SENT TO GAOL.

Western Star, 3 December 1935, Page 4

SENT TO GAOL.

LIFE IMPRISONMENT. BLONDE PIRATE QUEEN. CAPTURED BRITISH CHILDREN A beautiful 27-year-old girl, known! tbiougliout China, as ‘Golden Gracious,’! queen of the ruthless Bias Bay bandits for seven years, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Crowds flocked tq Canton to see her face a scoro of indict-i ments. Many showed ruthlessness, others queer streaks of kindness‘Golden Gracious’ was captured through the combined operations of the Kuang Tung provincial forces and the( British Navy. British warships have| wiped out many of the pirates’ lairs} which have been a scourge to coastal) trade ‘Gracious’ fled to. Bias Bay seven! years ago when her husband had tol leave Canton to escape the law. AtJ first she took no pari in the raids, but) her beauty soon attracted the pirate) chiefs. '

She left her husband. .‘Gracious’ then! planned several daring coups, two ofl which affected British ships, which were) seized by “passengers” between Sh«ng4 hai and Hongkong.

This exhibition of brains as well asl beauty made ‘Gracious’ popular among) the pirates and she gradually assumed] the leadership. She frequently changed) her “husbands.” DISCARDED LOVER. The woman generally stopped in the! Bias Bay district while directing acts of! piracy, but several times she led her, gangs aboard ships, sometimes disJ guised as a man. Sh© is reputed to have been responsible for the Tung Chow) piracy this year, when 70 British chil-l dren, destined for school at Chefooy were carried off Finding crates of oranges among the cargo, ‘Gracious’ distributed themi among the children amid great delight. 1 Tbp Canton authorities, trying tof stamp out piracy, suspected her, and a! discarded lover who was captured in-i dieted her. But ‘Gracious’ was warned and fled! along th© coast, finding refuge in poor, fisher-folks’ huts. Her money was exhausted and when she was finally captured she was poorly dressed, weary, and ill-fed.