Yesterday morning at about 8 o'clock some Chinese attempted to hang P. C. Madsen who is attached to the Louza Police Station, He is employed on the special duty of seeing that the wheelbarrows plying for hire have licenses and he was engaged on this duty yesterday morning when the affair referred to o¢- cured. He saw " wheel-barrow near the Chefoo Road bridge over the Defence Creek, and having ascertained that the coolie' had no license, took him by his queue and told him to go to the Station, ut the coolie turned round and bit Madsen's hand, compelling him to let go his hold, At the same time the coolie called out fa ta, whereupon a large number of other coolies rushed out, and got between Madsen and the Station: One of them threw a noose over Madsen's head from one side and another performed similar action from the other side, while a third lassooed him from behind, and then they dragged him to a lamp post, with the intention, apparently, of hanging him. Others took hold of his arms. While this was going on, Madsen heard an expression as of pain, from one of the ten who was holding him and he afterwards ascertained that this man had been stabbed in the arm. Madsen managed to free himself and get away, but minus his tunic, watch and chain, and with his shirt torn, On arrival at the Station he reported the state of affairs, and Inspector Howard went to investigate, but found the people so threatening, that he returned to the Station and called out his men. With these he again proceeded to the locality, and found aliquiet. The District Magistrate was there was also the wounded native who, the assailants of the policeman told the Magistrate, had been stabbed with a pocket knife by the policeman, The Magistrate wanted Tuspector Howard to take the injured man to the Mixed Court, which he declined to do, bub took himandanother man whom Madsen recognised as one of his assailants, to. the Station. From there, the wounded man was sent to the Shantung Road Hospital where Dr. Milles attended to him. The wound was therm, an inch and a quarter broad and some three inches deep, and could not have been inflicted with the kind of knife a foreigner would carry. The District Magistrate was told this, but he was so firmly con-vineed that the policeman did the deed, that he postponed his visit to Soochow to report the affair to the Taotai, and none of the guments adduced by' Mr. Emens and \the Police at the Mixed Court, ther the Magistrate had proceeded Mr. Tsai tomake a thorough enquii duce him to alter his opinion. He told Mr. Tsai to order his runners to look fur the foreign knife that the policeman had used, while the Police on their side suggested that the runners should look for the Chinese knife. In consequence of what had happened, there was no sitting of the Mixed Court. yesterday. Madsen 1s a quiet inoffensive man though, very powerful, and yesterday morning did not even have his {baton with him. He is the constable who was decorated by the German Emperor some time ago for saving two pevple—one of them " Chinaman—from drowning in the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.