Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-26
L|NDBERGH ROUTED
BY MOB OF CHINESE
Relief Party Returns at Once
to Save Plane, PeriIed at
Flood Area Stop.

BY the Associated Press
NANKING, September 26.-A crying
starving throng surrounded the plane
of Col. Charles A. Lindbergh when it
landed on flood waters near Hinghwa,
Northern Kiangsu Province, today and
for time it was feared the craft would
be seriously damaged and even its &C
cupants harmed.
Coming in sampans, tubs and any
thing floatable, the throng surged
around the plane, snatching at packages
it contained. The desperately hungry
natives wanted food and were bitterly
disappointed when they learned the
plane brought only medical supplies.
Col. Lindbergh, DR.. Heng Liu, director
of the National Flood Relief Commits
sions department of hygiene and sam
itation, and DR.. J. N. Grant American
faculty member of the Peiping Union
Medical College, who made the flight
took off almost Immediately to return
to Marking, deciding they could do
nothing except save the plane from pos
sible damage.
Hinghwa has been flooded for nearly
q month, its residents being forced to
make their way around in various
watercraft
Speaking of the incident. Col. Lind
bergh said:
1T was the most heart-rending ex-
perience of my career"
He said it was not the possible dam
ger that worried him and his COM
panions as much as il was the re>liza-
ton of their helplessness when con-
fronted by such a welter of human
misery so near starvation and unable
even to understand the humanitarian
purpose of the visit.
Hinghwa is 20 miles northeast OF
Marking and almost in the center of
the lowest point of the basin between
the Grand Canal and yellow Sea. Nor
mally it is thriving market town. It
is the county seat of HinghWa County,
which prior to the flood had a popula-
ton of 100000
Mrs. Lindbergh missed the trying ex-
perience. She remained at Marking
when the party took off earlier in the
day, deciding DR.. Liu and DR.. Grant
would need the space she might occupy.
At least five stops in the flooded
area east from the Grand Canal had
been planned by the party but the ex-
perience at Hinghwa their first stop,
sent them back to Marking discouraged
at the failure of their plans to use
Col Lindbergh's plane to distribute
medical units throughout the Kiangsu
Province flood zone.
1t seemed likely the scheme would be
abandoned and other methods sought
WHEREBY OOl. ana MIS-. blIluDSISn n!ent
serve the Flood Relief Commission.
The inundation of Hinghwa began
six weeks ago, but the situation became
critical when the Grand Canal dykes,
80 miles west of there, broke August
IS, and the inrushing canal waters
steadily filled the basin. Hinghwa is
now under 10 feet of water
In the past month Hinghwa has been
virtually isolated, with the nearest dry
land IS miles away. Little food has
reached the city, and the supply is at
its lowest.
Col. Charles A. Lindbergh earlier to-
day received China's aviation medal
from President Chang Kai-Shek as a
token of the countrys admiration OF
his distinguished record and in appre-
citation of his volunteer flood relief
services
Mrs. Lindbergh watched the head Of
the Chinese state pin the medal on her
hu-3and's breast Lindbergh is the
first person. Chinese or foreign, to be
awarded the medal
After the formal ceremony at the
Nsticn,l government offices, Nine.
Chang Kai-Shek joined the group for
an informal chat Then all emerged
to the sunshine on the lawn in front
of the offices and posed for photographs