A well-organized gang of axtor= toners, headed by a number of Chinese convicts, had repeatedly, but Unsuceessfully, tried to extort a large amount' of money from him, well knowing that he was a wealthy man, and as he refused to accede to their demands, they made a faite report to the French Police that he had instigated the murder of the late Mr. Tang Chi formerly genera) manager of the Great World Amusement Resort, on the night of 'Tune 18, 1983, said' Koo Tso-hsien, man of considerable wealth and owner of a chain of theatres, hotels, and amusement resorts in the Set ment, when he appeared before the Second Special District Court, on Saturday, on a charge of instigating a murder, Several witnesses who had given evidence against him all were members of the gang who had tried to extort money from him, the accused said. 'These included Zau Kwan-foo and' Tsang Sino Sze-tse, both of whom stated that the accused hired them to murder the late managei of the Great World Amusement Re and that, on June 16, 1935, the accus met them in Room No, 208 of the Asia Hotel, Avenue Edward VII, promised them $10,000 for Mr, Tang's murder, and handed them two pistols with which to. commit the crime, As a matter of fact, the accused told the Court, he had never been to the Asia Hotel in his life and it was in~ conceivable that he had. given the two witnesses pistols in that hotel, Two employees of the were called for the King-yung, chief waiter, been employed in the hotel for several years, but hed never seen the accused ' there, Sun Tsu-ping, manager of the hotel, said he was appointed only in July, 198%, and, therefore, he was not ina position to say anything about what happened prior to that date.
Zau Kwan-fu and Trang Siao Szotse, now serving prison terms for being concerned in the murder, insisted that the accused hired them to commit the murder. The accused, they alleged, promiced to exercise hhis influence to get them out of prison, However, they had been fooled, as their appeals had been dis missed by both the local High Court and the Supreme Court and they had now to serve their terms, The Judge ordered a further adjournment. The court-room was heavily guarded by detectives and uniformed men, as there had been rumours of underworld plots and the accused was said to have under his command thousands of men In the ity.
Woo Ping-kwel, until recently a constable of the' Shanghai Public Safety Bureau, stationed in the General Post Office, North Soochow Road, was charged in the First Special District Court on Monday. with aiding and abetting. The accused was remanded.
Hans Hansen, the undisputed "King of the Beggars" in Shanghai, was arrested last Wednesday for the 241st time by the Settlement Police. Hans, who claims Latvian nationallly, was begging in Nanking Road, near The Bund, and became an annoyance to some foreign ladies.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.