Evening star., 1937-08-31
HOOVER NARROWLY.
MISSED SINKING
Chinese Bomb Fell Near
After Stack, Travellers
on Board Say.
Ey the Associated Press.

ABOARD THE PRESIDENT HOOV-
Err (By Radio to ShanghaD, August
31.-American travellers aboard this
bombed luxury liner told today of their
literally hairbreadth escape from
death when the peace of the after
noon tea hour yesterday was sud-
denly blasted by a squadron of four
Chinese air raiders.
Her sides pierced with shrapnel and
her decks scarcely scrubbed of the
blood Of one mortally wounded Amer
ican and nine others seriously wound
ed. the Hoover ploughed at full speed
through the torrid China Sea for Kobe,
Japan. S. Haskell, mess steward
died shortly after he was struck in
the stomach by flying shrapnel.
One of the bombs, witnesses said
barely missed the liners after smoke
stack. Had the missile plunged
through the stack it might have de-
stroyed the engine room and sunk the
ship with its hundreds Of passengers
and crew members
Af1idaviss of fellow passengers to-
night indicated Norman G. Harris,
American resident of Shanghai, leaped
overheard to his death yesterday short
ly before the bombing.
Evidence concerning his disappear
ance was taken by William Collins,
clerk OF the United States Court in
China. Friends said he showed signs
Of mental distress prior to his vanish
Ing, They blamed financial reverses
caused by the Sino-Japanese hostilities
Harris was a director OF the British
American Tobacco Co. He came to
Shanghai in 1905 from Rochester,
N. Y.
The Hoover arrived outside the
Farway buoy in the estuary of the
Yangtze, so miles down river from
Woosung, at AIS o'clock yesterday
afternoon and anchored, awaiting the
tide for the trip up the Yangtze to
Its confluence with the Whangpoo.
There she would have taken on Amer
lean refugees from Shanghai.
Four Planes Drop Bombs.
About 5:l5 pm, while many pas
sengers were having tea, four Chinese
planes suddenly appeared overhead
and dropped a salvo of bombs from a
height of 500 to 600 feet.
There were no hits, but the passen-
gers were thrown into immediate
panic
Capt. George w. Yardley, COM
mander Of the 2l,900-ton liner, or
dered all passengers to don life pre-
servers and go below. Most obeyed,
but few OF the more daring insist
Cd on staying to watch the terrifying
bombardment and the counter attack
of japanese anti-aircraft batteries
and planes.
Ire first bomb exploded 50 feet
ahead OF the Hoover. squirting up a
eeyser of water; the second fell in
the sea about an equal distance to
starboard
The bombers wheeled and then,
swooping to within 200 or 300 feet of
the decks, they unloosed three more
bombs, one Of which struck aft on
the port side, missingt he rear smoke
stack by = hairs breadth and splat-
tering the hull with flying shrapnel.
Dining Room Struck.
Another projectile shattered the
portfolio windows of the main dining
room. 1t seemed almost impossible
that many Americans were not killed
by the showers OF flying glass and
Shrapnel. In all, eight or nine bombs
were dropped.
Immediately after the second at
tack, the bombing planes gained alti-
tude and circled the ship as if pre-
parlng for another onslaught. Three
minutes later two japanese planes ap-
peared and pursued the Chinese to
the southwest. One of the Chinese
planes held off the pursuit while the
others escaped
Ihe Hoover lay motionless during
the attack, the western sun brilliantly
lighting up the huge American flags
she was flying and the familiar Dollar
sign emblem Of the Dollar Line on
her smokestack.
The Stars and Stripes was dyinq
from her stern while the Union Jack
f1uttered from the jack staff at her
DOW. In addition, a huge American
nag was displayed horizontally on
the upper deck. The Hoover was iso-
lated from other vessels. There were
no japanese ships within an estimated
7 or miles OF the Hoover. and the
only Japanese warship visible WAS a
destroyer outlined on the distant
horizon.
The simple, rough-hewn coffin con-
tanning the body OF the mess steward
was placed in the liners chapel. Pas
sengers laid wreaths upon it and took
up a collection for Haskell's family.
The nine wounded are progressing
favorably
Capt. Yardly expects to reach Kobe
At noon Wednesday and will proceed
Immediately for San Francisco.
Ironically, among the passengers of
this ship, bombed by Chinese airmen
Is Rosamund Kung, daughter of
Chinese Finance Minister DR.. H, H
kuns, who has been in Europe making
financial representations for the
Chinese defense. Rosamund is a
niece Of Generalissimo Chang Kai-
shek.
The ir attack seemed so deliberate
that passengers wondered If the
United States had declared war.
The Hoover's pilot boat Law less
than miles away and Immediately