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True Case of Murder in Ancient China
The Clue of the Ants
For most of China’s history, there was no police force. The District Magistrate, the bottom rung on the governmental pyramid, was the detective and judge in criminal cases. He had to investigate a crime, arrest, and judge the guilt or innocence of the suspect, then pronounce sentence. Without forensic science, he relied on his knowledge of human behavior, his skill at questioning witnesses, and his own ability to draw conclusions from clues. Eventually, if he performed well, he may be promoted to Prefect, and oversee ten or so Districts.
Yen Tsun was known as an able magistrate during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE — 220 CE), and was subsequently promoted to Prefect of Yang-chou. One quiet afternoon, he gathered his lieutenants and set on a tour of the countryside. The loud crying of a woman sent the group to a small dwelling where they found her .
The wailing woman gasped that her husband had died in a small fire. His body, partially burned, lay on the floor.
The Prefect made two critical observations. First, the woman, while lamenting loudly, had no tears. In fact, it seemed to the official that she was crying more in fear than in grief.
Second, although there were no obvious injuries on the body, and, although no blood was visible due to the charring, some ants had congregated on the top of the man’s head. Although the record doesn’t reflect the details of his examination of the body, the Prefect probably also noted no soot in the man’s mouth.
Suspecting foul play, Prefect Yen ordered one of his men to keep a eye on the woman until the coroner could do a thorough autopsy. (During the Han Dynasty, autopsies were mostly external examinations of a washed corpse and, on occasion, they followed procedures to detect poisonings. Coroners were usually local apothecaries and/or funeral directors, so had keen knowledge of poisons and signs of injury.)
While waiting for the coroner to be notified, the woman slipped away. She was followed discreetly by the lieutenant to a neighboring hut where a man waited for her. This…
