The Kwangehi left Wenchow with 4 full cargo and many passengers on November and after being at! sea for some 20 hours was seized by the pirates and the officers were foreed to steer the vessel in the direction of Shihpu, Another steamer, the Wing Tal, noticed that the Kwangehi was proceeding in a direction incompatible with her sailing programme and reported tthe incident to the China Merchants Ca, at "Ningpo. The Shanghai ofice of the company was. advis and the Chekiang provincial authorities and coastal—patroling. police were informed of the oceurenee, Accounts of the piracy show that after the ship was a day out from: Wenehow, the pirates held up the captain, officers, and engineers, and ordered the' course to diverted to Shihpu, On approaching the port, the pirates divided themselves into two parties, one remaining on board and the other: going on shore.
The captain and officer bound with cords.as the approached the port of Shihpu, and the pirato- landing party entered the Bureau of Public Safety. and obtaind a large quantity of: farms and. ammunition, 'The ship' then being in charge of the first purty of pirates, the second or landing party returned and commenced to search the passengers. while, the captain, a Chinese, was instructed to leave port. Reaching, small port on the Chekiang coast, the pirates escaped in the ship's! oats and took with them one of the passengers whom they ave heidi for ransom. The vessel carried $27,000 in silver, the property of the Bank of China and put on board fat Wenchow for shipment to Shanghai. This prize was entirely over~ looked by the pirates.
Passenger 1 Stories The following telegram was received at the Shanghai branch of the China Merchants Co:—"Kwang-chi arrived Haimen at 6.20 p.m. today (Monday) again awaits orders although police "singe boat to chase pirates, Capt, Teng.'
Accordingly the position resolves itself to this. The vessel. was pirated, is now chasing pirates ions of-the "water polit prevented from transporting cargo from. Chekiang ports to Shanghai.
Some of the passengers who were on board at the time of the piracy have arrived in Shanghai. They told pitiful stories.
Tt appears that eight pirates travelling as passengers embarked at Wenchow and that soon after the ship left port held up_ the master and officers. The officers were bound and "were told that it was not the intention to Pirate the ship. The object was to vol) the water police of arms and The ship_apprcached island and Capt, Tong, navigating his ship under: threats, Drought the vessel to-an anchorage. The leader of the pirate gang fired three shots in the air and ishmediate-
Jly more than 100 men appeared on the shore. and. entering native boats made for the Kwangehi and boarded her. Captain Tong was then ordered to proceed. They reached Shihpu at. 7 pam. on November 7 and the tes landed—leaving a guard on the ship. There were three small cruisers and one gunboat at the latter place but in spite of these, the. pirates shad little difficulty in over) powering the water police and those in charge of the latter vessels, and actually captured the two cruisers. Seven members of the police: were killed and two were taken captive by the pirates. The gunboat, managed to open fire, whereupon. the marauders withdrew and again' boarded the Kwangehi. One pas-Jsenger on the merchant ship was, ied and several wounded in the course of the engagement.
Two Steamers in Pursuit Three hours after the pirate gang, left Shihpy, the strs. Tah Hwa and Chow Shan arrived at that port. "The inspector of the water police commandeered the Tah Hwa and gave chase to the Kwangehi, Reaching a small harbour known as King, Chin Kong, the vessels met and fire was exchanged. Apparently realiz~ ing that the time for escape had arrived, the pirates then left the ship and carried their loot to the shore in the ship's boats. They] systematically searched all the pas sengers before doing so and collected I thousands of dollars worth tery ard other valuables. They also secured some $3,000 from the compradore's safe. Passengers state that the pursuing vessel with the water police on board refrained, from firing during the disembark-mont but later fired two shells neither of which hit the Kwangehi They attribute this state of affairs to the fact that it was later stated that the police were afraid of wounding passengers and crew. One passenger named Lia was kidnapped. Freed of the pirates the Kwangehi made for Haimen and later was commandeered by the water police to pursue the pirates. Some of the passengers were able to obtain passages on other vessels, bound for Shanghai and arrived here yesterday.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.