Evening star., 1937-12-17
'BUTCHERY' MARKS|
FALL OF NANK|NG
Correspondent Reveals Pic
ture Of Savagery, PIunder-
ing, Panic and Suffering.
BY A. T. STEELE,

Chicago Daily News Correspondent.
NANKING, Dec. Is (Delayed) -
Japanese reports have told exultantly
of the japanese assault and capture
Of Marking and the triumphal entry
of their army, but they have told
little OF the tremendous human drama
enacted inside the capitals walls be-
fore and after the city's fall.
So much Of excitement, pathos, suf-
fering, panic and savagery was
crammed into those few days that it
cannot be adequately told in few
hundred or even a few thousand
words. All can hope to do in this
story is to narrate a few things I
have seen with my own two eyes
in the hope that they will convey
some impression Of the experience
through which the city has gone.
Homes Needlessly Fired.
I saw Chinese troops needlessly ap-
plying the torch to whole blocks of
homes and shops around the city
walls, dispossessing thousands in a
futile attempt to impede the jap
anese attack.
I saw a terrific two-day lombard
ment Of Markings defenses, which
finally softened and shattered Chinese
resistance.
heard the din OF cannonading and
machine cunning accompanying the
final Japanese assault on the strongly
held south gate, where towering
torches Of flame lit up the battlefield.
Later, I saw scene OF butchery
outside that gate where the corpses
of at least 1000 soldiers lie in every
conceivable posture Of death, amid
confusion OF fallen telephone and
power lines and charred ruins-appar-
emily trapped by the closing Of the
gates.
saw Chinese troops looting shop
windows, but later saw the Japanese
troops outdo them in a campaign of
pillage, which the japanese carried
out not only in the shops but in homes,
hospitals and refugee camps.
Panic in Escape.
saw Chinese multitudes beginning
their retreat through the city's north
gate, the only remaining exit. Then
I saw that hurried but orderly with
drawal become q pell-mell rush and,
finally, milling panic as the last line
Of escape was cut oT
saw hundreds of Chinese tear of
their uniforms in the street, some
donning civilian clothes, others run
ming of in their underwear. Many
came to me and to other foreigners
imploring protection and offering
guns and money in exchange.
saw fear-crazed troops attempt to
force their entry into the headquar-
ters of the International Committee
and, when denied, begin to toss guns,
revolvers and machine guns over the
walls into the hands of the startled
missionaries, who gingerly slowed
them away for surrender to the jap
anese.
These things too, I saw:
A frightened soldier crawling under
German flag; hundreds OF wounded
crawling and limping through the
streets beseeching every passerby for
assistance; Japanese soldiers impress
ing coolies and donkeys into service
to carry their loot; Japanese machine
gunners moving through the streets
in the moonlight killing anyone who
ran and some who did not; japanese
Systematically searching houses and
seizing many plainclothes suspects,
scores Of these bound men being shot
one by one while their condemned
fellows sat stolidly by, awaiting their
turn.
Civilians Bayoneted.
I saw the japanese beating and
jabbing helpless civilians and in the
hospitals I saw many civilians suffer-
ing from bayonet wounds.
saw the dead scattered along
every street, including some old men
who could not possibly have harmed
any one; also mounds composed of the
bodies of executed men.
I saw grisly mess at the North
Gate, where what once had been
200 men was now a smouldering mass
of flesh and bones.
Outside the gate I saw rope lad
ders, strips of clothing and blankets
hanging from the wall where many
escaped from the city after finding
the gate choked, only to fall into a
deadlier trap.
Copyright. 1887, by Chicaxo Daily
News Tnc