The first major corruption case after Taiwan's restoration: the US military lieutenant colonel embezzled 60 kilograms of Chinese gold

On November 26, 1945, after embezzling 60 kilograms of Chinese gold, American Lieutenant Colonel Evans rushed to the US military headquarters in Shanghai to apply for discharge on the grounds of family factors.

The first one on the right in the second row could be Evans

After the end of World War II and the defeat and surrender of Japan, on October 25, 1945, Taiwan, its affiliated islands and Penghu Islands, which had been colonized by Japan for 50 years, officially returned to the territory of the motherland.

Evans thinks that he has crossed the sea in secret, but he does not know that there is an old Saying in China: the legal net is restored without leakage.

Evans left Taiwan at a time when the Japanese army was in a state of panic and was on the verge of repatriation or trial; rumors of "Japanese gold" gradually spread from the Japanese headquarters.

In addition, a "strange gold dollar" incident on the Bund in Shanghai also attracted the attention of the Republic of China government.

What kind of "strange" gold dollar is this?

One afternoon in late November 1945, a man named Zheng Renyuan was wandering around the Central Mall in Shanghai, an antique appraiser and collector who had a certain reputation in Shanghai Beach at that time. As he passed a coin stall, Lao Feng, the stall owner he knew well, summoned Zheng Renyuan and said that he had recently received a gold dollar by accident and wanted to ask Boss Zheng to identify what it was.

The word "Fu" is cast on the front and '24K' and '1000' on the back. When Zheng Renyuan saw it, he was shocked, this kind of gold dollar, he had not only never seen it, but also had never even heard of it.

The gold dollar coin was slightly larger than the copper dollar circulating in the Chinese market at that time, while the silver dollar was slightly smaller.

The price was not a problem, and Zheng Renyuan resolutely bought the gold dollar.

Zheng Renyuan took Jin Yuan home and studied it repeatedly.

What does the reverse "1000" mean? Does it represent an amount? Or does it represent a manufacturing number?

Why don't you have a bank name?

Judging from the positive word "Fu", this should be a Chinese product.

Judging from its color and casting level, Zheng Renyuan judged that this should be a product manufactured in recent years.

However, its use can not be judged, it is said that it is a currency for circulation, there is no bank that issues the currency, according to regulations and practices, it can not be listed and circulated.

Therefore, he wanted to go to Lao Feng to find whether he could still get this kind of gold dollar, and he also wanted to know more details about the gold dollar. This is very useful for studying its collectible value.

At this time, one of the key figures who later cracked the US military lieutenant colonel's embezzlement of 60 kilograms of Chinese gold appeared, and this person was the feared military commander Dai Kasa.

Why did Dai Kasa look for Zheng Renyuan?

Did Dai Kasa know that Zheng Renyuan had obtained a "big baby"?

The answer is no.

It turned out that Zheng Renyuan's family was still Dai Kasa's benefactor.

At that time, when Dai Kasa had not yet made a mark on Shanghai Beach, Zheng Renyuan's father Zheng Yukang was already a figure with a head and a face in Shanghai.

One day, Dai Kasa, who was still a little in Shanghai Beach, talked to Zheng Yukang, who met zheng Yukang on the streets of Shanghai in the name of Zhejiang hometown, in order to get a chance to be a seasonal Mr. Running Street.

Later, Dai Kasa went to Guangzhou to apply for the Whampoa Military Academy, and Zheng Renyuan's father gave away a number of oceans as coils.

Later, Dai Kasa made a fortune and became the leader of the military command, and his position was high, but he always remembered the Zheng family's kindness to him, and every time he returned to Shanghai, he would visit the Zheng family and call Zheng Renyuan "Brother Shi".

In Shanghai Beach, few people dared to do anything to the Zheng family.

Zheng Renyuan suddenly received a call from Dai Kasa himself, saying that he was at the International Hotel and immediately sent a car to the Zheng family to pick up Brother Zheng Shi to meet.

Zheng Renyuan brought the "strange" gold dollar and wanted to ask Dai Kasa, the "brother of the world" who had seen the world, to identify it.

Zheng Renyuan took out the gold dollar and put it on the table, and he hadn't said anything yet.

Dai Kasa had no interest in this gold dollar at all, but said that he had invited Zheng Renyuan to come over, that the War of Resistance had been won, that the enemy goods received by the military command, and that there would certainly be more antiques in the cases of corruption and bribery that someone in the next case of punishment and acceptance would involve the value of the case. He wanted to come and go, this role is not a brother.

After the serious conversation, Dai Kasa casually picked up the gold dollar on the table and looked at it.

