The Story of Patriot Lê Bá Trinh
Many know of Lê Bá Trinh as a prominent participant in two major reform movements and as a political prisoner who endured both Côn Đảo and Lao Bảo—two of the harshest prisons of the era. But few know that he once dared to send an anonymous letter to the wife of the notorious Côn Lôn island warden.
Born in 1875 in Hải Châu village (now part of Đà Nẵng), Lê Bá Trinh grew up in a scholarly family. His father, Lê Công Toản, was a mandarin; his uncle, Lê Công Liên, held an influential post in Đà Nẵng. A gifted student, Trinh passed the regional Hương examination in 1900, ranking fourth behind Huỳnh Thúc Kháng, Nguyễn Đình Hiến and Phan Châu Trinh—earning the group the nickname “The Four Excellences of Quảng Nam.” Disillusioned with the imperial examination system, he refused an official posting and chose instead to live quietly at the foot of the Marble Mountains, farming and reading.
In 1904, encouraged by visits from Trần Quý Cáp and other reformist scholars, he joined the Duy Tân movement. He helped open schools, promote literacy, and campaign for socio-economic modernization under the motto “Enlighten the people, strengthen the people, enrich the people.” He traveled widely to lecture and build reform networks, repeating his belief: “Let love for our compatriots be our guiding principle; let our will serve the cause of renewal.”
When the anti-tax protests erupted in Central Vietnam in 1908, he was arrested and sentenced to life in penal labor at Côn Đảo. After six years, he was released, only to rejoin revolutionary activity. He later participated in the 1916 royalist uprising of Emperor Duy Tân, after which he and his brothers were arrested and exiled to Lao Bảo Prison. In 1918, during an attempted escape, he was wounded and feigned death. Mistaken for a corpse, he was ignored by guards and managed to flee back to Đà Nẵng, hiding in a cave in the Marble Mountains now known locally as “Ông Lê’s Cave.” He died in 1934.
The Anonymous Letter
Huỳnh Thúc Kháng described Lê Bá Trinh as lively, articulate and beloved by many, “a truly exceptional figure among ordinary men.” In 1902, when Emperor Thành Thái toured the Marble Mountains, Trinh boldly presented a memorial denouncing corrupt officials—an act that reportedly left a strong impression on the monarch.
During his imprisonment at Côn Đảo, one incident revealed Trinh’s compassion and courage. According to Huỳnh Thúc Kháng’s Thi Tù Tùng Thoại, the island warden once banned prisoners from receiving traditional herbal medicine on the advice of a colonial doctor. One gravely ill prisoner tried to secretly receive herbal pills hidden in a food parcel. When discovered, the warden not only confiscated the medicine but banned all prisoners from receiving parcels (colis) and ordered them to write to their families forbidding any further shipments.
For men isolated on a remote island—unable to see their families and emotionally sustained only by occasional letters or small gifts—this order was devastating. “It was as if even the last thread connecting them to life had been severed,” Huỳnh wrote.
Moved by the suffering of his fellow prisoners, Lê Bá Trinh wrote an anonymous letter addressed to the warden’s wife, describing the prisoners’ hardships and pleading with her—believing she, as a Catholic, would have compassion—to intervene and overturn the inhumane order.
The warden investigated, discovered Trinh was the author and punished him with 30 days of severe confinement, shackled in a dark cell. The ordeal left him with a permanent limp.
Yet even after such punishment, Trinh remained optimistic. Upon release, he composed a humorous poem titled “Thirty Days in a Dream,” reciting it to fellow inmates—though the verses were never recorded in Huỳnh Thúc Kháng’s memoirs.
LÊ THÍ
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