Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-12

its height vague reports reached
London of a mystery" English
man who was serving munitions minister to
Chang TSo Lin. the northern war lord, and
supplying the armies of the Peking government
with guns and shells. For weeks his name was
unknown for little reliable news came from the
war-devastated regions of the once mighty yell
low Empire. All that could be said definitely
was that the unknown EngliShman was an ad-
Venturer who had served with distinction in the
british army during the World War; that he
had only one arm-having lost the other IN
battle-and that he was finding adventure with
the armies that were seeking to stem the on
ward march of the victorious southern rebels"
along the Yangtze River. in the heart of China.
More weeks passed, and then day this
amazing soldier of fortune arrived in London
and the world learned from Gen Frank Sutton
NJ c., the only Englishman of our generation
to hold high Office in Chinese army. the most
astounding story of adventure since Lawrence
returned from Arabia.
When the World War ended in 1918 Frank
Sutton found himself with one arm instead Of
two. and. as he expresses It, "a srnattering of
knowledge about railway construction, chemis
try, mechanics and general civil engineering,
keen Interest In bombs and just SUFFICIENT capt.
tai to enable me to retire quietly into the coun-
try and live a respectable life" But Frank
Sutton had keen appetite for adventure
sort of adventure, so long as there were big
stakes to play for
I OOKING around for a way to achieve his
ambition he decided that as war was at
the moment the main industry in China he
might take a hand in it by joining one of the
local armies and showing them how to win
battles. After all, bombs were his hobby, so
why not use his knowledge?
Having made up his mind. "One-Armed"
Sutton sailed for Hankow, and there spent two
months in trying to interest Wu-Pei-Pu, the
biggest war lord at that moment, in trench
mortars. He had had big experience with
these guns and was especially interested in the
Stokes gun, while the Sutton bomb fuse was
mis- pet invention All the rival war lords were
shouting for more men and more guns and out
bidding each other to get them. Nevertheless.
the negotiations with WI fell through. Soon
after q Chinese called at Sutton's fiat at Han
kow and said that he was Of the army Of Gen.
Yang Sen, the war lord Of Szechuan, and
wished to talk about guns He had apparently
heard about the specimen trench mortar which
Sutton had with him at Han5ow and wished
the Englishrcan to go to his headquarters and
demonstrate it. II the gun satisfactory,
his general-in-chief would at once order =
quantity.
This sounded more like business but when
Sutton turned up Szechuan on the map he
found that it was 5000 miles away, up the
Yangtze River, and none knew better than he
did that when once he got there 1t might be
very difficult for q solitary foreigner in the
middle of China to get back again He pointed
this dif1culty out to the Chinese.
"Oh, we have population Of $1,000, 600"
replied the general "You will be well paid"
To frighten him OF Sutton stated that he
would 60 to Szechuan for So OOO cash down.
dollar a mile for all that long voyage into the
heart OF China. The general agreed that the
price was reasonable, and went OF, saying he
would be back with the money in few minutes
The Englishman did not expect to see him
again, but as in any case he did not want to
go so far inland that did not worry him. Ten
minutes later, however the Chinese returned
and placed on the table 5000. There's the
money" he said I'VE are in earnest"
After this there was nothing for it but TO set
out for the remote country up river, as per
contract. and the only problem was how to get
the gun on board q steamer without the Gus
toms men at Hankow spotting it. However, 3
few pounds to one Of the engineers on the river
steamer worked like q charm, and that night
the gun was safely slowed aboard in q sack
disguised as . spare propeller shaft while the
shells TO be fired from it were labeled engine
room spares"
After Steaming up-river for 10 days and
nights, Chunking, the capital OF Szechuan q
city Of 100000 inhabitants, came in sight-a
mass Of tumbled roofs and pagodas rising tier
upon tier up the hillside from the waters edge
The harbor was alive with soldiers and flags,
and as the steamer drew alongside band burst
forth into Chinese imitation of See, the
Conquering Hero Comes" and the guard Of
honor presented arms. That night Gen. Yang
Sen, the local war lord, gave q magnificent
dinner In honor of the Englishman, and the
next day the general his staff and Frank Sutton
went four more miles up-river to the mint,
which. like all the other minis in China, had
been turned into munitions factory or arsenal.
Yang Sen, the visitor discovered, was the
most powerful military chief for hundreds of
miles around and possessed almost unlimited
wealth by virtue of the fact that he controlled
the salt mines of the province. Salt is a very
valuable commodity in China, which has al