Heungshan Mandarins to remove from Hongkong, had left for Macao that morning with his wife and children, but they also found themselves poisoned, and Ah-lum was returning voluntarily to Hongkong when he was arrested. Strange to say, bis workmen did not run away even after the poison had taken effect, but remained at the bakery until the police, after a delay of many hours, came and arrested 51 men. As many as 42 of them were kept for 20 consecutive days and nights on remand, in an underground police cell, 15 feet square by 12 feet high. It was thenceforth justly termed 'the Black Hole of Hongkong.' The local papers seriously urged the Governor 'to have the whole of the poisoning crew of E-sing's bakery strung up in front of the shop where the scheme was concocted.' Justices of the Peace, shrinking from the application of lynch law, entreated the Governor to proclaim forthwith martial law and to deport every Chinaman whose loyalty could not be vouched for. Though every member of his family suffered from the poison, Sir John remained calm and rejected all suggestions of hasty measures. But to the eyes of the terror-stricken community his firmness bore at the time the aspect of callous indifference. When, by the end of the month, the excitement had somewhat abated, the European residents still complained that nothing was done by the Governor to assure public confidence against the recurrence of a similar or worse catastrophe, and that the deportation (to Hainan) of 123 prisoners, released owing to the overcrowded state of the gaol, increased the general feeling of insecurity.
The result of the criminal prosecution instituted against Ah-lum and his workmen was equally unsatisfactory to the public mind. There was no evidence incriminating the persons arrested, and Ah-lum, who was defended by the Acting Colonial Secretary (Dr. W. T. Bridges), was acquitted by the verdict of an impartial jury. He was, however, re-arrested as a suspicious character and detained in gaol until July 31st, 1857, when he was released, by order of the Secretary of State, on condition of his not resorting to the Colony for five years.
