OCR Text |
Show 3. Dr. Hsu had gotten soldiers to raid Mr. bang's house , and Mr. Chu's across the street, and that the soldiers were then in those two houses robbing, mistreating, and beating the inhabitants. He said that no one but a foreigner had enough face to ask Dr. Hsu to call off the soldiers with success. 1 told Miss Breefc that Dr. Hsu's residence had been attacked by bandits in the night and that probably the soldiers were searching the neighboring house, and if they made such a search the excuse for disorderly conduct it would not be the first time that such a thing had happened, and that in such a case Dr, Hsu, much less Miss Breck, would have no effect upon them. She returned deciding^*©" refuse to guarantee Mr. Tang and merely calling up Dr* Hsu to,tell him what she had been asked to do,without exerting any pressure whatever. At six-thirty when our servants came for the day they said that l|r* Tang had been taken to Dr. Hsu's yard and had been beaten, and that Mr. Chu had also been taken there, interviewed and released, and that Dr. Hsu's yard w as£ull of soldiers. Before eight I had had my breakfast and told the Gilberts and the ladies all I knew and then went to Dr. Hsu's, There were already a big crowd of his friends there to hear the news and after thgr went 1 got a detailed story from him:- At one o'clock four men came over his wall, the damage to which was evident, and shouted to him that the Hsien Chang (county magistrate) was outside with severe abdominal pain and was demanding instantly to be seen by Dr. Hsu. The men insisted that he a-rise immediately and be in a hurry about going to see the official. Dr. Hsu asked them how it came about that they came to his house instead of having the gateman telephone to himj why they had no letter, nor even so much as a card from the Hsien Chang. Bythis time the conversation had continued long enough so that Dr, Hsu definitely identified the speaker's voice as being that of Chang, He slammed the door of the house, said to his wife, "Get ready", and went to the telephone and started to telephone to everyone. He called the men's ward and the night nurse ad the orderly started over for his house. The bandits were evidently afraid of shooting from what he had said to his wife, or were alarmed at his using the telephone, and went away immediately, going out thru the gate which was merely bolted from within. When they emerged from thegate they saw the night nurse and the coolie and shot at them (but injuring neither), the shot which I heard first. They went down the side alley where Mr. Hsu, the nurse used to live, opened that gate and got out onto the street. In so doing thy had to break the padlock and evidently they were clumsy for the door was blodstained. When hey got out nto th street they began t@ shoot into the air, probably a signal for getting them all together, or quite likely a warning to any who might decide to follow them. Dr. Hsu admitted, as I had begun to surmise, that his talk to me over the telephO\< on the first occasion was said for the benefit of any bandit that might overhear himrather than he wanted me to go to his house. Soon after, tht constabulary and the head commander arrived and searched most of the surrounding houses. Dr. Hsu told WTthat the bandit leader had recently been to Mr. Tang's house, so they draggd eut Mr. Tang and beat him. His stery of just when the bandit Chang had last been at his house varied a little, so he was beaten all the more. Mr. Chu was brot around,possibly because of a misunderstanding of his wife's in not opening the door for the searchers, and perhaps because Mr. Tang had said that he had kept his auto in Mr. Chu's yeard, and had gotten rooms there for his friends and chauffeurs. Dr. Hsu guaranteed Mr, Chu's good behavior and he was released. Mr. Wang and the patient whom Chang had brot to the Hospital, the one who wore dressings probably acquired at Tang's, were taken to the headquarters of the constabulary. Dr, Hsu does not think that the motive was to hold him for ransom. |