LOOTED EXPRESS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 400, 8 December 1932, Page 3

LOOTED EXPRESS

MANCHURIAN OUTRAGE BANDITS ROB MALE PASSENGERS OF CLOTHING.

J OURN ALIST'S AD VENTURE. London, ' Saturday. Mr. J. M. Penlmgton, the Tokio eorresp'ondent of the London Daily Telegraph', who was. a passenger in the Harbin-Changchun express when it was looted by bandits. tells a dramatie story of the attack. Mr. Penlington was in Manchuria on holiday, and had just arrived at Harbin after his alarming experience. It had previously been reported that the raiders had captured him.

I have just arrived here after a thrilling adventure with bandits, Mr. Penlington telegraphed his paper. The express on which I was travelling left Changchun for Harhin on Sunday afternoon. All the talk was of the attack on.a, train on "the previous day, when eleven passengers were killed. Before long we had a similar experience. Our train was derailed during the night by raiders after a terrific fusillade. They invaded the carriages and stripped us of all our clothing and other belongings. Four soldierisi were killed and many persons wounded. The first-class passengers reached Harhin, having lost everything. Twenty-four hours had been spent in covering a mere 150 miles. We had set out from Changchun on a heavy Ruissian train laden with hundreds of people bound for the north". A number of Japanese soldiers who had been woUnded in Saturday's engagement were also on hoard.

Lights Go Out. After crossing the Sungari River hridge, 30 miles south of Harhin, the first-class passengers were congratulating themselves that the dan-ger-zons had been passed, when the train was suddenly hrought to a standstill by the derailment of the tender and the foremost coach, aecompanied by a terrifie fusillade from the darknes-s. The lights were immediately extinguished. The Manchurian guard replied to the attackers, who, however, soon hoarded the carriages. A scene of indescribable confusion ensued. Many shots were fired, and the savage ishouts of the marauders mingled with the shrieks of the women in the compartments. The first-class compartments were the main ohjective of the raiders, who swarmed into the corridors. The passengers crouched behind the closed doors of the coupes, hut these were soon foreed. The male inmates were violently handled. They were robhed of all their possessions and comp'elled to remove and hand over their clothing. The foreigs women behaved splendidly. They were deprived of all their jewellery, but, unlike the men, were not forced to surrendel* their clothing. The victims of the outrage comprised people of about a dozen nationalities. They included Mr. Gassek, agent of the Wagons-Lits in the Far East, and also British. Amerieans, Japanese, and Russians. . I observed that some of the raiders wore military uniforms, but the majority of them were in mufti. Among them were mere boys, armed with rifies and revolvers. These they flourished in the faees of the helpless pasisengers, at the same time giving vent to hysterical cries. Many acts of violence were committed by them. I cannot speak as to what happened in other carriages, hut the interior of ours after a brief half-hour of havoc was completely wreclced. Cairn succeeded pandemonium. The bandits withdrew, laden with their booty. The long train stood dark and silent. The lights were not switched on again, and the passengers spoke only in whispers.

Train Goes On. At last, when it seemed to be eonfirmed that the raiders had really gone, the train steamed slowly baek to the next wayside station, where it waited until daylight. A start was then made for Harbin. The passengers were conveyed in waggons of the breakdown tyrain which had come to the rescue. It included an armoured car manned hy Japanese troops. Four soldiers — two Japanese and two Manchurians- — were , killed, and several passengers wounded. Among the latter, a pathetic figure, was a Korean woman with' a hahy at her breast and her clothing soaked with blood. An examination by daylight of the scene of the attack showed that the raiders had selected an excellent vantage ground for their operations. They had made use of a solid old Russian defence outpost. They fired from behind its entrenchments, having the train at their mercy. It is estimated that they numbered 65.

As a result of the epidemic of railway outrages it has been decided to run trains only during the hours of daylight. They will be guarded exclusively hy Japanese troop's, no Manchurians being employed. It is generally agreed that the activities of the bandits to the south of the. Great Wall are inspired hy political motvies. In Harbin the inhabitants are on the verge of panic. But the fact that all nationalitieis are not disposed to give way to it is shown hy an advertisemont in the Russian papers. This states that the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank will in no circumstances pay ia ransom if a member of its -staff is carried off.