Case 9: Joe Kum Young

WELLINGTON CITY, WELLINGTON. 24th of September 1905, 7.45pm. The now 68 year old Joe Kum Young, still recovering from his mining injury, was limping down Haining Street. Footsteps quickly approached him from behind. Young may have sensed a wisp of dread when he heard a revolver being cocked from the same direction. A loud gunshot quickly followed, followed by a quicker bullet. Joe Kum Young was shot in the back of the head. He fought his injuries in hospital for the next two hours, but later died at 10pm that night.

The unknown gunman slipped back into the nearby crowds. Escaping in the chaos. Police were lost. It was a random killing, they had no leads. The next day, a man walked calmly into the Lambton Quay Police Station; he placed a revolver on the front desk, then proclaimed proudly, “I have come to tell you that I am the man who shot the Chinaman in the Chinese quarters of the city last evening. I take an interest in alien immigration and I took this means of bringing it under the public notice."

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