Page 165 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

151.

did indeed fall overboard. However, several men created a

stir by avowing under oath that they had heard various

witnesses immediately after the incident aver that they

had seen an earthenware jar knock the woman off the boat.

The alleged witnesses later denied having made such state-
7
ments.

From the depositions gathered by Consul Wilcocks,

the woman's death would seem to have been her own fault.

But the Chinese viewed the incident differently. The local

authorities entered the affair on September 24, when the

dead woman's husband informed the P'an-yu· (local magistrate)

in a petition that a foreign seaman had thrown a jar at

his wife, wounding her and causing her to drown. This pe­

tition was the crux of the affair, since the man claimed

that the seaman had hit the woman with the jar. The Chin­

ese authorities never waivered from this interpretation

of the incident. They naturally were inclined to believe

the statements of the deceased's family, since familial

ties were one of the foundations of Chinese society. Other

Chinese who professed to have witnessed the event cor­

roborated the foreign seaman's involvement. The P'an-yu·

7
All depositions were witnessed by two Americans.
Terranovia's statement and the others are in U.S., Depart­
ment of State, Consular Despatches: Canton, B.C. Wilcocks,
Nov. 1, 1821. From the depositions Terranovia would
appear to have been innocent, although he never stated how
he gave the jar to the woman. That the jar was thrown and
hit the woman, as the Chinese claimed, is not completely
ruled out by the statements given Wilcocks. Whether Ter­
ranovia threw the jar or not was the crux of the whole
accusation.