Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan, volume 2.pdf/158

132 “Was this feat at all difficult to perform?”

“No, your honour, it was not so very difficult for a skilful juggler, except that he needed to be in complete command of steady nerve.”

“Then is it impossible to look upon it as a mere accident on the part of Fan?”

“Of course, your honour, such a performance had its risks, very possible risks.”

“Then do you think that this accident may have been an intentional crime?”

“No, your honour, I don’t think that at all, because, you see, it was a feat in which one must make the best of one’s only skill, and also make use of a certain intuitive talent in throwing knives from a distance of twelve feet; and one can’t be certain that it can be done as surely as by using some machine for the purpose. It is true, your honour, that before it really happened. It didn’t enter our heads that such an accident might be possible. But now that it has happened, we don’t care for people to think that we had entertained any such fear, and we don’t care to be judged accordingly.”

“What is your opinion of the real truth of the occurenceoccurrence [sic]?”

“I don’t know at all.”

The judge seemed puzzled. All the facts of the case pointed to murder, yet there was no evidence allat all [sic] to decide whether it had been intentional or not. If it had been an intentional murder, he felt that no subtler crime could be committed.