Tsinan, June 29, letter from the pirates who cently attacked the Shuntien asking] for leniency, has been forwarded to General Han Fuchu, Chairman of] the Shantung Provincial _Government, through Mr. Shen Tien-ling, one-time Minister of Interior in the Peking regime, who is the only Chi nese captive so far released by the pirates.
Pointing out their dimeult conaitions, the pirates state in the letter that they were former subordinates of Hsu Tsu-ping, one-time bandit~ chief, who was Chairman of the' Joint Fishery Association for Tihsien and Chanhsien, Although he had] that had a very savoury record in past, yet upon becoming chairman of the association, Hsu reformed and turned over a new leaf, Under the leadership of Hsu, therefore, they ce-operated with the local military forces in maintaining public order and suppressing the bandits However, the letter continues, in' consequence of the subsequent execution of their leader and the dissolution of the Joint Fishery Association, they had to escape. Under uch circumstances, they had. to kidnap some foreigners "in order to] attract the attention" of the Pro-
Virelal Chairman to their dimeuities, Stating that this piracy was a "last the outlaws implore General Han specially to pardon them for their misconduct, It is learnt that, despite this appeal, General Han' Fu-chu will. pro ceed with his plans to eradicate the marauders in order to rescue the remaining captives—Kuo Min,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.