Lyric and Story: The Killing Of Mah Lin

Story Of The Killing of Mah Lin

     In 1900 an eight year old Rossland boy was tried for murdering a Chinese cook who was working at their home. His name was Ernest Chenoweth and he lived with his mother Mary and two half brothers, Roy Stephens (19 years old) and Merton Stephens (17 years old) in a small shack on 3rd Ave., located very close to where the Gresley-Jones family home was built about 1905 and still stands. There was a tiny kitchen (about 7 feet by 9 feet), a dining room, a parlour where Mary slept and a bedroom where the three boys slept. Mary also had another son, Hugh Stephens (about 14 years old), who was not living at home. I've never been able to find out when they first came to Rossland, but her second husband, Mr. Chenoweth, left Rossland in the spring of 1899, abandoning Mary and the boys. They moved into the shack on 3rd Ave. in August of 1899. Roy and Merton were working in the mines. On either the 14th or the 21st of May, 1900 Mary hired Mah Lin (who had been in Rossland since about New Years) to cook breakfasts and suppers for $16 a month.
     On the 23rd of May, Mah Lin came to cook the evening meal. According to Ernest's own words he was "playing house with a tin pan, two cups, and some broken dishes" in the yard when Mah Lin came at about 4:30. At about 5:30 Mah Lin was discovered dead of a gunshot to the head. The inquest concluded he was shot by "person unknown", but Jack Ingram, the Rossland Chief of Police wouldn't leave it alone. Now Jack seems to have had something against Mary and her boys. He was quoted as saying that Mary "is no better than a prostitute and her 3 sons are very tough boys.", an odd comment considering Jack's questionable past. In any case he had Ernest pegged for it right from the start. The Chinese Benevolent Society was very interested in solving the case after the early public sentiment blaming the Chinese for the crime. Ingram advised them to hire Pinkerton's, which they did. So a Mr. Ahern from Pinkerton's came and after a couple of days decided that Ingram was right. On Sunday, 22 July, he and Mr. Raymer ( of the Rossland police force) went to the Allan Hotel were Mary worked and talked her into letting them take Ernest to the basement for " no more than half an hour" to interogate him. After 4 hours, during which time Mary was not allowed to see him, Mr Ahern obtained a confession and Ernest was arrested. Mr. Raymer was never actually present when Ernest confessed. He only was present at the end when Mr. Ahern dictated a confession and Ernest agreed with it.

Ernest Chenoweth's Confession: " I was watching chickens for Mrs. Wright a little after four o'clock on May 23. I remember it was the day before the Queen's birthday. I saw Mah Lin, the Chinaman employed by my mother as cook enter the kitchen by the back door. I went in by the same door shortly afterwards and he was slicing potatoes. I said to Mah Lin, ' I killem you,' meaning I kill you. I left the kitchen and passed through the front room and into the bedroom and got over the bed which was in the southwest corner of the room, and took a 32-calibre Remington rifle which belonged to my brother Roy, which was standing in the corner of the room at the back of the bed, and left the bedroom and passed into the front room. Before going into the front room and while I was on the bed I raised the trigger and snapped it, then I went towards the Chinaman Mah Lin. I said, as I raised the gun and aimed at him: 'Now here you go John." I then pulled the trigger. I was standing near the door of the kitchen. He smiled as I said " Here you go." He had a dish of beans in his hand. I pulled the trigger and he fell towards me, his head towards the front room door. He kicked around, and there was blood running from his mouth and nose. He did not speak, but made a gurgling sound. Then I put the gun back where I found it, and then went to the kitchen and said: " Did I kill you, John; did I kill you?" I then ran out the back kitchen door and went down towards the depot, and met Johnnie Perry there at the depot. I then went down Lincoln street, and met my mother and Mrs. King coming up from town. I did not tell her I killed Mah Lin, but I killed him. I didn't want to tell her for fear she would whip me. I told my mother about it before the inquest in court. She told me not to say anything about it. She was the only person I told of having killed him. I put the gun back in the corner again after I shot him. I was standing in the dining room when I shot him.

QUESTION:  Was you much scared when you shot him?

