Shanghai, Aug. 7.
SURGING crowd of Chinese, many of whom are natives of Tsungming Island, thronged the waterfront near the Avenue Edward VII Bund yesterday shortly after 6 p.m. anxiously witnessing the arrival of about 500 more refugees from Tsungming, mostly women and children, many more of whom will continue to arrive] here in the next few days as Japanese soldiers on the island have! started a wholesale destruction of houses by fire and massacre of civilians as a retaliation against guerilla attacks.
Carrying small bundles, the women and children, many of} whom evidently were suffering from lack of sleep and food, left the s, Chekiang Maru in a long queue while their Shanghai relatives and friends were anxiously looking for them.
In some places, where the crowd was more than 20 persons deep the police were forced to employ batons.
Looking still panic-stricken they told their relatives of horrible scenes their homes, There were many. other Shanghai Tstingming residents Who waited in vain for their Tsung. ming relatives and friends to show up and they tried to get hold of any Fetugee they could to obtain information. or Interviewed, the refugees testified to the truth of yesterday's report in the "North-China Daily News" about what has been happening to Tsung-ning people during the. past few days, Most of them, however, disagreed with the number of civilians killed, Contrary to the previous report that the number reached four Agures they said that they had actually. witnessed the massacre of more than 100 male elvibians in the Cheng. Hwang, Miao (temple) on the island, They Alleged that the Japanese summoned them for a meeting at which ft speech was to be delivered by the commander but as soon as they went there machine guns began to rattle, Those "who were not killed were ater bayonetted to death, it was alleged.
It would appear that the exact number of Chinese civilians killed Will not be known until a detailed and, systematic account can obtained as other refugees stoted that they knew that other groups of civilians were mercilessly killed to Say nothing about those trapped and huirned to death in houses enveloped flames. They generally, agreed, however, that several thousand houses had been destroyed by confagrations alleged to have been. started by the military.—Guerilies themselves did pot bear the full brunt fof the attack, it was said, as when the massacre' was started" they had ong gone away after hiding their weapons.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.