Part Three – The Gold Bar Murder Case – Shanghai 1947 – “That’s the 15th notch on my gun butt”

Posted: November 25th, 2015 | No Comments »

See previous two posts

Part One – “It was a foreigner who shot me”

Part Two – “Drag him out the car”

The US Military Court Martial reconvened the next day and heard the final evidence from Archer. Archer reiterated that it was Corporal Malloy who had shot Yu and claimed that afterwards Malloy told him, “that’s the 15th notch on my gun butt”.

But the tribunal heard from others besides Malloy and Archer…

First it was shown that both men had previous criminal records. Archer, the Hong Kong-born Briton, had a number of convictions for fraud and larceny, while Malloy had a previous conviction for armed robbery in Chicago when he was 18. He had been sentenced to 12 years but had been released early to join the army during the war.

Secondly a witness was produced who claimed that Archer had told them the day before the murder that they were going to defraud Yu of his gold and if he resisted then violence would be used.

Both men had claimed that only one shot was fired. However, a doctor who examined Yu’s corpse on August 4th found several bullet holes – on his hand and on both the front and the back of his body.  This doctor claimed that Yu had been repeatedly shot and then bled to death by the roadside. Next a doctor at the US Army Shanghai Detachment Hospital (where Malloy worked) also examined Yu’s body – later on August 15th after obtaining permission from Yu’s widow to open his coffin. He claimed that Yu had been shot repeatedly, but had died from a shot to the chest.

Another witness came forward to state that Malloy did indeed own a gun and had recently purchased a holster for it. Malloy denied it was his gun and asserted that it was Archer’s and that Archer had tried to foist the gun on him as payment for the outstanding debt he owed Malloy. A further witness also testified that the day after the murder they had heard Malloy inquiring the current value of ten-ounce gold bars.

Sentence was pronounced by the 11-man military tribunal – Malloy was found guilty of Murder in violation of Article of War 92 (dereliction of duty). The Court decided it would never get to the bottom of who actually pulled the trigger and decided that, even if it was Archer, Malloy had never made an attempt to run from the car and raise the alarm, nor had he made a serious attempt to stop the shooting or bring Archer to justice after the event. The court also noted that Malloy had illegally worn civilian clothing on the streets of Shanghai and had used a hat to cover his distinctive blond hair indicating an attempt to disguise himself. Additionally, after the events, he had made no effort to report Archer for the murder, if indeed that was what had happened. It was also ascertained that it had been Malloy, rather than Archer, who had searched the car later for the spent cartridge, found it, and disposed of it.

Malloy reportedly heard the sentence read to him “without emotion”. He was sentenced to dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures and confinement at hard labour for life. A reviewing authority approved the sentence.

Archer was convicted of the murder of Yu by the Chinese District Court for Shanghai – he was sentenced to life imprisonment in a Chinese jail.

There are a couple of postscripts to the case – in December 1949 Malloy petitioned the Federal District Court for the First Division of Kansas arguing that he should not have been tried by a court martial, but by a Chinese court as it was an offense against a Chinese citizen on Chinese territory and that the proof against him which led to his conviction was insufficient. Major General E.M. Brannon Judge Advocat General denied the petition.

The other postscript, concerning the fate of Archer, is worth a final post….

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