the Kidnapping is successful and the ransom paid, the enpitalist is, of course, well reimbursed. But. should the police descend on the house, release the victim, and arrest the guards and other junior feimplosees, the loss can be severe. This print of view was expressed on tone occasion by a kidnapper whose, plans had gone away, when he wrote to n mun rescued by the police. explaining that be had sunk quite a el of money in kidnapping him, and had suiferet a loss through police vigilance, an requesting $10,000] from his erstwhile victim as cateof-
Wocket expenses! ids drouks up a. kidnapping game, tutes the chiefs have been taken, another gan quickly forms and the police have it all to do over again, The chiefs are not easy to] capture, Often they operate from distance, never entering Shanghai for when they come here it is in cunning disiguise—a flying visit, into the Settlement and out again.
A Myst When one or more of the chiefs fore captured, it is a result of fine work on the part of the detectives. This was the ease in the smashing uy of the sane run for years by the mysterious Sian Koko—literally idea Brother of Small Stature" who ts now waiting confirmation of the sentence of death paseed on him hy the Provisional Court. Near-score charges.f armed abdue-
Con and murder were preferred aus inst this man, who for years had While in Gunton the leaders of the gang entered a military academy] and studied"the art of war. From Canton they came to Shanghai, arriving here in 1928. At that time the gang was only a small one and all were sadly in need of capital. 'There were two powerful gangs of robbers operating here. under Little 'Mei and Little Di, and competition in the underworld was keen. Sian Koko's gung tried' their hand at a few armed robberies and by this means succeeded in getting sufficient money to start on their real business of kidnapping. From then on their power grew, the gang prosered, and recruits were easy to Sind. "One result of this was the withdrawal from active kidnapping of Sian Koko himself, and he assumed the rile of director from a distance, though keeping an iron discipline and contro! over his subordinates here. Many of these subordinates had never met him, and only knew of him as the man who Paid the salaries and whose orders must be obeyed under pain of sudden death.
The gang was made up of men from the same district -and this ensured their fidelity to their chief Any sign of "blowing the gaff" and 'a kidnapper's family was seized, his ancestral home burnt, and his child. ren killed. This wax incentive enough for most of them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.