'HE writer of this account of Hankow, Sept. 25. the last journey made between Hankow by rail is Mrs. E. G. Byrne, a resident of Hankow, whose husband is still in the city or at Chikungshan. Mrs. Byrne was one of the party of five foreigners who, on the second attempt, succeeded in reaching Hongkong after a perilous and nerve-racking journey. The account is written from a diary kept while en route.
The second and last instalment will appear tomorrow.
Many had solved the great question of the past few months in Hankow, "to go or to stay," by going when opportunity offered. Some few of us, however, who had made our homes in the city for many years and had no other, postponed the sad day. It meant the breaking up of families, the loss of many things we held dear, and uncertain and possibly unhappy future. But the day came when the last train was about to leave and the city would be finally cut off from the north, east and south. The unknown west, or a besieged city, were the only alternatives.
We ferried across the Yangtzekiang to Wuchang im the late afternoon of Sunday, September 18, and boarded our green train at ten o'clock at, night for the 600 mile journey south io Canton. The train was as usual crowded with Chinese, but it also carried a detail of seven French soldiers and five foreigners, Mmes. H. E. Ramsay and E. G. Byrne, and Messrs, C. E. Pinel, H. W. H. Davies and Mr. Ronald Rees. We made the best of the not too pleasant conditions and finally dropped off to sleep.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.