The proceedings opened with the! identification of one of the drowned. men by his father and then the evidence was taken of a signalman board the Chinese gunboat who stated that he saw a body on the port side of the vessel and another on the starboard side and reporte! the matter to his superior officer. Subsequently a boat was lowered from the gunboat and the bodies recovered. After the deceased were! put on a wharf on the north side of the river a report wes made to the life-boat station.
After corroborative evidence was given by another Chinese sailor, 3 booking clark employed by the ferry service, at a kiosk on the Kiukiang Road jetty, said one American "soldier" booked a motor boat for a period of four hours paying the sum of $12 in advance. - The Ameri wanted the boat to be ready' by midnight.
'This soldier arrived unexpectedly' at 11 p.m. accompanied by another saying that the boat was required immediately. The boat to which they were first taken was too large, the soldiers stating that they wanted a smaller one. A motor boat with a crow of two laodah was selecte] and the soldiers departed up te river.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.