CHINAMAN AMOK.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1995, 26 June 1919, Page 1

CHINAMAN AMOK.

SIEGE IN SMALL COTTAGE. FIGHT THROUGHOUT NIGHT. DEATH AT AMERICAN’S HANDS. Sydney, June 3. A Chinaman, said to have gone mad because ho lost the white girl with whom he had been living, ran amok on Sunday evening. He attacked a Chinese Mission Church first of all —throwing in smoke boxes and shooting the congregation as they rushed out —then he stood in the street and tired wildly at a fire brigade as it dashed up to put

out the supposed fire; and then, shooting as he went, he fled to his two-roomed hut in a nearby slum lane. He barricaded himself in, and kept the army of police at bay all night, and was finally rushed and shot at 9.30 on Monday morning by a courageous American from Arizona. It was an extraordinary incident, with a most dramatic finish. Altogether, 17 persons were shot, one seriously. All night and up to 10 o’clock in the morning an enormous crowd surrounded the church and the building in which the Chinaman took refuge. So great- were their numbers, in fact, that the police and firemen were considerably hampered in their movements.

Ail this time shots were bing fired in the direction of the hunted man, who had barricaded himself in a dilapidated shed, where he kept up a constant fire upon (he police and crowd. When it was found that it was impossible to bring the Chinaman down the fire brigade played several lines of hose on to the building, and in this way they managed to knock down portion of the partition which sheltered him.

Even then (lie hunted man kept: on tiring, and as lie eould not ho seen, it was decided to endeavour to flood him out. It was during these operations that (wo of the iiremen were shot in the lanewav.

While the shooting was in progress most exciting experiences befell ninny people. About midnight a pony galloped down Campbell Street, heading into (he crowd, and

it was thought the the Chinese had managed to get away through a lane and was coming towards the crowd. Somebody yelled that he was out, and there was a rush for cover, hut the man was still sheltered.

A little later a searchlight was hashed on the plaeo where he was hiding, and directly its rays lit up the locality more shots came from the demented man. But no one was injured by this fnsilade.

Hurried consultations as to the best way to tackle Ihe madman without unnecessary risk were held, hut as (he exact spot where he was hiding was not ascertainable at the moment it required some judgment to anticipate his quick changes of position. Just about a quarter to ten in the morning a returned soldier named Albert IT. Ryan and two of the police, noticing that a portion of the building was in a shaky condition, put their shoulders to it, and it fell.

Ryan is an Arizonan, who has seen many stirring scenes in his own country and on active service.

“Give me a gun/’ shouted the Arisonan to Superintendent • Walker, “I’ve done this in Arizona.”

“It’s a dangerous thing to do,” replied the inspector.