Murder and Attempted Murder. During the month nine murders were cor-mitted in the Settlement, armed robbers and kidnappers being. responsible for four of them. Brief ils of each marder are as fol-
On January 2 an employe of the British Cigarette Company was shot dead on Thorburn Road by unknown assassins, Inbour troubles being the suspected motive. On the same day '8 Chinese woman was shot dead by armed robbers who stole from her: person a gold earring. On January 9 a Chinese pedestrian was stopped on the Garden Bridge by the police who endeavoured to search him Whereupon he drew a pistol and ran away pursued by the police with whom he exchanged shots. On Nanzing Road a Russian civilian graph pled with and succeeded in holding him but was unfortunately fatally shot in the stomach by the fugitive who himself was immediately afterwards shot dead by the police. January 12 the body of a Chinese with a bullet wound in the head was found on. Great Western Rond.
Owing to the growth of hair on the face, it was surmised that deceased had been kidnapped and held for ransom, and this theory was confirmed a few days later when the body was identified as that of a shroff employed in a Chinese Bank who had disappeared on December 8, 1927, On January 15 a Chinese Who endeavoured to prevent the Kidnapping of a child by armed men was shot and died in hospital three days later. On January 20 the dismembered body of a Chinese female was found distributed in various alleyways in the Wayside district. Up to the present all efforts to identify the deceased have failed nd_no motive for the murder has yet been ascertained. On the same ay in the Yangtszepoo District as result of an alarm that an attempt was being made to rob a shop, a Chinese Constable came in contact with an armed gang and was shot and fatally wounded. On the night of January 27 the actor-manager fof a Chinese theatre in the Louza District was shot as he left the theatre, dying in his home three days later. Two pedestrians were also wounded by the shooting. On Sanuary 29 the dead body of a Chinese woman was found in a rouse in: the Yangtszepoo District, hor throat having been cut with a chopper. Her husband and brother-inlaw who have disappeared were last seen. by the neighbours on January 23 and are being sought for by the police.
Eight attempted murders were also recorded, pistols being the used in each ease, One of attempts was made by armed armed kidnappers were Cuspected in one case, one was the result of labour troubles and another was of a political nature. The remainder included the attempted murder of a Chinese female bby her sweetheart, the shooting and wounding of a Chinese woman by her husband who subsequently committed suicide and two cases perpetrated by armed gangs, the motive at present not clear.
Of three persons arrested during the month on charges of murder, one was wanted by the Chinese Authorities for a murder committed {n their territory and was handed over to them to be dealt with, the charge against the second was withdrawn while the third man was handed over to the Municipal Police by the Police of the French Concession, it being found that he had been charged in September 1926 for a murder committed in the Settlement in January of that year and handed over to the Chinese Authorities for trial. He claimed to have been sentenced to a long term of minent by the Chinese Court but was released when the Nationalists captured Shanghai City. Two persons were also arrested connexion with the death of Chinese who was found shot in a lodging house in the French Concession. The accused were handed ever lo the French Police
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.