JAPANESE DISASTER.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, 11 September 1923, Page 5

JAPANESE DISASTER.

GRUESOME DETAILS. BY AN EYE-WITNESS. (Reuter). SHANGHAI, September 10. Louis Jederkgn, ia Yokohama jewellery agent tells of his closing his shop in the centre of the fioreign settlement. When v the shock came he and a number of other foreigners were thrown to the ground and when they rose they saw the houses levelled and walked with thousands of others' over collapsed roofs, seeking relatives. They saw hundreds of persons pinned under the debris. Those still alive were screVwning with agony, arms and legs were protruding from the debris and many worked hard in their attempts to release families imprisoned in the ruins. ■As fire spread thousands rushed into the sea to escape the awful heat and amongst them he noticed Mr Edwards who was in the employ of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. His hand was cut off and the \ stump was bleeding profusely. Many foreigners were wildly searching for their wives who bad been out shopping. He noticed a, prominent merchant named George Komor standing near the wreck of his house waist deep in debris shouting that he would give 10.000 yen to anyone who got out his wife, pointing to a woman’s head sticking, out from a pile of debris. The fire was then sweeping forward and before any help could be given it caught the ruins of the house and the woman was consumed in a living grave before the eyesof her husband. After a vain search for his own wife Jederkin made his way to the sea front and got aboard 'toe steamer Empress of Australia. He had given up all hope of his wife when he was joyously su p- i’d !o see her come aboard with a load of refugees. She was shopping when the premises collapsed but she escaped injury and took refuge in the park till able to make her way to the sea front.