Evening star., 1937-08-23
China

China
Continued From First Paee)
OF the blast had gathered them up
and rolled them together.
Most of them were twisted horribly.
Many were burned. Others were torn
apart.
Many dead lay about the Uttered
floors Showcases, merchandise, f1x-
tures-everything was blasted, torn
and splintered.
Some elevators sagged between
floors. In them were the bodies OF
shoppers who, only few moments
before, had been buying the essentials
Of war" for existence in hungry,
terror ridden Shanghai.
Counting Dead to Take Days.
1t will take days to count the toll Of
dead. 1t will even take days to find
many of the bodies.
In one part of the Wing On store
huge section OF ceiling had fallen.
There were perhaps a hundred per-
sons buried beneath it. The mass of
debris lay untouched-police and re-
lief workers had more important
things to do. They were trying to
save the living Nearby hotels housed
additional dead
The estimated deaths, even by po-
licemen on the scene, varied from low
figures to some absurdly high. 1t
seemed however, that the 400 figure
likely would be accurate when the final
story was told.
While the belligerent forces pre-
pared for what many said would be
the heaviest fighting yet, Americans
and other foreigners hurried their
evacuation plans.
Ship to Sail Tomorrow.
The Dollar liner President Pierce is
to sail for Manila by way of Hong
Kong tomorrow afternoon.
1t will carry 100 Americans, mostly
women and children, bringing the total
of Americans evacuating to $500.
The President Lincoln. leaving Au-
gust %, is to carry $50 Americans.
The Empress of Canada, scheduled to
sail Wednesday, has booked a thou
sand British passengers and many
other foreigners.
Conditions permitting, the President
Mckinley is to return to Shanghai to
carry a second boatload to the States.
The President Taft and the President
Hoover have gone to Manila with
refugees.
An American naval board of inquiry
convened today to investigate shelling
of the Navy warehouse. A similar
board sent to Washington its report
on shelling of the U. S. S. Augusta
Friday, which brought death to one
seaman and injured II others.
The shell which struck the teeming
Ward Road Prison threw the $500
inmates into renewed terror. Evacua-
ton Of the prison started yesterday,
but was blocked by Japanese protests
that many OF the convicts were going
into the Chinese Army. Some of
the inmates are from to 18-year-old
juvenile offenders.
A. p. Writer Again Escapes.
Morris J. Harris. chief of the
Shanghai Bureau of the Associated
Press, marked up his third escape
from bursting projectiles. He had
Just left Wing On's with supplies for
the Associated Press Office when the
explosion occurred. He had come un-
scathed through the August IA bomb
ing of Nanking road that killed
thousands of civilians.
Among the other foreign casualties
were:
Klaus Eckhart, 16-year-old German,
dead; Valeria Glasser. Polish, seriously
injured; A. U. Brunner, Swiss,
seriously injured
Japanese warships and Chinese land
batteries were heavily engaged down.
river where the Whangpoo meets the
Yangtze.
The sound Of the artillery duel re-
verberated monotonously throughout
the day. 1t was Shanghai's eleventh
day OF narrowing war and the north
ern and eastern sections of the city as
we'll as the rich industrial suburb of
Pootung across the Whangpoo River
were in flames.
So fierce were the raging fires that
al land operations in the fringes OF
the city were virtually suspended
Troops were driven from their posi-
tions by the flames.
Findings Sent by Board.
A naval board Of inquiry today sent
its findings, fixing responsibility for
the shelling of the Augusta, TO the
chief Of naval operations in Wash
1ngton.
Naval officials declined to say
whether China or Japan had been
found responsible, but asserted there
had been mo hostile intent" in the
Smelling.
The source Of the projectile that
brought the war to Shanghai's main
thoroughfare was complete mystery
It could have come from either Chi
nese or Japanese guns, As both are so
lmplaced along the Whangpoos banks
that. by An unusual twist OF the range
hnders, the batteries of either could
LAWYERS RIFFS