Reports from Hankow tell of a peculiar. incident which occurred board the C.N.C. str, Whangpe on Sunday afternoon, when armed decoctives and men of the water Police boarded the vessel, following] E'siimple quarrel between' a the crew and a "set-sew" finan, and dragged. three sailors shore "with them," The Chief Otter of the ship, Mr. G. R. Tor-Bible, was rough handled and. Maaier pistol thrust into atone period of the aff The beginning of the incident occared cotly "in. the alternosn. The quarrel between the members OF the crew, a fireman, and. the oman, wad followed by a crowd oe loafers coming on board, apparently dragged in to. take the side of the woman. A ship's quarter faster Informed the Chief Officer, and he went to investigate. On his arrival the loafers flog, and—the' affair appeared to have ended.
ater an in the afternoon, ow. ever, without reference to any of the ship's affeers, four members of the water police and six detectives, boarded the ship, as it lay at the
he party went into. the crew's the exew Peand there. they found eho were off duty, playing mahjong. They questioned the lors regarding the squabble, and sailors replied that they knew nothing about the affair, which eon-cerned a, fireman, not a sailor.
'This "apparently enraged the police and detectives, who told. the Tailors that they had' ¢o come along police station, for not show: ing "due deference to the police it Ket nothing else. The party thereupon aid hands on the four. ors and dragged them cut on deck.
In the meantime Mr, Terrible had" been summoned by a quarter master and. when he saw what Was ffoing on he placed. himself at the tead of the gatgway in order to Prevent any of the. crew being {aken off the ship by unauthorized persons. This action of his made no differ He was seized by' two people, and a soldier thrust his pistol into'his ribs. Somebody else hit him a glancing blow on the head with a pistol, and another blow on the ar wvertheless, in the general up-one of the four sailors managed to escape and hide himself, The other three were dragged ashore by the water police and detectives. As soon as he was ro-leased, Mr. Terrible made his way to the' bridge, ordered the Red Ensign to be hoisted upside down as a of distress, and the siren to be sounded continuously. An armed party put off from H.MLS, Cornwall in reply, and they mounted guard on the' ship for some time afterwards.
The sailor who had managed to make his escape from the detectives and water police was examined and found to be suffering from a num er of bruises and cats, so he was sent ashore to hospital for treatment, but was allowed to return to the ship shortly afterwards.
The distress signa; had not only fetched an armed party from the cornwall, but had been answered by a member of the staff of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, agents of the CN.C. He duly made a report of the occurrence, and efforts made by Messrs. Butterfield & Swire to get the three sailors released proved Successful later in the evening, and they returned to the ship." All three were in a badly bruised condition.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.