On Monday for the first time within several years there was no public gambling in Li Hongkew, this being the result of a very successful raid which Inspector Howard carried out on Sunday afternoon at three o'clock. As is well known, for number of years, the gamblers hovering on the horders of the Settlement have been the cause of considerable crime and the occasional raids made upon their haunts seem to have had but little effect in abating the nuisance. Latterly they have increas in boldness, and a little way beyond the boundary, in the vicinity of the Woosung Road, not far from the Rifle Range, they had erected a number of matsheds, and established a small Monte Carlo. Hawkers of liquors and eatables flocked around the sheds, and the impudent watchmen wei in the habit of warning off any foreigner approaching the scene of operations. - Inspector "Howard how: determined to disperse them and proceeded to do so on Sunday afternoon. By different routes, and without exciting suspicion, thirty native constables were placed in'ambush about tio miles away in the country; and in another direction twenty constables were posted, whilst two foreigners kept the ridge over theSingkingpang creek between a large cotton sinning' mill and the gam-Mery? sheds. Altogether 50 native constables, six na ive detectives, and five foreigners were waged under Inspector Hi yard. At the appointed hour, when all in readiness, Inspector Howard crossed.
the bride just' mentioned and blow his whistle. The gamblers, surmising they were ty be attacked, ran in all directions, but as the constables remained hidden for some time their uncertainty as to which route to take was increase well were the police placed, however, when they did Degin to move that no fewer than 84 gamblers were caught, whilst two in_attempting to cross a creek near the likin station were drowned. The raid is described as having been most exciting, the "anblers in their flight throwing away money, ete. as they scampered pell-mell across country. Two baskets of money were recovered from a creek, some $40 or $50 were picked up in the fields, and the country-people no doubt gleaned some more. When the prisoners were paraded at the police station 28 were found to be Cantonese, many of them in good positions, and one man was said to be a lange drug" dealer at Nanking. They were all brought up before the Mixed Court on Monday and remanded.
The complete success of the raid reflects great credit upon Inspector Howard and all concerned in it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.