Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-02-07
Thanked Blu
TheGratefu| God
II eySaved

~ the candle-ighted atmosphere of wealthy Chinese
\ shrine in distant Shanghai members of the family
y l<nelt before silver
image Of the Buddha housed in towering 14foot pagoda
exqusely worked solid silver. tall Chinese priest
of the Buddhist faith was praying.
ooh mighty one, Oh Buddha," he chanted, "let the
light your shine upon all who treat this thy
home with But Oh Great One, let the curse
thy dspleasure rest upon all who would profane it,
these words the power for luck disaster Of the
Buddha upon this last family ceremonial
before left Chnas shores for the dis
tant Western World across the Pacific.
And Mrs. Kay Shean of New York four feet eleven
inches dynamite with the of giant in the
body of Dresden shepherdess, is in the United States
today with eyewitness testimony to the effectiveness of
both the good luck plea and the
SO far says good luck has attended everyone who
helped preserve the sacred silver pagoda of Buddha and
half bucktoothed Japanese intelligence officers can
bear testimony 10 the effectiveness Of the curse.
It was the indomitable Mrs. Shean's cold that
brought the treasure-vaued at half million dollars
years of work by the most skilled silver
smiths of Old China TO createacross the Pacific under
me very of the suspicious Japs
Three days before she TO sail home evacuee
the last Canadian Pacific liner to leave Shanghai before
Pearl arbor her wealthy approached Mrs
shean request that she add the great silver
CODA dsmanted into 764 distinct pieces and packed into
il trunks her baggage. Mrs. Shean taking
Chinese furniture and other belong
ngs her five years in the Far East These were
packed trunks few or less didn't make any
great difference she said she agreed to escort the idol
out of the danger zone
The Chinese owners of the pagoda realized only too
well temporary safety Shanghais international
Settlement wouldn't last long and they were eager 10 get
this greatest of the family to land where the
dwarfs could never lay their itching hands on It,
For of course the existence of the pagoda well
known in Shanghai Japs like their Nazi pals take
pretty good inventory of treasures to be looted before
they throw off their masks.
It was fortune worth any bandits best efforts. In
addition to its silver which pure and of hand-beaten
workmanship, the towering structure contains many
pounds gold that used in decorating hundreds of
miniature windows, balconies turrets and caves The
Japanese undoubtedly had planned Mrs Shean says to
ignore its ncaculable artistic value and melt it down for
manufacture of payment for certain types
o munitions
Like most Americans living in the Orient that time
the custodian of the belief that Japan
planned a war against United States at any moment
Every sign pointed the Forthcoming action that cumi
THE nsoence of those monkeys alone enough
10 show that" Shean said. They swanked about
II they already had the war"
Mrs. Shean says she breathed sigh Of relief when
the liner swung of the brown and muddy waters of
Whangpoo River into the clear blue of the China Sea
just same the tough part Of the trip coming
for ship scheduled TO make stops in the japanese
ports Yokohama, Nagasak and Kobe
And there as she had feared the Jap customs guards
and intelligence officers suspicious that the silver treasure
had been slipped out of China began systematic search
for It, So II Buddha's going 10 work
the time for it to function she thought And it did
Just before the inqustve Japs reached the trunks
containing pagoda parts the leader the party slipped
ladder the hold and fractured his skull the
iron assistant badly hurt by falling
Maybe these just couple Of ordinary accidents,
such as happen the dark holds OF ships But Kay Shcan
her Chinese friends remembered Buddhas Those
accidents just time, for the Japs the ensuing
confusion passed over the containing the pagoda
FurthermQre Japs who searched the Shanghai home
the Chinese family also suffered odd
dents and illnesses
And the good has worked too she says Everyone
connected the handling the pagoda prospered
Mrs Sheaus husband. held by the Japs, is safe and
the exchange list Good fortune has attended the family
which the shrine
Soon most Americans viii have chance the
pagoda and pick themselves so speak a Buddhistic
f3Ir-leaf clover II shortly VIII bc taken "A Of
exhibition throughout the country the benefit of
Madame Chang Kashcks war orphans