Barcelona, Jan. 9.
The capture of the towns of Granja, De Torre Hermosa, in Badajoz Province, La Coronada and four villages is claimed in an important new advance in the Republican surpris" offensive on the Estremadura front, begun four days ago.
North of Fuente Ovojuno, the Republicans cleared a wide loop round the River Zujar and have captured the road at the junction of Peraleda and Deza Ucejo in Badajoz Province, only about 90 miles from the Portuguese frontier. Capture of Fuente Ovojuno, it is also claimed, has cut the Nationalists' road and rail communications with the famous Penar-Toya mines, which are now said to be half encircled—Reuter, The Jessfield gambling fraternity had another brisk internal engagement yesterday morning, with guns and hand-grenade, resulting in the wounding of three "third parties" two women and a boy, while the combat ants themselves apparently escaped unharmed. It was the second sanguinary tiff amongst the lawless gambling element in the immediate neighbourhood within eighteen hours, a hand-grenade having been thrown at another den off Jessfeld Road on Sunday evening causing serious injury to three Chinese.
Further, it was one of a long series of violent crimes committed in the area since Chinese of the loafer type were permitted by the Japanese-spon-"Ta Tao" ("Great Way") administration to conduct gambling in the Western district. Bombings, murders, kidnappings and robberies have taken place freely and frequently in the outside-roads district in connection with the wholesale operation of licensed gaming halls.
Yesterday's outrage started at the "Ta Sung" ("Great Life") gambling hall, off Jessfield Road near the intersection of Connaught Road, at 1045 am. A large gang of gaming satellites arrived at the establishment armed with pistols and a hand-grenade of the potato-masher type, and attempted to force their way inside. They were met by an equally tough assortment of armed guards employed by the den, and a clash was inevitable.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.