Looking at it this way, Dai Kasa suddenly looked different.

"Brother, how come you have this thing?" Dai Kasa asked eagerly.

Zheng Renyuan asked hastily: "It should be made in China, right?"

Dai Kasa asked, "Where did Brother Shi get this from?" ”

Zheng Renyuan 1510 explains the origin.

"This thing is useful to me, can you please give it to me?" Dai asked politely.

Zheng Renyuan of course agreed.

Why is Dai Kasa interested in this gold dollar?

It turned out that as world war II drew to a close, the Japanese army was losing ground around the world, and the Japanese troops stationed in Taiwan began to plan to mint gold coins to encourage soldiers to fight bravely in order to boost morale.

In early 1944, the Hong Kong Station of the Military Command accidentally obtained a photograph of a drawing from a senior British mechanic, which was the front and back of the gold dollar in front of him and the cross-section of the corner of the surface of the circular border.

After the Hong Kong Station of the Military Command obtained the photos of the drawings, they were immediately sent to the Chongqing Military Command Headquarters as important information.

Dai Kasa also made a report on this information, and old Jiang still deeply believed it, and made a speech at an important meeting on the content of this information as an example.

After that, for a long time, no information about this was received again.

At this time, Dai Kasa suddenly saw this finished gold dollar, could he not be excited?

That evening, Dai sent a telegram to the working group of the Bureau Headquarters in Taiwan.

It was asked to check whether the gold dollar had indeed been cast by the Japanese troops stationed in Taiwan at that time, and if so, whether it was minted and awarded to the officers and men of the Japanese army as a bonus.

Two days later, the Taiwan Industrial Union called back:

1, In April this year, the casting was successful, a total of 4000 pieces were cast.

2, the Japanese side has not used it;

3, At present, 2,000 pieces have been accepted by the Office of the President of Taiwan Province, kept intact in the warehouse, and will be returned to Nanjing and handed over to the Central Committee.

Where are the other 2,000? There are ghosts inside! Dai Kasa read the telegram and wondered if it was strange, no wonder he would see this kind of gold dollar in Shanghai.

Dai Kasa immediately issued an order to quickly investigate.

At that time, Shanghai Beach was the territory of the military command, and the investigation came by hand.

The military intelligence officer immediately found the stall owner Feng Jusheng (Lao Feng), who confessed that a man named Zhu Yijun had sold it to him.

Zhu Yijun is a member of the Green Gang, with relatively old qualifications, and is the same as Du Yuesheng. The average young Luo Luo in the military command was not yet qualified to talk directly with Zhu Yijun.

The military commander had no choice but to ask Superintendent Yuan Bing to come forward to greet Zhu Yijun and say that he was going to visit him.

Zhu Yijun explained the reason for his gold dollar: his wife cherished money, he was afraid that his wife would be famous, and he had a hobby: gambling. Therefore, his gambling money was offered from a young boy named Zhong Jingen, and he sold the gold dollar to Lao Feng.

Zhong Jinggen is a three-headed man in the area of Jing'an Temple, and usually earns a living by collecting protection fees from thieves and pickpockets who are active in committing crimes in that area.

He confessed that his gold dollar was nicknamed Filial Piety, the leader of a gang of pickpockets. After finding the pickpocket, he offered gold dollars that he had pickpocketed from a young man at the door of the "Paramount Ballroom" one night in November. At that time, I got a wallet, and this gold dollar was placed in the wallet. There were also some bills in the wallet, a central bank passbook, a photo of a woman, and a monthly bus pass.

Soon, the man who had stolen gold dollars at the door of the "Paramount Ballroom" was identified.

This man's name was Huang Zaiyi, a businessman who worked in Shanghai in Taiwan to make local special intentions, and he had an older brother named Huang Zairong, who was also a businessman, and was recently hired as an interpreter by an American officer who accompanied the Nationalist army that established the "Forward Command Post" in early October.

After reading this information, Dai Kasa had an accurate estimate of the situation, believing that the reason for the shortage of 2,000 gold dollars should be related to the US military officer.

After analyzing the facts of the case, the Military Command Office arrested the japanese junior Sasada Hara Sa, the former director of the manager of the Japanese Army's Tenth Front in Taiwan, who had been imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war concentration camp. Tahara Sasuke was the person in charge of the Japanese army's preparation of the gold dollar involved in the case, and he was very clear about the ins and outs of the gold dollar.

It turned out that on October 5, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Evans, the civil affairs director of the U.S. Army Liaison Group in Taiwan (hereinafter referred to as the U.S. Army Liaison Group), arrived in Taipei with the "Forward Command Post of the Administrative Office" of Taiwan Province.

