Public Beheading in Siam: Three True Stories of Crime and Punishment
in the Siam of Old (Part 3 – Pra Preecha: Despotic Madman or Innocent
Victim?)
The
story of Pra Preecha is a complicated one, and – like many other things
in the orient – shrouded in a mysterious web of lies and treachery,
that the westerner can scarcely comprehend.
In a country where
the truth often amounts to the same thing as a lie, it hardly seems
surprising that there is no singular, concrete account of what happened
to this middle-ranking Siamese official.
Some say he was innocent
of all charges, and cruelly framed by the rival Bunnag family, who were
afraid that Pra Preecha’s own Amatayakun family would steal their
thunder, and knock them off the top spot as Siam’s number one
influential family of rank.
Others say that Pra Preecha was a
despotic madman, who murdered numerous prisoners working at the Kabin
gold mine, while embezzling large sums of money to enrich himself and
his family.
On
March 11, 1879, Pra Preecha married Fanny Knox, the daughter of the
British Consul Thomas George Knox and his Siamese wife, Prang Yen.
Some believe that he married Fanny as a way to avoid punishment from the Siamese government.
Pra Preecha, sensing the brewing storm, put all of his assets in his wife’s name.
Not long after the wedding, he was arrested and put on trial for his alleged crimes.
Meanwhile, Fanny was pregnant with her new husband’s child, which inspired her father to intervene and try to save Pra Preecha.
He
took his case to King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) asking him to help his
friend, who he believed was being wrongly framed by the Bunnag family.
King
Chulalongkorn was a personal friend of Pra Preecha, and made it clear
that he had no wish to see him punished if he was not guilty of the
alleged crimes.
During this time, more scandalous rumours of Pra
Preecha’s malfeasances were surfaced and a number of his family members
were also put under arrest.
Knox’s intervention in the affair cost
him his post as Consul and he was recalled to London, where he was
later given the title Sir Thomas George Knox.
Pra Preecha’s trial got underway in mid-1879.
An
article in The New York Times of April 12, 1880, said that “[the] trial
is admitted by all intelligent persons to have been a complete farce,
since he was not allowed to cross-question witnesses who accused him of
murder, nor was he permitted to refer to his books when called upon to
account for sums drawn by him as expenses for the gold mine.”
Although
Pra Preecha eventually admitted to stealing gold from the King’s mines,
some believe he made the confession in the hope that he would be spared
the cruel torture that so many criminals of the time suffered until
they confessed.
He was found guilty, and his execution date was
set for November 24, 1879. Not long before the execution took place,
Fanny departed to England along with her newly-born baby and two of Pra
Preecha’s children from another marriage.
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