IMITATION MONEY

Evening Star, Issue 21711, 4 May 1934, Page 14

IMITATION MONEY

SEIZURE OK STEAMERS ANGRY CHINESE PIRATES Chinese pirates who recently captured a 6,000 tons steamer, the, Poo An, were the victims of an unintentional hoax: They mistook for genuine wealth trunkloads of imitatipn banknotes which had been consigned to Tsingtao for use as burnt offerings for the dead; The story was told when the Poo An returned to Shanghai with an exciting account of piracy on the high seas. ' , , When the steamer , was about 100 miles out at sea toward Tsingtao the pirates began operations by holding up the officers and locking ‘them in the smoking room. Then they made a bee line for the trunks, wheih they thought were worth millions of pounds. Maddened by the discovery that the notes were only imitations, they decided to carry- off the wealthiest of the 100 passengers and, hold them, for ransom. While they were ransacking the vessel from stem to stern one passenger died of fright. . . When the steamer reached a point off the Kwangtung coast, the pirates commandeered some fishing smacks and decamped with their loot. They took with them nine - wealthy passengers, including one woman, for whom they demanded a heavy ransom. “ The piracy,” said Captain Raks, on arrival at Shanghai, “ was the most orderly I have ever experienced, and not a single shot was fired. Before leaving the vessel,the pirates donned neat foreign clothing, looted _ from the passengers, and left _ behind the dirty ragged garments in which they had come on board.” > ' As they went over tho side, after having commandeered some fishing smacks off the Kwangtung coast, the leader of the band expressed to the captain of the Poo An his keen disappointment at the unsatisfactory outcome of the attempt. /