Show 0 A d club at murder on creek by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter HERES Y TERES a tale from china where life is cheap kill I 1 JL you for your shoes in that desperate overcrowded over crowded half starved country or kill you for nothing at all ive seen chinese killed by the dozen over there for no reason as far as I 1 could see but just for the sake of killing in no country in the world except possibly revolutionary spain is death spread with such a careless hand yes life is cheap over there in china many a man has been killed for something that worth a chinese dollar but our distinguished adventurer of the day milton weaver of new york city saw the time once when his life worth two cents that was in february 1933 1932 milt weaver was in the united states marine corps then and the marines were stationed in shanghai protecting our nationals and the international settlement dur ing the he fighting that hat went on between the chinese and the japanese alon along r the shores of creek says milt you probably remember the little dugout dug out we marines built and all the warlike atmosphere that surrounded us along creek and milt is right about that I 1 sure do I 1 spent a lot of time down there when the fighting was going on over in the native city and if I 1 saw milt id probably remember him too for I 1 talked with a lot of those boys who garrisoned that dugout dug out and stood guard along the creek milts adventure though is one thing I 1 missed and im glad milt has given me a second chance at it a second chance to put in on the wire and tell it to the world it was a cold morning that one in february and milt was patrolling his post along creek outside the walls of the international settlement a furious battle was going on between japanese troops and chinese soldiers refugees were seeking safety in the settlement by the thousand but they allowed to enter at night the patrols along the boundaries had strict orders not to let anyone enter before six a m but all night long terror stricken chinese refugees many of whom pass the inspection at the bridges kept trying to force their way through the patrols and get in behind settlement walls at the mercy of the chinese it was about five in the he morning when milt saw a sampan loaded with chinese making its way across the creek immediately milt shouted to them to go back but on they came until the nose of the boat touched the shore then milt saw he was in for an argument maybe even a little trouble but if hed known how much trouble it was going to be hed have sounded the alarm and called out the guard before he be tried to do anything else about it As the boat touched shore milt stepped aboard and began telling the coolie who ran it to turn around and go back 1 I had to do this in sign language milt says because the coolie apparently understand english the coolie appeared to be doing what I 1 told him he was trying to swing the boat around when a small tugboat came along and rammed into his sampan atthe at the same time it pushed the sampan out into the middle of the str stream making it impossible for me to jump ashore again I 1 and then all of a sudden the demeanor of the chinese in the boat changed A few seconds before milt had represented authority with a guard of soldiers at his call now out there in the middle of the stream he was alone helpless and darned well those chinese knew it they began swarming toward him babbling gesticulating threatening milt saw what was coming saw that lie he had one chance to get away and that was to jump aboard the tugboat ile he turned toward it and then a thing happened that put him completely at the mercy of the occupants of the sampan As he turned toward the tug a puff of smoke fuu full of fine bits of coal flew straight in his eyes he aas was blinded blind edl it was only for a few moments but during those few moments of blindness milt experienced the worst fear of his whole life the natives seeing him helpless rushed him and a man that gets mobbed by a crowd of chinese natives has darned little chance of getting out alive desperate fight fi lit on the sampan they came at me with bamboo sticks says milt 11 trying to push me overboard into the filthy waters of the creek I 1 knew I 1 was doomed if I 1 let them get me into the water for once I 1 was in it they would push me under and hold me there until I 1 drowned I 1 blew my whistle for help I 1 had a pistol in a holster at my hip but I 1 see to shoot it but I 1 also carried a baton like a emans nightstick night stick and I 1 began swinging it around my head as best I 1 could milt says he know how he managed to stay on his feet all through the hullabaloo he could feel bamboo poles poking at him and he could feel that his own stick was doing some damage too for every once in a while it came in contact with something that felt like a coolies head but little by little he was being forced back toward the edge of the sampan milt was getting desperate another step or two and hed be overboard he was thinking of drawing his pistol and firing blindly into the mob when suddenly he heard english voices on the bank mixed in with the native shouting and cursing that stopped the coolies A minute before milt had been a lone hated foreign devil now he was backed by authority again they put the boat back to shore and milt was helped ashore by english policemen and a few of his own pals the american marines they gave milt first aid treatment for his eyes and for the cuts and bruises he had received and milt says he was mighty clog doggone gone glad to get his feet back on the ground of the international settlement where good old american british and french law and order were in force and life was worth more than a couple of plugged chinese pennies 0 service |