An excerpt from the Winter 2025-26 edition of British Columbia History

by Catherine Clement

Only seven years after the 1907 anti-Asian race riots destroyed parts of Vancouver’s Chinatown and Japantown, another violent incident sent shockwaves through the early Chinese community. This time, however, the protagonists were not an angry mob: They were a 31-year-old White society lady named Clara Millard and a 16-year old Chinese houseboy known as Jack Kong (a.k.a. John or Jong Yew Kong).

The grisly details of their clash dominated English and Chinese local newspaper headlines for almost two months, and the story quickly spread across Canada. More importantly, the deadly altercation would harm the livelihoods of hundreds of other Chinese servants working in private homes, hotels, and restaurants, and would help fuel a new wave of vigilante attacks on the Chinese community.

The participants

Jack Kong was 13 when he landed in Canada from China in 1910. He arrived on his own and entered as a “student.” [1]

Although Jack came for an education, he was expected to work to earn his keep. By 1911, he was hired as a live-in houseboy by Charles J. Millard and his spouse, Clara, a power couple of their time. Charles was the lead ticket agent for the Canadian Pacific Railway. His stylish wife, Clara, was frequently mentioned in local news stories covering high-society events.

Since the Millards employed only one servant, Jack’s daily routine included cooking, cleaning, laundry, and running errands, all performed under Clara’s direction. As a student, the boy attended the local public school for a few hours each day. Jack spoke perfect English, loved learning, and “developed an almost mania for his studies, devoting not only his school hours but almost all his spare time to reading.” [2]

The turning point

Perhaps it was Jack’s obsession with school that created tensions in the Millard home. While Charles had a respectful relationship with Jack and encouraged him to study, [3] Clara’s interactions with the houseboy were often tense and confrontational. She viewed him primarily as a servant, and they frequently clashed. Later, during an inquest, Charles described Clara as “a demon for cleaning … a terror” [4] who sometimes threatened to keep Jack away from school if the housework was not done to her satisfaction.

By the spring of 1914 their clashes intensified. Jack began staying out on Saturday nights, which Clara disapproved of strongly. She remarked that his cooking was sloppy the next day and his demeanour changed. On occasion, the couple detected an odour on Jack they couldn’t identify. Was he smoking opium?

Then, in late March 1914, after Clara criticized Jack’s laundry skills, the Millard home was broken into and pieces of jewellery went missing. [5] Jack claimed that 50 cents had been stolen from his room in the attic.

Two weeks after the burglary, on Wednesday, April 1, 1914, Clara mysteriously disappeared. Charles, away the night before in Victoria for work, initially was not concerned with her absence. However, by Thursday afternoon—after several phone calls to family and friends trying to locate Clara—the police were contacted. A thorough search of the house began.

Neighbours were interviewed. A large, dark wet stain under the breakfast table rug was suspected to be blood. The detectives noticed the basement stairs and floor had been scrubbed recently. Jack’s favourite pants had been freshly washed, but specks of what looked like blood were spotted on his slippers and suspenders. As the search continued into the evening, police noticed the houseboy’s nervous demeanour and took him to the station for questioning.

Meanwhile, tracking dogs were brought to the house. Items of Clara’s clothing were found hidden in a remote part of the attic. The rings she wore daily, plus other items that went missing from the earlier burglary, were found concealed in the basement. Small charred fragments of human-sized bone with flesh still attached were discovered in the furnace. Police believed they now had found Clara’s remains.

At the station, Jack eventually confessed that he was responsible for Clara’s death. Word spread quickly: The high society lady had been murdered by her trusted Chinese houseboy.

The fallout

By Monday, April 6, the Chinese community began to suffer the fall out. Anger and a thirst for vengeance stoked the pervasive anti-Asian sentiment that already gripped the province.

The Sun newspaper printed a photo of the elegant Mrs. Millard alongside a headline that announced the “Wholesale Dismissals of Chinese.” Based on an interview with Mr. Hop Wo, who operated a Chinese employment agency in Vancouver, the article gave a sense of the carnage that unfolded within hours of the story breaking:

Chinese boys employed in the homes of Vancouver citizens, hotels, and restaurants are being dismissed from service in large numbers as the result of the fiendish murder of the late Mrs. Charles Millard … already, fifty to sixty boys had been discharged and more dismissals were expected as a result of the crime ... boys were being discharged wholesale from the homes they had been employed in for some for years. [6]

The Daily Province wrote “Among the hotels to take drastic action today was the Saint Francis, which discharged every China man in its employ.” [7]

Besides the layoffs, violence erupted. The Sun newspaper reported that “white men stopped Chinese on the street and assaulted them.” [8] The Vancouver Daily World added, “Indignation runs high against the Orientals. Several attempts were made on Saturday night and yesterday afternoon to flame the prejudice into something tangible, but the prompt action of the police … stopped what might easily have resulted in a recurrence of the Chinese riots of seven years ago.” [9]

