CHINESE ASSAULTED

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 120, 17 November 1937, Page 15

CHINESE ASSAULTED

IRON BAR AS WEAPON

ASSAILANT ESCAPES 7

(By '-Telegraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, Nov. 18.

As a prelude* apparently, to a projected looting of the premises, an unknown man viciously assaulted Mr. Wallingford Chan, a Chinese herbalist, at his rooms at 99 Manchester Street, at 8.30 p.m.

Saying that he .wanted treatment for rheumatism, the man waited until .Mr." Chan's back was turned, when he struck him'over the head with an iron bar. Mr. Chan grappled with his assailant, who, however, broke away and escaped, leaving behind the. weapon, his hat, and a sugar-bag.

The assault occurred in Mr. Chan's consulting room, opening off the waiting room, which fronts on to the street. Mr. Chan was going through some correspondence when the door opened and the man walked in. He seemed surprised to find the room occupied.

Mr. Chan told his visitor that, the staff being absent, he could not attend to him that evening, and suggested that he should call again on Saturday morning. So saying, he walked across to the door to open it. His back was then to the visitor. As he turned the handle, he felt a heavy blow on the top of his head.

DASH FOR THE STKEET.

Pivoting quickly, he received another savage blow on the left temple before he could grapple with his assailant. Although small and light, Mr. Chan is a skilful exponent of jiujitsu. He . wrested the weapon from his assailant and jammed him into the ■corner by the door. Weakened, however, by loss of blood fromthe wounds in his head, and further hampered by the fact that the back of his coat had caught on the door handle, Mr. Chan could not maintain his grip, and, as Mrs. Chan, hearing the scuffle, entered from the back of the premises by another door, the man broke away. He rah out of the door by which Mrs. Chan had' entered, and, with her in pursuit, dashed down the corridor and through the waiting room to the street.

The doctor who was called to attend to Mr. Chan's wounds said that only the fact that he had an unusually strong skull saved him from concussion, if not death. Two stitches had to be inserted in the wound on the top of his head, where the first blow fell. •