Alleging that they had not received any wages for some months, the servants employed at the Fairy-Jand Cafe, Jessfield Road, decided to take the law into their own hanes and with that end in view, hit upon a plan to kidnap the account i, Kau Wei-ching, and thereby'
what they claimed as their just They also decided that there was safety in numbers and so engaged the services of two Nationalist soldiers on leave from Pukow to assist them in their abduc~ tion, The plan was put into operation on July 10 at about half past three when the accountant was riding in his private riesha along Vu Yuen Road. He was made to alight from the riesha and then forcibly taken across the Settlc~ ment boundary to " small dwelling in Chinese territory, where he was assaulted and beaten with sticks in fan endeavour to force him to hand over the sum of $1,000.
The abduction, however, was witnessed by some of the employees at Fairyland and they raised an alarm, Fortunately, two Sikh troops. were in the vicinity and a rush was made to the house where the Kidnapped man was held, As the kidnappers were not armed the work of the rescuers was not very. difficult, but two of the abductors managed to escape. The other two were taken into custody.
'The other two kidnappers were arrested by the Police. 'The first was arrested outside Bubbling Well Police Station at 5.30 p.m. on July 10, while the other was recognized by' the accountant outside the Provisional Court at about 9.30 o'clock on July 11, just before the ease was to be heard. Det.-Set. Grubb, who had charge of the case, was informed and the remaining abductor was immediately apprehended.
The four'men were then charged together in the Provisional Court, on July 11 before Judge Liang, and were remanded, When questioned by the Judge, one of the accused, who was employed at the cafe said that one of the soldiers was his half-brother, and that the object in kidnapping the accountant was to make him pay the wages due to them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.