Everything Possible Done to Prevent Shooting on Disorderly Crowds: Volunteers Demobilized: Women and Children Ordered to Leave Interior: Satisfaction of Home Press Hankow, Jan. 3. prearranged Association situation had)
Jdeveloped. seriously and it was necessary to call up Marines. Wit jthe use of an armoured track they} were able to clear the rabble near the Customs House without fung.
But at 2 p.m. the crowds gathered Jagain at the Customs House on the [British Bund and made a simultane-fous rush from the foreshore.
In repelling this attack one sailor fell and his rifle was immediately seized and he was bayonetted through the leg. There were two further serious casualties caused by carying-poles and two Special Police were slightly injured.
At 4.30 p.m. the crowds were sti!] id all the Britisy forces At 5.15 the crowd closed in to within two feet of the marines, who displayed exemplary patience. JAgitators from points of vantage lurged the crowil to rush the British guard, and made great efforts to create an incident by forcing the sailors to fire.
At about 6.30, Chinese military arrived and took over the job of holding back the crowd in front of the barricade, the marines, sailors ials falling back to the The situation at 7 o'clock was still very menacing, the crowd in front of the Customs House showing no signs yet of diminishing.
The Consul-General by: now was in touch with the Chinese thorities.
At 7.15 Kuomintang officials standing on the British barricade urged the crowd to disperse, The latter agreed if the British forees were retired. Tt was finally agreed that the British guard should fall back on the Ewo road, and they gave up their barricade.
However, at 7.90 there were still fio signs of the mob dispersing.
Trouble was expected in the evening when a huge lantern procession. organized by the Kuomintang aid anti-British © wes held and the situation looked very serious, However, the procession passed off quietly, the mob retiring at 8p. jand the Bund is now peaceful, Later, The vicinity is now peaceful as the crowd retired from the Bund at o'clock to the Faucheong road, where for 20 minutes there was a serious situation.
The Chinese Chief of Police stated it was impossible for the crowd to retire owing to there being too much pressure from behind.
He asked the Jcommander of the m: the masses to pass barricade and streets, on thing untoward would occur. On these conditions the mob was allow-Jed to pass through.
The lantern procession passed off peacefully. Huge crowds attended. [Two persons wore killed in the crush jand many injured.
The attempts of the agitators to obtain recruits to swell the crowd jon the British Bund failed.
Volunteers and marines are still standing by (10 p.m.)—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.