Many Foreign Residences Damaged and Entered by Looters: Refugees Stream In Shanghai, Nov. 9. EFUGEES streaming in along the Hungjao Road while troops and coolies carrying gear and provisions of all sorts streamed lout; houses that leaned drunkenly as a result of bombs and shell foreign dwellings with gates and doors ide' open and everything in them sorted over and thrown aside; the pitiful sight of wounded soldiers walking towards the Settlement French Concession boundaries, while other, more serious, cases were being brought in by rickshaw—these were some of the impressions gathered by the "North-China Daily News" reporter fon a visit to Hungjao, now just behind the main fighting lines Jof the Chinese and Japanese in the Soochow Creek sector, yesterday afternoon, Soldiers and peasants along the estate and the attentions being paid road, when questioned said that the to it by a relay of large Japanese Tapanese were about one mile to the bombers made progress beyond that. orth. From observations made point inadvisable, since there was Tater, from the Jessfield area, they the spasmodic bursting of shrapnel were probably a bit further away. overhead and bombs were dropping But the crash of shells and the fon both sides of the road. So the bursting of bombs were perilously arly concentrated on examining in close, and occasionally, when serojelall the damage done to houses in. planes appeared overhead, there was that vicinity.
miraculous disappearance of the In one visited, which can be taken Hundreds of pedestrians on the rosd jas typical of many, every door had. itself nto places unknown, been forced. 'The windows had been 'The purpose of the journey was splintered by explosions. 'The garage to examine at first hand the damage had been hit by a shell, but little done to foreign residences in. the damaged structurally. In' the rooms district. and it can safely be said there was chaos, The owner had that there is hardly a foreig house been fortunate in removing most of which has not been damaged to his valuables before the district some extent, and not a one which became a danger zone, but there has escaped search with a fine-toothed were many pieces of heavy furniture comb bs Chinese, official or un-and. bookcases fied with books official, in spite of notices promin-which had to be left" behind, tently displayed that the houses were Every drawer had been forced. foreign property.
Furniture had been piled one piece on top of the other. The book-cases:
The Journey Ends had been pulled "down and the.
The presence of an anti-aircraft books piled in the middle of the battery somewhere near the Granada floor. Some of their covers had been torn off, apparently' because they were "pretty pictures"—most ttle left of the former Japanese of the books having suffered in thi university's campus to burn. way being designed for children, Japanese for Sungkiang In one room a hole "had been made through the ceiling into the} Reinforcements, described by Foam above. This seemed such a Army communique as "powerful senseless proceeding seeing that have reached the Japanese units entrenched on both banks of the there was a perfectly good staircase, that it was suggested that some: [Whangpoo River on Sunday after~ bright inquirer might have torn up. the floor of the room upstairs and, Reports brought by reconnaissance iers, the communique issued yester-noting the gap. between the floor day morning said, indicated that Chiand the ceiling of the room below, have stepped down to see what there nese troops are being concentrated, was hidden in this dark chamber fat Chingpu, 18 kins. south-west of /Sungklang, from Quinsan, -Kashing, and fallen through. The owner of Jand Pootung. the building—a man noted for his Naval aircraft yesterday morning general: philanthropy and genial out-Jbombed Chinese troop concentrations look—remarked: "I hope he did." in Lunghwa and west of Sungkiang.
But then, of course, he could not Pushing further inland their wedge, be expected to enjoy the detached Japanese troops on Sunday night cut position of the other observers. the Shanghai-Hangchow Railway at Cetlar Raldea point west of Sungkiang, the Jopanfosse army authorities announced yes-'The cellar of the house had been terday morning. raided of everything it had. The At that time, the Japanese forces corks of whisky bottles had been Jwere still pressing northward, the driven into the bottles and the communique added. whisky left untouched," All the gin stock had been drunk... Wine bottles had been sampled, with the necks of the bottles Knocked off, and the contents hardly touched. Brandy seemed to have been popular, temply bottles and debris. festined. And even Cointreau had had its velaries among the looters, Perhaps the early discovery of the cellar might have accounted for the apparent senselessness of the rest of the looting, for not a place in. the house hind been Jett untouched, Even the tank room had been, entered and interfered. with.
Other houses showed evidence of having been similarly, though per haps not so severely, treated. Some had shell or bomb craters in their gardens. One house, exceptionally strongly buill, had evidently defied the efforts of the looters to break in through the doors, Large holes had been knocked though its walls and the looters had entered—that way. What they had done inside, the party did not examine, since the means of ingress was more sulted to a voiler-maker than a reporter and time and aeroplanes had considered, 'The stream of forlorn humanity pouring towards the boundaries "of the foreign areas was thickest near Slocawel, where hundreds of families, carrying' their goods and chattels, children, leading goats and some: times buffaloes, staggered away from the fighting area, Further west the stream was thinner, and heads bowed down by heavy loads were turned to soe the bombers as they assed over, losels were cast aside, and their bearers sought shelter where they could, Wounded Stagger tu In the stream could be noted many wounded, Most of them were walking, Others were being brought rickshaws. But there were obviously not enough rickshaws to round, for others, bleeding badly from chest and abdominal wounds, were doing their best to get down the road by themselves, or were being helped along by ess seriously Injured comrades. The stream. of refugees paid no attention to. them, whatever; nor did the wounded ex: ect that they would, The Chinese soldiers seen at dite ferent posts along that road seemed cheerful and in fine fettle, They seem-fed interested in the foreign party, Bul Incurious, and even when the foreign car bucked a trench across the middle of the road and sent a flimsy pianic covering flying into the alr, they aid not seem to mind, but rettleved the boards and Felaid the planking og it that were part of the day's work—which perhaps it was, 'The foreign party accomplished Uitle, except, perhaps, to alter their perspective as regards to Japanese bombing, There is a certain' thrill in "watching bombs drop outside the Settlement while the watcher himself 1s comfortable ona root In a neutral area. But it is quite a different matter to be in the place—for near it—whon the bombs are coming down, Frit, a diminutive Chinese who acted ds chauffeur and interpreter for the party, liked the bombing no better than his companions, and. did several tricks in plastering -himsolt against walls and almost disappear ing between cracks in the masonry ina manner reminiscent of the "invisible robber of early. cine-motograph days. His companions envied him his girth, "since their plaster themselves as close to wall they would, still left uncomtorte ably large sections of themselves sharp-eyed Japanese And did not a Japanese spokesman say the other day that the Japanese sinnen could hit an and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.