Golden Peacock - Maung San Sya's detective story in the One Eyed One Society case

Maung San Syaar's detective story in the Dung Kyarkan village murder

Not long ago, I saw a vacancy for an assistant journalist in a daily newspaper in Yangon. I applied because I had a passion for newspaper writing, and I got the job.

After receiving this, I arrived in Yangon from Mandalay with a few belongings. I had no old friends or acquaintances in Yangon and no place to stay. I stayed as a guest in a hotel for three or four days.

While living like this, my salary was not enough to stay in a hotel for a long time, so I was still trying to find a suitable place to stay. Luckily, I met a friend from school at a tea shop.

Then I told my friend about the benefits and how to find a place to stay. My friend explained how to prepare the poison, how the patient feels when he drinks it, how he knows how to eat it, and how he can tell the difference between the two. The last poison mentioned is one that kills people as soon as it hits the tongue, and who first discovered it. He was able to describe more than 50 types of poisons in detail, along with their biographies.

I lived with Maung San Sha, and during the two Sundays, among the people who came to Maung San Sha, some dressed like beggars, some pretended to be weak and then came to the house as good people, and sometimes there were girls who dressed well and looked like young daughters of good parents.

When I saw them, I was curious to know what they were up to. I told Maung San Sya that I was interested in detective work, and after we had made friends, I suggested that I call him to investigate cases occasionally when I had free time and if I felt like it.

One Saturday night, while I was getting ready to go to the shadow puppet show, Maung San Syaar, dressed in old, ragged clothes, as if he had just returned from a long journey, came up to the house, changed his clothes, and then greeted me.

“ You told me to call you when you have free time, didn’t you? Now I have to go to Zigong Station and Dungkyakan Village to investigate the murder. I have to take the 9:15 PM train. Can you come with me?” I had seen the murder in the newspaper that day and the pictures in the shadow play were not real, but were just made up. Since this case was not only real but also strange, I thought it would be better than a shadow play, so I agreed to go with him.

That night, around nine o'clock, Maung San Sya and I went to Kunchan Station, each carrying a leather bag, bought two second-class tickets, and after getting seats on the local train, the train departed.

Maung San Sya also took out the evening edition of the Yangon newspaper from his leather bag and gave it to me. I read about the case in the newspaper and found the Burmese translation:

About the case of a son killing his father

Nga Poula, a resident of Dung Kyar Kan village near Zee Kone station on the Yangon-Pyay railway line, was arrested by the police on Thursday evening for allegedly beating his father, U Poula, to death with something. On that Thursday evening, U Poula went out alone to a lake near the village. A witness testified that he saw his son Nga Poula walking with a large bamboo stick, not far from him. Another witness testified that the father and son were arguing with each other about something near the lake. A little girl who was drawing water saw the father and son arguing with each other about something. The son Nga Poula got angry and raised his hand to hit his father. The girl did not want to see her father and son fighting, so she put down the water pot and ran to her parents to complain. While they were complaining, the man came running to them with a loud bang and told them about his father's death with a shocked expression. The girl's parents also went to see him as Nga Poula told them. When the father, U Phong,