PRESSMAN DEAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 269, 12 November 1937, Page 7

PRESSMAN DEAD.

KILLED IN SHANGHAI.

Noted London Correspondent Riddled With Bullets.

OBSERVING FIGHTING. United Press Association. —Copyright. (Received 10 a.m.) SHANGHAI, November 11. • Mr. Pembroke Stephens, the "Daily Telegraph" correspondent in China, was observing the fighting at Nantao from a water tower in the French Concession at Shanghai when he was killed by a sudden burst of machinegun fire. Mr. Stephens was a son of the late Mr. Pembroke Stephens, K.C., and was called to the bar after leaving Cambridge. Later he went into the films, theu he joined the League of Nations Secretariat, after which he entered' journalism as "Daily Express" correspondent in Vienna, and subsequently in Berlin, where he was arrested and expelled in 1934 on account of his reports. He then became the "Express" correspondent in Paris, after which he joined the "Daily Telegraph." Mr. Stephens was fatally macliine- ' gunned. He had tried to signal that those on the water tower were noncombatants, but the Japanese interpreted his movements as signals to the Chinese and fired from :iOO yards. Mr. Stephens was riddled with bullets and lay for 45 minutes before it was safe to "o to him. The Japanese spokesman declared that the machine-gunners were firing at Chinese snipers and stray bullets killed Mr. Stephens. Personally he regretted his utimely end. Two Russians were also badly wounded. Mr. Stephens is deeply mourned. He was regarded as the most intrepid correspondent in the war zone. His big yellow two-seater car was well known in Paris.