NAZARETH MURDERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 96, 20 October 1937, Page 13

NAZARETH MURDERS

SEQUEL TO THREATS ASSASSINS UNTRACED (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, September 29. Constable Peter Robertson McEwan, who, with Mr. Lewis Yelland Andrews, District Commissioner of Galilee, was shot dead in Nazareth, was to have sailed a day or two later for New Zealand *to be married. He had only a short time to go before the completion of his contract. Mr. Andrews had been attending the Anglican Church at Nazareth in which it was his custom to read the lessons on Sunday evenings. He had been No. 1 on the terrorists' "black list" for many months owing to the strictness of his rule. His life had been threatened frequently during the last two years. For this reason he had been provided with a bodyguard. Shots were fired at Mr. Andrews at almost point-blank range by three assailants, described as Arabs. Two were in European clothes and tarbushes. The other was in peasant dress. Mr. Andrews was hit in the chest, stomach, and head. He was killed instantly. The murdered policeman, Mr. McEwan, was in plain clothes. He was hit in the shoulder and head. Mr. Pirie Gordon, the Assistant District Commissioner, who was leaving the church at the same time, owes hisj life to an accident. As Mr. Andrews shouted out, "Run for it, Pirie Gordon, they've got us!" he pushed Mr. Pirie Gordon, who stumbled over a bucket of water and fell to the ground. Mr. Andrews fell on top of his friend, and the murderers fired into his body as he lay on the ground. The two men were buried with full military honours. A company of the Royal Sussex Regiment and members of the British police force took part in the ceremony. The 'two coffins, draped with Union Jacks and borne one in an army and the other in a police lorry, passed through crowded, silent -streets to the cemetery. The numerous mourners, including the majority of the British community, were led by the Acting High Commissioner. MURDERERS NOT FOUND. More than 100 Arabs suspected of terrorist activities were arrested afterwards in the Nazareth and Galilee area. Among notable Arabs detained were thiee Judges and two lawyers. Although a wide police net has been spread all over Palestine, the actual assassins have not been traced. Police dogs picked up a good scent from the scene of the crime and followed it along the byways of Nazareth to the main highway. It is believed that a motor-car was waiting there to take the murderers away. The death of Mr. Andrews is a great loss to the Palestine administration. He knew every inch of the country and thoroughly "understood the people. His services to the Royal Commission had been invaluable. He admitted to a friend a fortnight previously that he was a marked man, but, while taking every precaution, he made no change in his tours of inspection and other duties.