First, of all there is reason to believe that Little Hsu was not shot Lu Cheng-wu, but by soldiers of the Kuominchun neting, according to the Chinese, under long-standing: orders from' the Christian Gene Feng Yuchsiang, and, as they further say, by the direct command of Chang. Chih-chiang, whose death writer lately lamented prematurely. In respect of these two accusations, I quote Chinese be-Wef "And secondly, inthe interest. of the historian, it must be recorded that Little Hsu was not} that on the night of his arrival at Langfang, December 29, but was: executed shortly after daylight' the fellowing morning, December 90.
Immediately tuch a desire to look upon the Killing as a family matter, a ques: tion of Lu Cheng-wu's revenge for the assassination of his fathe 1918, that the whole commui knew that the personal element was a minor factor in the killing. Trusting that discerning readers would find something between the ines, the writer then made a conscientious report of the Anfu star: smog no other would have pass the absurd Kuominchun censors! The writer has, however, been busier than usual since he sent this first telegraphic report, trying assemble an account that would be absolutely reliable and which could, without quibble, be recorded az fact, We have heard that. Hsu was hombhis special eczriage, that he was chopped into small bits on the station platform and fed to the local cogs, that Lo Cheng-wu shot hi with' his own hand after stripping, him naked in his search for documents, that he was buried naked ditch and afterwards exhumed und redressed in his military form to satisfy Tuan Chi-jui's agents. This is mostly nonsense, but what did actually happen Leen carefully, thoughtfully and, as accurately as memory will _permi us for which the foreign trafic inspector at the station could offer account. We had been warned Japan, Shanghai, and Tientsin that Kalgan had ' prepared for General Hsu's assassination and some of us thought at Fengtai that the delay there was ominous_and reminded one another that it alforded us all a good opportunity to escape; but this suggestion was ridiculed and we finally concluded that nothin of the sort could possibly happen. The foreigner in charge of traffic finally had Passenger train as well as ours to put through and, es there seemed] to be so much difficulty ahead, he suggested that the two trains be combined to relieve stress on the line, To this we of course agreed, the two trains were made ints} one and sometime after 9 p.m. we again got under weigh, when some of us undressed and prepared for a Jong night on the road.
"At about 11.30 (the time is always approximate) we steamed into Langfang and found that one party was being given a military reception. On the left _platform there were 80 dismounted cavalry-men and on the right 80 of Feng's famous "Big Sword Squad," their headsman's swords and pistols, When the train came to a stop they! bugled three times as a sign of welcome. As xoon as the train came} to a standstill, however, two of the swordsman were placed at every} diser of every carriage in the coni-Lined special and passenger trains and' no running to and fro was permitted to anyone,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.