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Among the items which required his initials was a communication from Headquarters, United States Marine Corps: A promotion board having been convened to consider candidates for promotion to the grade of corporal had reached the end of its deliberations. There were thirty names on the list and there were twelve vacancies within the Marine Corps for corporals. Therefore, commanding officers of the first twelve names on the list were herewith directed to issue promotion orders for the individuals concerned. As additional vacancies occurred, authority would be granted to promote individuals on the list numbers 13 through 30.
The second name on the list was PFC Ke
The Navy, and thus the Marine Corps, was governed by common law of the United States, and a pillar of that code of justice was that an accused was presumed i
The colonel had just been directed by Hq, USMC, to promote PFC McCoy to Corporal McCoy, an action that would be very difficult to explain to the colonel commanding the Italian marines and to the Consul General of the King of Italy at Shanghai. It would look as if the punishment for stabbing to death two Italians was promotion to corporal.
Captain Ba
He was still considering the problem, and half expecting his telephone to ring with a call from either the S-l or the colonel's sergeant-major, when his clerk knocked at the door, put his head in, and a
As incredible as it sounded, had Chatworth turned up two witnesses? In so short a time?
"Ask him to come in, please." Ba
Chatworth came in with two coolies. Ba
"Good morning, Captain," Detective Sergeant Chatworth said. "May I present Constable Hang Chee and Senior Patrolman Kin Tong?"
The two coolies bowed their heads.
"Constable Hang and Patrolman Kin were fortunately in a position to see the McCoy incident from start to finish. Tell the captain what you saw, Hang."
Constable Hang spoke English very softly, but well. He reported that PFC McCoy had just stepped out of his rickshaw near the compound gate when he was beset by the five Italians and had no choice but to defend himself.
"He was three blocks from the compound," Ba
"Now that you mention it," Constable Hang said, "that's right. There were four Italian marines and the assault took place several blocks from the compound entrance."
It was clear to Ba
"What's going on, Sergeant Chatworth?" Ba
"You wanted witnesses, I found them," Chatworth said. "Will a sworn statement suffice, do you think, or will these officers have to testify in court?"
I don't want McCoy to go to Portsmouth, either. But I am a Marine officer, and I can't close my eyes and pretend I believe Chatworth's Chinese.
"I could not put these men on the stand," Ba
"You're a bloody fool, then, Ba
"Good day, Sergeant Chatworth," Ba
"I'll send the report of these officers concerning the incident they witnessed to you via the British Consulate," Chatworth said. "It'll take two, three days to get here, I'd suppose."
"I told you: as much as I might personally like to, I can't put these men on the stand."
"Why not?" Chatworth asked.
"Being very blunt, I'm not sure I believe your men. Goddamn it, I know I don't believe them."
"That's not really for you to decide, is it?" Chatworth said. "And, if you don't let these men testify, wouldn't that be 'suppression of evidence'?"
"Why the hell are you doing this?" Ba
"We're just doing our duty as we see it," Chatworth said, sarcastically. "I can only hope that you're not one of those bloody fools who doesn't know he's in Shanghai and thinks he can go by the bloody book."
"How dare you talk to me that way?" Ba
"What are you going to do about it?" Chatworth asked calmly.
"I tell you now, Sergeant Chatworth, that I intend to discuss this with Captain Fairbairn."
"Odd that you should mention his name," Chatworth said. "Constable Wang and Patrolman Kin are members of Captain Fairbairn's Flying Squad."
Ba
"Sir," he said. "There has been a rather startling development. When PFC McCoy was attacked by the Italian Marines, the whole incident was witnessed' by two Chinese police officers of Captain Fairbairn's Flying Squad. They are prepared to testify that it was clearly a case of self-defense."
"That's bloody well more like it," Detective Sergeant Chatworth said.
Chapter 2
(One)
4th Marine Infirmary Shanghai, China 6 January 1941
PFC Ke
"As you were," Ba
McCoy looked at him warily.
"I want a straight answer to this question, McCoy," Ba
McCoy, Ba
"Good friend of yours, is he?" Ba
"I wouldn't say that, sir," McCoy said. "I know him."
"Sergeant Chatworth has come up with two witnesses to support your allegation of self-defense," Ba
McCoy's eyebrows went up, but he said nothing.
This is a very bright young man, Ba
"The two witnesses were Chinese police officers of Captain Fairbairn’s Flying Squad," Ba
McCoy looked at Captain Ba
"The statements are so much bullshit, of course," Ba
"Sir, so were the statements of the Italians."
"The first thing I thought, McCoy, was that you and Chatworth were involved in something dishonest, and it was a case of one crook helping another. But I just came from seeing Captain Fairbairn, and he tells me that Chatworth is a good man. Off the record, he told me that if Chatworth was getting you out of the mess you're in, that speaks highly for you, because he doesn't normally do things like that."
"I don't know, sir, what you expect me to say," McCoy said.
"You think I'm a sonofabitch, don't you?"
McCoy, his face expressionless, met Ba
"If I were in your shoes, and the officer appointed to defend me against a charge I was i