ANSWER:  No, not much. I was glad one Chinaman was out of the way. I was afraid of the Chinaman for fear they would kill me. That was the reason I didn't tell the truth at the investigation. He smiled when I pointed the gun at him, but the smile left his face mighty quick when I shot him.

Acknowledged before me on July 22, 1900.

(Signed) Edward Bowes (Coroner)
(Signed) Ernest Chenoweth
(Signed) F. E. French     (Signed) Dan McDougall (witnesses)

**********

     In August they took Ernest to jail in Nelson to await trial in late October. Mary went on the train every day to visit him. The train would leave early in the morning and return in the evening, about 12 hours later. The trial became very political, with the provincial government courting the Chinese vote at the coast for the upcoming election. The Deputy Attorney-General himself came up to prosecute the case. The confession was never heard in court since it had been obtained under some measure a duress and an assurance by Mr. Ahern to Ernest that he would never be prosecuted for it. Also the defence was never given the opportunity to cross examine Mr. Ahern since he was never brought back for the trial (and since he was the only one who actually witnessed the original confession). The jury did hear from some city workers who Ernest had bragged to about the killing, saying "I never saw a son-of-a-bitch die as quick as the Chinaman".
     In any case the jury put their heads together for a few minutes without leaving the jury box and acquitted Ernest. He remains to this day the youngest person in Canada ever to stand trial for a capital crime.
     I don't know how long Ernest remained in Rossland, but by 1925 he was registered in Chico, Shasta County, California as a member of the Socialist Party. Roy Stephens was the last relative of Ernest's living in Rossland. Alfie still has a postcard that Roy and Margaret sent him on one of their visits to Chico.

Lyric: The Killing of Mah Lin
©2002 Wayne Krewski (SOCAN) All rights reserved.

"The Killing Of Mah Lin" can be found on the CD "Toe Tappin' - No Rappin'"

The twentieth century had barely begun when a young man came to town.
He came with his dreams from the White Cloud Mountains of China, northeast of Guangzhou.
His name was Mah Lin and his age nineteen. He found Rossland akin to his home.
He thought he'd stay and seek fortune awhile; he had no desire to roam.
In the middle of May, Mary Chenoweth hired Mah Lin as a cook.
Breakfast at five and dinner at six, he worked as long as it took
To light the fire and cook the meals and clean up the kitchen he'd stay;
He was happy to have the work, sixteen dollars a month was his pay.

Refrain Mah Lin was only a young man from China, far from home and alone.
Who would have thought he was destined to die so young, no fault of his own?
What culture would create such indifference to the value of life,or hate inflame,
That even in trying to solve the crime the point of it all was the blame?

On May twenty third at half past four, Lin came for the evening meal.
Eight year old Ernest was home, but the cause of what followed he'd never reveal.
He was out in the yard playing house with some dishes when Mah Lin arrived to prepare.
His story was told and confirmed by others - by five he was playing elsewhere.
In any event at half past five Lin was found shot in the head.
The blame should be laid at the door of the Chinese Tongs at first it was said.
But right from the start Chief Ingram believed that Ernest Chenoweth was the one.
He called Mary a harlot and her sons hard cases, but no indictment he won.

Now Ingram was run out of Calgary and Winnipeg for running with girls of the night.
You can't help but wonder if Mary had spurned him and coloured his reason with spite.
Whatever his reasons he was probably right in assessing the blame for the crime.
In spite of the prejudice against the Chinese, no blame could be found at the time.
Now some said Ernest was simple and what he was told could be made to admit.
Others said that his endless chatter was proof of his knowledge and wit.
A man from Pinkerton's came from Seattle to try and shed some light.
And after two days of poking around he decided that Ingram was right.

They arrested Ernest and Pinkerton's got a confession of guilt from the lad.
But the Judge cried “Foul” and said that the jury would never hear what he had said.
They took him to jail in Nelson for trial, half a day's journey by rail,
And Mary went daily for two and a half months; she couldn't afford the bail.
The Deputy Attorney-General himself came to prosecute the case and to plead.
But the jury acquitted without deliberation and Ernest Chenoweth was freed.
He remains to this day the youngest in Canada tried for a capital crime.
Was he evil or just a young boy who put action to the voice of his time?