BATTLE WITH PIRATES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 189, 31 October 1927, Page 9

BATTLE WITH PIRATES

French Ship Assailed

DRAMATIC FIGHT ON DECK

By Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright. Received 9.10 a.m. SHANGHAI. Sunday. A DRAMATIC fight between pirates and military guards . aboard the French steamer Kiang-King, trading in the Yangtse gorges, took place on Thursday, two hours after the vessel’s departure from Ichang, up the river. On the ship entering the shallows, a deck battle commenced with melodramatic suddenness, between thirty pirates disguised as passengers, and a dozen guards.

TRIFLES and pistols were used. After the fight had lasted an hour, the guards were beaten, and 60 passengers, guards and pirates were killed or wounded. The dead were thrown overboard, and the outlaws stripped the remaining passengers of their valuables, and of their clothing in some instances. They forced the crew to halt the vessel at a deserted spot, and went ashore carrying the booty. THREAT OF TROUBLE A threat of trouble hangs over Nanking as a result of an incident involving Mr. Macalister, the Queenslander, who recently started out, but who abandoned the search for “The Times” correspondent, Mr. F. B. Riley. Macalister was sojourning in Nan-

king, acting as honorary correspondent for a local paper. He was travelling in an automobile with Mr. Tweedy, another British resident, in the British concession, when they ran over and injured a Chinese soldier. Macalister and Tweedy were arrested, and 2,600 dollars was demanded as compensation for the death of the soldier. The car, which is the property of the French Postal Commissioner, was seized. Macalister referred the matter to the British Consul for settlement. He was told that it was impossible to wait. Unless the amount was paid in three days, the Chinese military commander would refuse to accept responsibility for the behaviour of the troops. The British senior naval officer of the Yangtse flotilla is investigating the incident.—A. and N.Z.