SOLDIER OF FORTUNE

Shannon News, 11 December 1925, Page 4

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE

SOME AMAZING ADVENTURES,

HELD UP CHINESE ARMY j CORPS. ! I Six feet high in his stocking- feet Frank Sutton, one of the most roman. tic soldiers of fortune in history, is a general commanding ah army ol 600,000 men in China. After leaving Eton, he fought in Mexico, France, Gallipoli, Russia and China. He on es his present position of Chinese War Lord to his martial qualities and his knowledge of the trench mortar. On the oiitbreak of the European war, Mr. Sutton joined the Royal En. gineers, and in tissociation with Mr. Stokes, of Stokes mortar fame, he did a great deal to perfect the weapon. After service at Gallipoli, where he lost a hand and .gained the Military Cross, General Sutton was the man chosen to equip America's aisenala with machinery for the manufacture of the Stokes mortar. The European war supplied adventure enough, but Gallipoli apparently merely stirred Mr. Sutton's longing tor excitement. An ex.captain of the Engineers, he rushed off to dredge for gold in the Amur province of Russia, but he tired of Russia and; went to China. His Gun Patent. He intended to offer his gun patent to General Wu Pei.fu, but double dealing by a junior officer brought the negotiations to nothing, a fact which 3 has probably written something in the pages of theVodern history of China. General Yang Sen, a Tuchan, of Scechuan, eventually secured the Englishman'?; services. Over 1000 miles up the River Yantze went Mr. Sutton to help the hard.fighting Yang Sen, who had been fighting several rivals for a year or two past. With the manufacture of some mor. tars Yang* Sen's army went into the field with glee, and more than held its own. -

The trench mortar is- a weapon which the Chinese can . easily use-f----and one which they simply won't face. Army Held Up l>y a Handful. For six days and nights General Sutton and 200 men held up the en. tire Third Chinese Army, a wellequipped force of 40,000 men. Sutton's men were ensconced in the Szechuan mint, and though escape was impossible, they held ou tIn the end the Third Army sent a messenger with a white flag, to pro. pose peace terms, and General Sutton and an interpreter went to the enemy's headquarters to parley. The two were conducted to a room in which waited the opposing general, the main rival of Yang Sen. The interpreter became nervous. "They say they are going 16 shoot us," he whisptued. But it was too late to retreat. Taking "a bold front General But. ton demanded that the. guard which was present unfix bayonets. Without waiting the general's order the guard commenced to unfix bayonets. A Treacherous General. Swiftly the general opened a drawer of the table at which he was sitting, and presented a revolver at Sutton's head. He fired twice at a distance of six feet, but in his nervousness he missed.; : •'

vSutton's first shot struck him below the heart. Straight through the door ran the'Englishman and not a shot of . the volley fired by i the guard struck him. Fortunately, darkness aided him and ne won the two and a.Jhalf, mile iace back to the mint fairly easily. j ■ To pitch the machine guns and trench .mortars into the river was the , work of a moment, and as the sui v .! vivors of His 200 scattered for safety j General Sutton spod down the Yantze in a motor.boat. ) From the river banks came a hail of j bullets; but luck was again with" him, and he got through without a scratch. I General Sutton then joined Chang TsoJtln. Manufactured Mortars. It was a difficult matter to get an '• yintervjew with the Mukden War Lord

but again Sutton's proverbial luck held good. One of the Chinese officers was impressed by his size, and ,on the principle that size counts for some, thing gained an interview for the Englishman.

In a few short months, General Sutton reorganised the Mukden ar. senal, and began turning out mortars in large numbers. In the war of last autumn Wu Pei. fu'was the better tactician, but the superior equipment of the Manchurian army eventually enabled Chang Tsolin to .break 'throug'i the defence system which ran alongside the Great Wall of China. And while 300,000 men were fighting at Shr.nkaikuan, a little China pony ran round the racecourse at Shanghai and n-lted General Sutton £25,000. Keen on. Sport, *. To.day General Sutton is practically in charge, of th e army of 50,000 men and is the artillery and engineering expert. Like all Englishmen, General Sut. ton is a keen sportsman. He made a whole regiment laugh when he carried his golf clubs to Gallipoli. A Turkish shell • smashed them. He. still plays a good game, swinging the clubs one hand. He plays an average game of (onnis occasionally, turns out for the Tient-sin Rugby Football- Club, and is a wonderful fisherman. .