Meanwhile, the Chinese community felt both shame and shock that one of their own should be accused of such a horrific crime. Some felt particularly outraged given Charles Millard’s role with the CPR and his history of assisting the Chinese community. In a letter published in the English newspapers, Chinatown leader Yip Sang publicly offered sympathy to Charles and wrote of the community’s “earnest desire that the murderer be brought to justice without delay.” [10]

The trial

In 1914, the justice system moved quickly. Jack’s preliminary inquiry hearing took place on April 16; by May 18, the teenager was on trial in front of a jury. In an era when sensational murder trials were a public spectacle, a form of live theatre, crowds flooded to both hearings and the courtroom was “packed ¼ to suffocation.” [11]

Although Jack renounced his confession—claiming it was made under duress—the evidence, which included 15 witnesses and 50 exhibit items, was stacked against him.

On May 20, the final day of proceedings, Jack’s lawyers took a desperate, last-ditch gamble and called him to the stand. The houseboy explained what happened that fateful April 1. It had all been a terrible accident, he explained.

Jack described how he prepared Clara breakfast. When she complained about the porridge and demanded he cook something else, Jack refused as it would make him late for school. Clara, he said, became furious, grabbed a knife from the buffet, and lunged at him, threatening to cut off his ear if he did not obey. In self-defence, Jack grabbed a chair to protect himself from the knife. In the struggle, Clara struck her temple against the corner of the chair, collapsed, and began to bleed.

Jack claimed he tried to revive Clara, but when it became evident that she was dead, he feared that Charles would kill him. In a panic, he hauled Clara’s body down to the basement, dismembered it, and burned what he could in the furnace.

While still on the stand, Jack also admitted stealing Clara’s jewellery in late March. He had been angry with Clara after she criticized his laundry work and had wanted to get back at her.

Surprisingly, on May 21, after just over seven hours of deliberation, the all-White, all-male jury found Jack Kong guilty only of manslaughter. The courtroom was aghast, and even the judge was stunned by the verdict.

The aftermath

It’s unclear how many Chinese service workers were affected by Jack’s actions. It is also uncertain how long they waited before they were welcomed back into White-owned homes, hotels, and restaurants. The tendency to scapegoat hundreds of hardworking, reliable Chinese employees for the tragic act of one underscored how much Chinese were resented and vilified in British Columbia at the time.

Interestingly, ten years after Jack’s conviction, another murder involving a Chinese houseboy rocked Vancouver—but this time the death was of a female servant named Janet Smith, not the matron of the house. It appears that no mass layoffs of Chinese followed that incident. Perhaps, by then, the service industry recognized they could not get by without Chinese labour.

As for Jack Kong, he was sentenced to life in prison and sent to the BC Penitentiary. In 1924, as required by the Chinese Exclusion Act, Jack was registered and photographed while in prison, and a C.I.44 form was completed. That government document revealed Jack’s ultimate fate: He was deported to China in May 1925, returned on the Canadian Pacific steamship Empress of Asia. One cannot help but wonder if Charles Millard—still working as the CPR ticket agent—assisted with the travel arrangements.

Image: Library & Archives Canada, RG76-D-2, 259234, T-16184-01190

Endnotes

1. General Register of Chinese Immigration, Library and Archives Canada, RG76-D-2-a, volume 1063.

2. Opening remarks of prosecutor, A.D Taylor, K.C., April 16, 1914, BC Archives, GR-0419 77.

3. Charles wrote several letters to immigration officials in September 1912 advocating they refund John’s $500 head tax fee as the boy had been a bona fide student for a period of two years.

4. Coroner’s Inquisition #139, April 4, 1914, BC Archives, GR-1327, B02394, p. 13.

5. Accused Admits Killing Woman,” Daily News Advertiser, May 21, 1914, p. 5.

6. Wholesale Dismissals of Chinese,” The Sun, April 6, 1914, p. 1.

7. “China Boy Nearer Twenty Than Seventeen,” The Daily Province, April 4, 1914, p. 15.

8. “Public Indignation Sequel to Terrible Crime in West End,” The Sun, April 6, 1914, p. 1.

9. “Feeling Runs High over Millard Murder,” Vancouver Daily World, April 6, 1914, p. 4.

10. “Feeling Runs High over Millard Murder,” Vancouver Daily World, April 6, 1914, p. 1.

11. “Curious Crowds Throng Little Court Room,” Vancouver Daily World, April 16, 1914, p. 1.

Catherine Clement is an award-winning community historian, curator, and author. Her latest book, The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, based on her landmark public history project, was released in the summer of 2025.