Compiled by Miss Abigail Wright
March 8th, 1924
1. China
Miss Chang Lei-An, investigating member
The knock-on effect of your investigation in mainland China has been far-reaching. The Black Scorpion tong in particular has suffered substantial setbacks - for starters, the closure of the Red Lotus, the seizure of over $50,000 worth of opium and twenty-one arrests of staff and members - and although predictably this has led to an advance in the fortunes of rival triads, overall there has been a change - however slight - for the better.
With your capture of Mr Teng Tai-lu, Dr Sin's auctioneer, and one of the tong's foremost bureaucrats, the police were able to make significant inroads into the Black Scorpion's Peking operations before they changed their systems. He has also been of great help in deciphering the finer points of the code used for the ledgers, and with the correct persuasion agreed to reveal the true identities of three of the buyers: Miss Min Ti, Mr Sheng Huei and Mr Indra Mahmud. Unfortunately, no further information could be obtained before Teng's untimely demise in custody. His death was apparently the result of suicide by ingestion of poison - to be specific, concentrated scorpion venom - but Miss Chang believes that he received outside "assistance".
One of the buyers whom Mr Teng identified was one Min Ti, a brothel madam from Peking. For some years now, the authorities have turned a blind eye to her establishment - The Golden Carp - which has provided ``recreational services'' to all and sundry, in particular to the personal retinues of whichever warlord or political mandarin has been in charge of Peking at the time. With this identification however, our allies in the Peking police force were able raid the Carp. Six of the prostitutes there were on the list of women sold by the Black Scorpion, and several others were found to be being forced to work there against their will.
Unfortunately, we are still faced with a discrepancy, in that at least five more girls were sold to Min Ti in the last three years. The police are unwilling to make this matter their priority, so Miss Chang will be taking up the investigation personally.
2. Hong Kong
Mr Arthur Sullivan, investigating member
While the Aeon Society does not have a formally established house in Hong Kong, we have three active members there, forming a kind of honourary chapter house: Mr Arthur Sullivan; Miss Constance Kingwood; and Mr Wen Chai-on. Mr Sullivan is the senior member of this group, and under his guidance our Hong Kong members have followed up on a number of leads resulting from the Peking investigation. Of great help have been Mr Thomas Smith of San Francisco, proprietor of Smith, Li and Goyzen Imports, and Mr Li Shen's former secretary Miss Wei Ti-an, both of whom seem eager to distance themselves from Mr Li's crimes.
With the arrest of Mr Li, the Black Scorpion's Hong Kong import route appears to have been severed; certainly the police are adamant that this is the case. Mr Sullivan and his associates are carrying out a close investigation of Mr Li's other business associates, just to be sure. Mr Li's personal files have proven most useful, and his own testimony proved most useful. He has of late clammed up somewhat, and screams for help almost every night since his deportation to Hong Kong. Mr Sullivan fears that the Black Scorpion are attempting to arrange a similar fate to that which met Mr Teng, and has arranged a close watch on the gaol in which Mr Li is being held.
The other main avenue of investigation in Hong Kong concerns Mr Sheng Huei, the buyer identified by Mr Teng. A suspected arms dealer, Mr Shen recently disappeared while on a trip to Peking. He is not believed to have perished in the fire at the Red Lotus, and suspicion fell on his son, Sheng Lu. Sheng Jr was arrested on charges of slavery and suspected murder, and the police attempted to gain information on his arms business. Unfortunately, Mr Sheng committed suicide in prison (by the conventional method of hanging, rather than scorpion venom) before they could learn much of value.
Miss Kingwood's attempts to track the Shengs' business dealings have proven fruitless. There appears to be an ongoing process of obfuscation, leading Mr Sullivan to conclude that some third party has seamlessly seized control of the Sheng outfit. The investigaton in this area is ongoing.
3. India
Mr Karin Sweta, investigating member
The Indian sub-continent enters the investigation through the identification of Mr Indra Mahmud by Mr Teng. Mr Mahmud is an Indian Moslem, once employed by the British government transporting Indian opium to China. More recently he has been in semi-retirement, but we now believe that he has become heavily involved in the transport of illegal goods between anti-European insurgents in India and China. Investigation by Mr Sweta, an itinerant member of our Cairo chapter house, has revealed that Mr Mahmud has had meetings with a number of prominent Europhobe warlords in his home country, as well as making frequent trips to Peking. He has been known to use the alias Indra Mahedi when dealing with Hindu customers, and is not believed to hold any deep, personal political views.
Mr Mahmud has now fled from his home in Calcutta to the Punjab, where we believe he has taken shelter with one of his customers, a Warlord known as Afzal Amir Elahi. The authorities are loath to pursue him into such lawless territory, and for now Mr Mahmud appears to have escaped justice. Mr Sweta informs us however that certain parties have begun spreading information on Mr Mahmud's dealings with the British, and with Hindu warlords, as a result of which his position with Amir Elahi may soon become precarious.
4. South Africa
Investigations in Africa are always made difficult by the general antipathy of the minority elite to our Utopian ideals, and South Africa has been especially troublesome. Our few sources in the country are mostly missionaries, or members of their families. We have also cultivated a few friends ithe black community, but their names are never used in open communications, as in many cases their actions might be deemed criminal.
The connection of South Africa to your case comes from your report of two white men, each protected by two large, black bodyguards. This description fits that of two known flesh traders, operating from Johannesberg, who go by the names Hans and Anders van Deiman. This charming pair - brothers - make little secret of their business in black slaves, buying from tribal warlords in central and western Africa, who are keen to fund their territorial ambitions, and selling to buyers in South America and Asia, as well as to men like Michael Wessinger in the USA. It now appears that they have a less publicised interest in white slavery.
Our sources suggests that the brothers - until 1921 partners, now rivals - have been importing girls from the Black Scorpion, for sale as status symbols to the same warlords who provide their ``coke''. Evidence of this involvement has been presented to the South African authorities, and as a result the brothers are now persona non grata. Sadly, neither has been brought to justice, but their South African assets have been seized, and the police of China, America and South Africa are all keen to talk to them.
With some difficulty, our sources have begun the process of tracking down the girls sold by the brothers, but without police cooperation it is proving difficult to gain access to any of their files, and their operations covered a large section of western and southern Africa.