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| Children playing marbles, circa 1900s. Robert Neff Collection |
By Robert Neff
Yi Sung-tak was a young man from Pyongyang ― likely a Christian ― who arrived in Seoul in 1893 in search of a career.
Like many young men, he dreamed of becoming rich and powerful and knew that a good education was key to his success. Somehow, possibly through family connections, he managed to gain the coveted entrance into one of the few foreign schools in Korea at the time, Paichai, where he studied English.
With the knowledge he gained from school and Korea's continued modernization and interaction with the rest of the world, his future seemed reasonably secured. It should have been, but Sung-tak was a troubled youth.
Most of his fellow students were young men of good character and high morals, but he was different ― he was an avid gambler, and, judging from the following events, not a very good one.
Gambling in Korea was illegal (but prevalent) and offenders were often beaten with sticks and/or imprisoned. The Independent (an English-language newspaper published in Seoul) is filled with accounts of police raids on gambling dens ― it seemed nowhere was safe from these police raids, except for the homes and legations of foreigners residing in Seoul.
It wasn't uncommon for Korean servants employed in these residences or at the legations to gamble ― the Korean police were usually powerless to enter and arrest them, so the foreigners generally lightly punished or fired them.
Apparently, this protection from the police also extended to the Paichai School and in March 1896, Sung-tak was caught gambling on school property. The police were not summoned but he was promptly expelled.
It is unclear what he did immediately following his expulsion, but it does not seem to have suited him. After only a couple of months, he returned to Paichai and begged to be allowed to re-enter the school. It was only through his contrite pleas for forgiveness and his enthusiastic promises of good behavior that he was re-instated. However, the school authorities warned him that they would tolerate no more infractions of the rules.
In July 1896, the school closed for the summer and the students were released to return to their homes and families. Sung-tak, however, did not return home. For almost a month his actions were unaccounted for and it is probably not unreasonable to imagine him wiling away his time and money in one of the underground gambling dens scattered about the city.
By the end of July or early August, Sung-tak found himself penniless. Unable beg or borrow, he elected to steal the money he needed to continue his life as a student.
He went to a gold dust dealer in Jeongdong and convinced the merchant that he represented a foreigner who desired to buy a large amount of gold dust. The merchant believed the smart, young educated man and agreed to have his servant accompany him with 22 ounces of gold to the foreigner's residence.
The two men made their way through the bustling streets of the city and then out the gate before proceeding up into the mountains surrounding Peking Pass (near the Independence Arch). As they got farther away from the main road, Sung-tak reassured the servant that the foreign buyer lived just over the next slope.
According to The Independent, "when they reached a certain lonely spot, Sung-tak pulled out the blade of a sword cane and slashed the clerk on the shoulder and neck and kicked him down the precipice. The clerk was killed immediately." Sung-tak then went down, recovered the gold, and carefully concealed the body beneath a layer of rocks and branches.
Sung-tak returned to Seoul and, later in the day, went back to the gold dust dealer and innocently inquired as to the whereabouts of the clerk. When the alarmed dealer replied that the clerk had not returned, Sung-tak, in feigned surprise, informed the man that the clerk had sold the gold to the foreigner earlier that morning and had left by himself, supposedly returning to Seoul. The gold dust merchant grew suspicious and summoned the police.
After a short investigation, the police discovered the body and the former student was promptly arrested. In mid-September he was convicted of the murder and robbery of the clerk and was sentenced to hang on the afternoon of September 15 in the city prison.
However, just before his execution, a dispute broke out between the judge and the chief of police. The chief of police was insulted when the judge sent Sung-tak's execution order directly to him instead of to a lesser police official. He felt that he outranked the judge and that the judge had not following the proper protocol. He therefore refused to follow the judge's instructions and Sung-tak's execution was indefinitely postponed.
It is unclear when Sung-tak was eventually executed but there is little doubt that he did meet his fate. His gamble had cost him his life.
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