From the South China Morning Post this week in: 1905
On Bond Street in London, a charwoman destroyed a $60,000 Turner watercolour and a painting in oils hung beside it. The owner pointed to the painting and said: 'That picture is dusty. Rub a damp cloth over it.'
But the charwoman by mistake rubbed her damp cloth over the watercolour, turning it into a smudge and thus the finest Turner disappeared.
In the first gambling case of its kind to be tried in the colony, his worship Mr F.A. Hazeland convicted three defendants for being keepers of a common gaming house. They were each ordered to pay a fine of $75, in default of 14 days' imprisonment with hard labour. The rest of the 60 defendants ... will each pay a fine of $5, in default of 14 days' jail with hard labour.
The gaming house was discovered on October 8 in a back room on the first floor of 39 Gough Street. A Chinese constable gave a full account of the scene he found. In the room were two small bowls, each containing a fighting cricket, on a table and a small wooden tub. He heard someone say, 'Fight for 50 catties.' Another said: 'I fight for 30.' Two others said: 'Ten catties.' The third defendant, who was two feet from the table on the west side, held a piece of paper, a pen, a small basket and envelopes. When people shouted how much they would fight for, he wrote it down and asked their surnames. The constable saw money pass. A man in the crowd counted out $5 in 20 cent pieces and handed them to the third defendant.
The crickets were placed in the tub and started fighting, which lasted five to six minutes, and the one on the west side won. As the crickets were valuable insects they were returned to the owner. The money and the implements were forfeited.
The captain of an American sailing ship visiting Hongkong recalls this story.
