AMONG BANDITS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18760, 17 July 1935, Page 16

AMONG BANDITS

SYDNEY WOMAN'S PERIL

ESCAPE IN WHEELBARROW

"HECTIC LIFE" IN CHINA

SYDNEY, July 11

Miss Annie Jones, of the Church Mission Society Hospital, Mienchuh, Western China, when she returned to Sydney recently, described how she escaped from Chinese Communists by making a wheelbarrow journey across the plaint of Western China. At a few hours' notice, Miss Jones, who belongs to Sydney, and the seven other members of the mission had to evacuate the hospital, having been ordered by the military governor at l.'henlu to'get out as quickly as possible, owing to the danger of a Communist coup! They were forced to send their patients home, and, under instructions, they set out on foot. They walked about five miles and then were plcKeii up by wheelbarrows and pushed by coolies.

Miss Jones said she had heard of the !seechworth (Victoria) wheelbarrow wagier, but she smilingly explained that wheelbarrow transport was quite an ordinary way of travelling in Western China. SWARMING WITH BANDITS The Communists, Miss Jones added, were very different from the bandits, who were more or less part and parcel of life in the part of China where she had been wording. .Mienchuh, where she was stationed, is in Szechuan, the mo .1 westerly province ill China, and .if, had been" a strain there for the last five years. The country abounded with rigaiids, and it was an ordinary thing ,o have an attack by day or by night. The hill country, at the foot of which Mienchuh stood, was infested by brigands, who would swoop on to the town, shoot wildly to terrify the populace, and then steal whatever they wanted. Three-quarters of the patients id the mission hospital were sufferers from rifle wounds inflicted by the ban-

The bandits obtained their rifles ■'argely from the military. Sometimes they 'ambushed parties of soldiers and stole their rifles. Some had friends in high military positions. In other cases ;he local militia were hand-in-glove with 'he brigands. Actually some local militia, were bandits themselves. They kept their own districts quiet, but raided others. Each district had its secret society of bandits, and in her province about half-a-dozen bands oper•iled, each led by a "regular outlaw."

OUTRAGES BY COMMUNISTS Miss Jones said that though the bandif.fi would rob missionaries, they rarely inflicted physical injury, but the Communists v\ere a dreaded menace. Jb'or the last two years and a-half they had ben ravaging the eastern portion of the province, although it was not until March that they came into Miss Jones" own district. '"They are absolutely ruthless and kill oy hundreds and thousands, so that is why we were ordered to evacuate as quickly as possiMe," said Miss Jones. "Nine-tenths of the population also left the district, taking what few things they could manige. They were terrified. Special aero Aanes were even sent to evacuate European women and children from Chentu." "Life in Western China is hectic at oreaent," added Miss Jones. "It is like jiving on the edge of a volcano. Genera] Chiangi Kai Shek is now in the west hoping to get things straightened out, but the Reds were reported to be making Szechuan their objective and to be marching on it' from north and sofrt'i, >n,l their reputed intention was to ■ ,'auiish a Communistic State in West- < rrt China."

Owing to the forced evacuation of her station, Miss Jones, who has been in mission work for 20 years, has taken her Fu lough a year before it is due, Des''Of experiences she hopes to return to Western China next year.