Q—What did you say then?
A—I was not sure if I wanted to do it or not, but I did not say no.
[A] In the transcript of Halvorsen’s story, the young seaman referred to the narcotics sometimes as opium and at other times as cocaine and heroin. The narcotics in each case was heroin, a derivative of opium highly favored by drug addicts in the United States.
The tailor then wrote an address on a slip of paper—No. 54 Cameron Road—and pressed it into Halvorsen’s hand. “If you decide you want the money, come to this address at seven o’clock tonight.”
By six o’clock that evening, Halvorsen had reached a decision. The sum of $1,200 sounded like a small fortune to the boy who had never in his life had more than a few dollars at one time. It was more money than he could save in many months at sea—enough to buy an interest in a fishing boat back in Norway.
Halvorsen dressed in his best blue trousers and white shirt for the trip ashore. When he left the Fernhill he carried a briefcase which the Chinese had suggested he bring along. He hailed a rickshaw at the ferry slip near the Peninsula Hotel, and gave the address on Cameron Road. Then he sat back to enjoy the gaudy, East-meets-West sights of Kowloon as the coolie trotted through streets swarming with Chinese, most of them refugees from Red China.
After he stepped from the rickshaw and paid the driver, he stood uncertainly at the curb looking about for the number 54. A Chinese came up to him and said, “You looking for Number Fifty-four?” Halvorsen said he was, and the man said, “You follow me.”...
Q—Where did he take you?
A—He took me inside the house and into a corridor. We turned right and there was a door. He knocked on the door.
Q—Was the house No. 54, Cameron Road, ground floor, Kowloon, Hong Kong?