For Eric: A Timeline
Michael Cash
love the pace of this:
June 14, 1:00 p.m.
A human hand is discovered on the banks of Sumidagawa, around the
Hakozaki area
June 15, morning
Another human hand is found along the river, this one under
Azumabashi.
June 18
A human left foot is found in the river, in the area of the Shibaura
docks.
Sometime between June 18 and 23
Having determined the identity of the original owner of the body parts
through matching up fingerprints with those of people with criminal
convictions, the cops set out canvassing the entirety of Tokyo until
they find out where the man was living in Tokyo. (His records showed
him to be living in Tokushima Prefecture).
June 23
Police visit/search the victim's home, question neighbors, etc. They
determine that they actually have a double murder, since the man's
wife went missing the same time he did. A little detective work points
them toward a recently released ex-con, a man who was rooming with
them. His photo is pulled from his criminal records, and every cop in
Tokyo is on the lookout.
June 28
A cop out walking his beat spots the suspect and arrests him.
September 12
Convicted and sentenced to death.
October 12
Redeems a coupon good for one free neck stretching treatment, courtesy
of the state.
I'll refrain from typing up the details of just what it was the guy
did; some people might be eating supper.
The year? 1934.
--
Michael Cash
"I used to have a dog named Michael Cash."
Prof. Ernest T. Bass
Mount Pilot College
http://www.sunfield.ne.jp/~mike/
Eric Takabayashi
What of it?
Michael Cash
<eta...@yahoo.co.jp> gasped and wheezed:
I just thought it remarkable that the whole thing was over and done
with in under four months. The discovery of the crime, the
investigation, the capture, the trial, and the execution. Given the
speed at which the Japanese court system has become famous for moving,
this is blindingly fast by comparison. I dunno, for whatever reason,
when I read about it I thought I would like to share it with you. So
there it is.
Eric Takabayashi
I thought it was another attempt to show me how heinous crimes also occurred
long ago, or perhaps you would drop the zinger that the man was later
exonerated.
No, other than the fact police had fewer such cases to focus their attention
on, thus an easier time solving the case, I am not surprised it happened so
"quickly". It is just one example, however old, of how quickly and
effectively police and the law *could* work if they were more serious.
Here in Fukuyama, locals were rather upset by the body of a woman found in
the immediate vicinity of the police box near the station. Less than a week
later, a homeless man sought for another crime admitted to it.
This does not impress me, as there were two women stabbed dead in their own
homes, one in my neighborhood, and a fatal shooting after one of about six
large robberies, all unsolved by the police.
Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson
<eta...@yahoo.co.jp> wrote:
>No, other than the fact police had fewer such cases to focus their attention
>on, thus an easier time solving the case,
Are you claiming that the Japan murder rate in the '30s was less than
it is now? Please can you show your statistics for this claim. The
best I found was this:
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~lambert/guns/archive/nsw/msg00014.html
which gives a rate of about 3.5 per 100,000 for 1930, versus the
current figure of somewhere under 1 per 100,000, IIRC.
Ken