500.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. California.

February 2, 1898

H. S Foote, U.S. Atty.

Thos D. Riordan, for defendant.

DE HAVEN, District Judge.

The affidavit upon which this proceeding is based charges that the defendant is now unlawfully within the limits of the United States, and it is further charged therein that the defendant--

'Reached the said port of San Francisco, state and Northern district of California, from Hong Kong, China, on the steamship, Peru in the month of December, 1896, and by means of false and fraudulent representations that she was a native born of the said United States, made to the collector of said port, his deputies and officers, having then and there in charge the examination of Chinese persons making application to land at said port, she, the said Lau Sun Ho, * * * was then and there and thereby landed, on the 20th day of January, 1897, by said collector, at said port, whereas, in truth and in law the said Lau Sun Ho * * * was not then and there, or at any time entitled to land at said port, and be within the limits of the United States, inasmuch as she was not a native born, as falsely claimed by her.'

The sufficiency of this affidavit is not to be determined by the strict rules applicable to pleadings, and, giving to it a very liberal construction, the affidavit may be construed as charging that the defendant is a Chinese laborer, and not lawfully entitled to remain in the United States. The special referee to whom the case was referred, with instructions to hear the testimony and report to the court the facts, and to recommend such judgment as in his opinion ought to be entered, has filed his report, in which he says:

'The only material evidence submitted for my consideration is the order of the collector of customs of said port, permitting her to land, and the testimony of Mrs. Hull (who understands the Chinese language), of the Methodist Mission, where the defendant has been for the last seven months, and of Look Gum, a female Chinese interpreter there, to the effect that the defendant told them several times in the Chinese language, since she has been at said mission, that she was born in China, outside of Canton, that she had been deceived in coming here, and that she wanted to be returned to her mother, in China; and, further, that she had been taken by them to said mission from a brothel in Ross alley, in this city. Had there been no previous investigation and decision by an officer having full jurisdiction to hear and determine the right of the defendant to enter the United States, I should have no hesitation in finding that she was born in China, and a subject of the Chinese empire; for she arrived at said port from China, she speaks only the Chinese language, in dress, features, and general appearance she resembles Chinese females, and her own statements given in evidence are that she was born in China. Upon what evidence the collector decided that the defendant was entitled to enter the United States, and to remain therein, I am advised; but I must assume, and I have no doubt, that the evidence was ample to warrant his decision. Such decision having been duly made, the burden of proof is upon the government to clearly establish that it was obtained 'by means of false and

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