Evening star., 1937-08-24
SHANGHAI BLAST
Vv|DLY LYDESCR|BED
4. P. Correspondent Who
Saw She||ing of Crowd
Tells of Scene.
BY MORRIS J. HARRIS.

bY MOhRlS j. HAKHlS.
SHANGHAI, August "a LP.-I saw
the busiest corner in China turned
into . scene Of carnage yesterday
when heavy artillery shell plunged
into the heart Of Shanghais Marking
road shopping district.
At least 400 persons were killed and
probably 1000 wounded The toll easily
may 60 higher than that
The projectile wrecked the city's two
largest department stores, the Wing
On Co. and the Sincere Co., teeming
with luncheon hour throngs. There
were large areas of devastation that
the searchers may not be able to dig
into for days. and there was no chance
that any survived in those tons Of
blasted steel and concrete.
The two densely crowded stores i'm
mediately after the blast presented a
ghAstly picture. Hundreds OF bodies
lay heaped as if the fearful blast had
-oO
bodies. I saw Europeans injured, but
none who was killed. Accurate counts
were impossible. In desperate efforts
to save the living, many dead were
left In the ruins.
I escaped again as 1 did on that
terrible Saturday week ago, August
II, when Chinese aerial bombs killed
at least another 1000 in the Inter-
national Settlement.
vas just leaving the huge Wing On
store when the shell screamed toward
the International Settlement.
Suddenly every one was aware OF the
danger-but it was too late. 1t struck
with the speed Of meteor. smashing
into q beWildered mass of humanity.
ls-story Skyscraper Nearby.
1t was as if great shell had fallen
at noon on a Fifth avenue corner in
There could have been no time, no
place in the Orient where the shell
could have done more havoc.
The Sincere Co.'S big seven-story
building faces Wing On's new 16-story
skyscraper across the Narrow Nankine
road, which here is teeming, night and
day.
The entire facade and one whole
corner of the Sincere Co.'S store was
blown out. Behind me the fronts of
the Wing On stores two buildings
seemed to fly out from their founda-
tions. then crumble in rain Of litter
was surrounded by death.
Most of the bodies were horribly
twisted and burned black. Rivulets
Of blood ran in the trolley tracks and
pools glStened in the street. Bodies
were torn to fragments. Some arms
and legs were flattened against build
ing fronts by the terrific force. Some
were blasted as far as two blocks.
Hundreds Dead and Wounded.
I turned back into Wing On's to
md it . shambles. The explosion had
ripped through walls as if they had
been tissue paper. Hundreds lay
about, either dead. wounded or SC
dazed and white with shock that they
appeared dead.
Hundreds crazed by fear, sought tc
escape from the wrecked building
Stairways and exits were choked
scores must have perished in the crush
to escape.
Elevators were jammed wherever
the blast caught them. In them saw
scores Of dead and many grievously
wounded, the latter fighting to escape
The elevators had become cages lllef
with animals in human form. In many
the lift boys lay, apparently killed by
the blast
I thought had become Injured to
scenes Of horror in this war-engulfed
Shanghai, but the scenes in Wing Ons
would have made any one sick with
horror.
Most Of the stores stan were lying
about, dead, hurt or shell shocked. A
few managers, who had survived the
blast, tried to control the crowds, but
none heard them. 1t was a tide of hu-
manity fighting in panic for life and
tearing through any open space.
Balconies Sagging.
Outside I found sections of the two
towering stores hanging dizzily over
the street. Balconies and ratings
sagged. Here and there bodies were
draped on balustrades.
The charred bodies of a Sikh and
two Chinese policemen hung gro
tesquely from twisted, swaying traf-
nc tower.
Scores OF mortally wounded stag
gered blindly, insanely away from the
ruins to collapse and die. They lay
there until police had gathered up
those whose lives might be saved. They
were carted away to mortuaries.
HOW the victims staggered off I do
not know. They must have wandered
instinctively where they were not
pushed and trampled by thousands OF
frended relatives who stampeded into
the street to claim their dead and
dying.
American members OF the Shanghai
Volunteer Corps were among the first
on the scene, ahead Of the police and
Red Cross. They had to battle thei,
way, through crowds and a mass O.
twisted wires and wreckage to reach
the dead and injured.
Rescuers Communicated ambulance.
and other automobiles to race thu
victims to first aid. The injured ver,
carried away on anything that coule
Be found-stretchers, torn dowr
scresns, truck board and boards.
Trucks came and went behind th'
workers, disappearing with loads O
bodies and swiftly returning.
When police reinforcements ar
rived they went to work with shovel