Shanghai Lady's Adventure in Trip from Unaen to Nagasaki Starting out on a journey on the thirteenth day of the month may or may not be propitious, but one Shanghai lady, at least, found it to be a distressingly unlucky day as events turned out. She was returning from a holiday trip to Japan, and before the return boat to Shanghai could be reached she, in company with three men also of Shanghai, encountered the" tidal wave which worked such havoc Japan on September 13.
'According, to the narrative told by' the Indy in question, the party left Unzen at 7.20 on September 13, their inten. tion being to motor to Nagasaki in time. to embark on the Nagasaki Maru scheduled to leave at 1 p.m. the same day.
'A storm was brewing when they left Unzen and by the time the motor ear had reached Chiziwa a full-sized typhoon was on. The chauffeur} decided to continue the journey, however, taking the safer of the two possible roads; but by the tine the party had arrived at One the storm was raging at such a gale that it was not possible to see further than 50 feet in front of the car, through! the driving rain, Arriving at One] jthe way was found to be barred by} a tremendot pine-tree which had fallen actes: he roadway, and as the car gave signs of getting water-
Chauffeur's ape The party, with the first view this awe-inspiring scene. lambe: as fast as they could in the face of the gale to higher ground, about 100 yards away. 'The chauffeur was And before he was half way gust of wind caught him him into the field. One of the party however, pulled him out, and all got autely across. When the' race through knee-deep" water had been finished the party took shelter on a bit of high tand back Of the village with some frightened Tapanese villagers. Looking dowa to the spot which they had left they Saw their motor car' completely covered by water in less than ten minutes, and some time later when waters had begun to subside, this car, was found in a paddyfeld about 100 feet away from the original spot. Throughout this time, the {ull horrors of the tidal wave were parent to the watchers, A curious, small point noted whose "ense of spite of their experiences, a complacent white ducte floating about on the crest of the water. As the party had had no food since early morning, the hour being by this ti well past noon, the duck offered posbilities for nourishment. which it little suspected as it enjoyed a good) wetting in the typhoon.
Fortunately for the four forciga-8 who stood about an hour watch-the tide subside gradually, Tapanese who spoke English snd who recognized one of the them from Several years back invited them to his house. where saturated clothes could be hung up while they once logged, the occupants inside aire LY) experienced the comfort of having been drenched to the skin sli ing into. dry clothes, which in through a necessary ripping off of, this case were kimonos kindly sup-the top of the car to avoid being' turned over, it was decided without, further loss of time to make for higher ground, When near Muryaa,' the car was stalled, the engine hav-plied by the Japanese who befriend-jed them.
'A meal consisting of rice, ges and dried fish was also provided and partaken of heartily as this time it was about 3 p.m. this point in the rifle gale of wind and rain the the party decided to get out of the car and seck shelter in a cattle shed which stood to the back of a small]
Japanese farmhouse.
Searcely had they got inside this shelter than a Japanese peasant rashed inside to warn them by signs; that they were in grave danger and when they once more went out into} the pouring rain to investigate, five minutes only having elapsed since they first went side, the roadway which they had left was found to two feet under water. The rise appeared to be about a foot a minate and paddy fields in the surrounding \countryside of the fiat plain where the party was marooned were already well under water. One of the worst features during this time was the fearful roar made by the swirling, mounting waters. Débris had begun to float about and logs, bits of wood from farmhouses, an] incredible number of green frogs and black snakes, and later, even Jdoad bodies of Japanese peasants caught in their villages eddied about ju the advancing volume of water.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.