MAN HE CHUNG
Arizona Republican Newspaper
august 26, 1894

Sam Hang Shung, a life man at Yuma was pardoned yesterday by 
Governor Hughes. The prisoner was sentenced from Cochise 
county on Feb. 20 for the murder of Man He Chung.  The 
application for the pardon contains an interesting story.

The prisoner and the murdered man were partners in a market 
gardening business near Tombstone. Man Hee Chung attended 
to the raising of vegetables and the prisoner peddled them 
in Tombstone and neighboring mining camps. On his return to 
the garden one day his partner accused him of having gambled 
away the proceeds of the day's sales. A quarrel ensured 
and the prisoner was assaulted by his partner who was 
armed with a heavy shovel.  Believing that his life was 
in danger, San Hang Shung seized a hatchet and struck 
his assailant one blow form the effect of which he died.

At the trial the prisoner pleaded guilty and was sentenced 
to the penitentiary for life. In explanation of his plea he 
says that he belonged to one of the Chinese Six Companies 
and that all other Chinamen in that community belonged to 
other companies. The company to which the murdered man had 
belonged were determined on vengeance and when the case 
was called in court about fifty of them were present. In 
the presence of the court, by signs and whispering they 
threatened that if the defendant did not plead guilty 
they would murder him.