THE NANKING FIGHT.

North Otago Times, Volume CVII, Issue 17168, 26 March 1927, Page 5

THE NANKING FIGHT.

— Vr-c/ES Assaeistiori-

| (AustrolisB snd N.Z. Press Association.)

| ! • A LIVELY INTERLUDE. i ! . T RESCUE OF FOREIGNERS. [ - WAREHOUSE ABLAZE,

: (Oabls-

-OopyriffM.)

; Received Friday 7 p.m. • SHANGHAI, March 25. ! Nanking details show that mobs i reac.hing the British consulate im- ) mediately looted it. The consul re5 monstrated and was immediately 1 shot at. He then hastily evacuated ■ with his staff. j The American (consulate adjoinj ing shared a similar fato. The mob | followed the occupants shoatmg: 1 "Kill the foreign devils!" J Promiscuous shooting commenc- | ed elsewhere in the city. Troops, » hearing the liring, hecame alarmed and opened fire on anything and everything. They also started a waterfront conflagration. * The United States destroyers Noa, Preston and the British warship Emerald anchored off the shore, observing distress sighals from an American warehouse where the stafi's had taken refuge surrounded hy mobs armed with guns. Bullets continually penetrated the walls of the warehouse and prcparations were made by the mob to hurn the building. A bombardment from the warI ships comemnced. Simultaneously a Japanese warship landed marines, I one of whom was instantly killed. The three destroyers used machine and high explosivc shells causing

the mobs to flee. The extent of the damage done is unknown. Immediately 200 British and 150 Unifed States marines landed a$d fiater were reinforced by blueja/ckets. They were met with a fusilade of bullets from snipers and other sources. One United States bhie jacket was wounded. ] A concerted drive to the warehouse was successful, and all the j refugees were removed, including j the British and American Consuls' !' families. At .midnight in Nanking and Pukow fires were raging unchecked. ClasK of Chinese. A tremendous hattle is' reported as raging between the Cantonese and Northerners ai Hisakuan close to Pukow. Hisakuan is also reported to be on fire. The Naiionalist control of all the territory soutli of the Yangtsye has been completod hy the capture of Nanking amid scenes similar to those at Shanghai. All the foreign women and children and the majority of the men were evacuated with great difiiculty. Mohs instigated by plain elothes j agents preceding the troops fired warehouses on the waterfront which are now burning fiercely. The Northern troops retired with out fighting. The foreigners rescued by the naval parties were placed on j board destroyers and transhipped j in midstream to river boats and j thence proceeding to Shanghai. The refugee problem here is serious. The women and children are j sleeping in vestibules and kitchens j and all the accommodation is taken, j the new arrivals overcrowding that i already full.