Shanghai, Aug. 17.
A father and his two sons, all said to be notorious gangsters formerly operating in Sungkiang, were sentenced to heavy prison terms yesterday by the Second Special District Court, charged with armed robbery, murder and offences against the institution of marriage. 'The father, Li Yung-kwan, was sentenced to' 12 years imprisonment, while his frst Son, Li Chia-chou, drew 18 years charged with robbery, murder' and also adultery. The younger son, Li Pei-hwa, was sentenced to serve 10 years in'jail on similar charges, Their vit rights were cancelled for eight and 15 years respectively.
All of the accused, however, still insisted that they were not guilty, stating that the two girls who sued them in court did so at the instigation of another man who wanted to lop them. They signified that they would appeal against the sentences referring the case to the Third Branch "Kiangsu High Court in the French Concession, Many hearings have been held by the court and the Judge had been hesitant in reaching decisions owing to. the complicated nature of the crimes which the accused were Stated to have committed in_Sung-Kiang after the withdrawal of Chinese troops from that railway dist when two girls who claimed. that they had been forcibly married to the sons of the bandit leader, reported to the French police that the gangster leader and his two sons were in Siccawei. They were accordingly arrested.
In court the girls told their pathetic stories, alleging that by virtue of his great influence as a leading gangster the accused father had committed numerous crimes in many villages in and around Sungkiang including arson, robberies, murder and offences against the institution of marriage. The mother of one of the girls who Was forcibly married to the elder son opposed the entire arrangement and she was said to have been killed by the son. For the murder alone the son drew 15 years in addition' to ight years for robbery and five years for adultery. The fudge commuted the sentences into a sentence of 18 years' imprisonment, The homes of the girls were ransacked by robbers before they were forced to marry.
"The accused told the court yesterday that the girls were married through the proper introduction of 'a. village elder. They admitted that the mother of one of the girls, Miss Lin 'Shin-hwa, was killed' but explained that the woman was killed by a stray bullet while hostilities were still' going on between the Japanese and Chinese forces.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.