Evans' main task was to convey the official advice of the United States on civil affairs, such as the exchange rate of the US dollar and the issuance of the Taiwan currency, and also to investigate the post-war depressed economy of Taiwan Province, especially the issue of food supply, at the behest of the US military headquarters.

After getting off the plane, Evans consulted about Taiwan's gold reserves at a meeting with a Taiwanese bank. The head of the Taiwan Bank of China replied on the spot: Not at all.

However, Major Harada Sasa (Major), who was in charge of economic affairs in charge of the Japanese army, reported to the headquarters the next day: the Japanese army in Taiwan (the Tenth Front) held 120 kilograms of gold, but this gold had nothing to do with Taiwan silver and was not in the account book.

When Evans heard the news, greed arose; so he took advantage of the fact that China was busy receiving Taiwan's return, and with the official authority of the chief civil affairs officer of the US Military Liaison Group, he secretly embezzled 60 kilograms of them, a total of 1998 gold coins, in the following month or so, and in November 1945, with the convenience of his travels, he and another unsuspecting colleague, Captain Ellongson, smuggled the gold to Shanghai on three occasions, with the assistance of the local Taiwanese businessman Huang Zaiyi (the brother of Huang Zairong, the interpreter of the liaison group). At Omori Bank on Nanjing Road, the gold coins were sold, resulting in a total of about US$106,000 (equivalent to US$1.63 million in 2022).

After Huang Zaiyi arrived at the case, he gave an explanation of the situation, the content of which was the same as that of his brother's confession.

They can directly arrest their own people, but for the Lieutenant Colonel of the United States, the old Chiang Kai-shek is in trouble, and the Americans cannot be offended!

Finally, when Dai Kasa resigned, he said: "This matter should be resolved through diplomatic channels." However, by the time the relevant departments and the Military Command Bureau completed the handover of case materials and formed a negotiation team, it was Already February 1946, and Evans had also retired from the army and fled back to the United States.

This scandal cannot be directly opened to the Americans.

On February 2, 1946, the first day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Yi, the head of the "Chief Executive's Office" in Taiwan Province, wrote a letter to Colonel Gu Deli, head of the LIAISON GROUP of the US Army, and politely asked: Why is the amount of gold received by the Chinese side and the figures reported by the Japanese army so different.

Gu Deli thought that the matter was serious, and it was even more a matter of face, so he immediately interviewed the relevant japanese managers and launched an investigation; only then did he suddenly lead to the first major corruption case after Taiwan's restoration.

On May 10, 1946, the U.S. Liaison Group completed its original mission and withdrew from Taiwan. The case was then referred to the Investigation Division (CID) of the US Military in Shanghai. By this time, the suspect, Evans, had retired from the army. The U.S. Military Investigation Unit completed the investigation and collected relevant evidence before being handed over to the U.S. Department of Justice in 1947.

On May 17, 1947, the FBI arrested him at his home in Evans, California, and then tried him in the Federal Court of Los Angeles on November 2, 1947. According to the US news report on the same day, 97% of the gold coins stolen by the defendants have been recovered (from banks or silver buildings in Shanghai), but there are still dozens but they have never been found.

The trial was held again on 22 July 1947, and the verdict was announced: Evans was convicted of embezzlement in office and sentenced to six years' imprisonment; the period of detention before sentencing was offset by two days per day, and parole was granted after half of the sentence was served; and all the stolen money and stolen goods involved in the case were confiscated and returned to the Chinese government.

This case can be called the first major corruption case since Taiwan's restoration. The culprit, Lieutenant Colonel Evans of the US Army, was bold and crude in his modus operandi, and he was seeing his arrogance and pride. In order to exonerate himself, some of the absurd plots he fabricated showed his despicable character.

In this case, the locations where the gold coins were stored, obtained and transferred were located within a 5-kilometer radius of Taipei XXX, respectively, and the relevant places for selling gold in Shanghai were located within 3 kilometers of Nanjing Road. Before 2000 AD, from the bottom of Bo'ai Road into the back entrance of Taipei Botanical Garden, not far from the left front, just outside the boundary of the park (Taiwan Silver House Area), you can see 3 old-time buildings; they are similar to the gold deposit sites described by Harada and Evans when they testified. According to Harada's testimony, at some point in November 1945, one of the buildings was used as a vault for the Supply Department at the time; it was also briefly stored in three chests of gold in this case. Today, these three buildings have long been demolished and built in Taipei's famous top mansion, Song Tao Yuan.