A singular scene was witnessed on, September 10. in Tsungming. Rogd,, when the. tenants. of approximately seventy houses forcibly Tesisted the attempt of 200 Russian, housebyeakers to. tear down the houses, in order to. prepare. for a new, building. development. in that area. The scene of the trouble was at the junction of Tsungming and North: Szechuen Roads; a property Delapging to Messrs. E. D. Sassoon Cor Ltd.y who gave notice to the tenanis three months.ago,- expiring on September 1, that they would be Fequired to vacate the premises. When the Russian workmen appeared on the spot on September 10 they were resisted by the tenants, who, together with a number of agitators, made things look ugly for a while, though, fortunately, there were no serious casualties on either side, Tt appears that the tenants, possibly' encouraged by other recent happenings of an almost. similar. nature Shanghai, decided to pay no regard to the notice to quit, and. directly an attempt was made to, demolish the buildings, put up a resistance which led, at any rate, to the wreckers being called off for the day although it is stated that an attempt will be made to carry out the me structions of the landlords, The. affected area is in the block due east of, the Post Office, On the arrival of the police, shortly after, they had been informed. of the proceedings, strife was dis Gntinued, and the contractor's men were called off by a representative of the company, after he had. been advised by the police, During the the day nothing of note occurred.
The Russian workmen appeared on the scene, and, instead. of entering the houses, sealed ladders, and began to demolish the roofs of about. 30 houses in a single alleyway. The recking crew" were marshalled in the Central District about 9 a.m., truckloads of them waiting. for the word to start, Ladders and wreeking instruments were on the vans, while.the 200 men waited for the signal The truckloads of men were taken to the scene, Each: had been dele. gated.ito his duty. The ladder men yan out their ladders, while the others, equipped with their tools, began scaling them as soon as.they were.in place, Almost with the appearance of the trucks, idlers in Taungming Road gathered round, while Chinese from the alleyways poured out to join in the commotion. Within a few minutes the word' was passed round that the demolition had begun, Before the inmates of certain houses were aware.of what was happening, the Russians, working a speed, had, removed half the roots, Tenants, gathered inthe, roads and Alleysy- became more. than excited, 'Pheix' vage increased in proportion to the. numbers which joined, them. Shouts of "strike and Kill", carse Srom.the, various small exowds while gathered." The Chinese seized handy missiles, which: the aveecking. party had dropped from, the roof, and within. less time. than it takes to tell, the air was. £ull: fo tiles Other weapons, sticks and. bueketa and Dist of, furniture and, firewood flew through the air, Some.of, the projectiles. were. aimed at, those. the roof,; othars found.0.mark among. the crew which remained, on the roads, Those who took part in the attack seized whatever weapons were available. From house-tops and the roads. stones and tiles were thrown, while. below, Rassians and Chinese came. into personal contact The battle waxed furious as the parties came to.grips. A number of Chinese surrounded an tcolated ' Russian, belabouring him as. he. struggled against them. In extricating him self he sustained.a broken wrist and several minor sevatches, Several others managed to combine and held off their. opponents, who swarmed around them. Another of the outnumbered Russians, eluded the mob ly running through a. house and escaping by the back door, Except for isolated fights, nothing orions, happened.. The police. a Hongkew Station received a. call at} 10.10 a.m, that Russians. were engaged in removing the roofs frota houses on Tsungming Road, and that the Chinese were resisting. Inspr. Ring called on all available men, and with DetInspr. Schmidt, to the scone in motor ears,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.