Finger Received

A. J. Martin, British Consul at Foochow, sailed up the Min River last week with $50,000 in a satchel and a sharp note for one Lu Sing-pan, bandit chief. Earlier in the week the Misses Edith Nettleton and Eleanor Harrison, members of the British Church Missionary Society, were fleeing from the district of Changsha, which was captured and looted fortnight ago by bandit-Communist troops (TIME, Aug. 11).

Near Chungan their boat was boarded by bandits. A few days later a note was received at Foochow from Lu Sing-pan. For the release of Missionaries Harrison & Nettleton he wanted 50,000 Chinese dollars ($17,000). To show his good faith he enclosed Miss Nettleton's little finger.

Unnecessary delay would mean the loss of other parts of Miss Nettleton. The Church Missionary Society in London cabled Consul Martin at Foochow to pay the ranson instanter.

"Of course," said a London member of the C. M. S., "It is quite possible that the finger said to have been cut from Miss Nettleton's hand was not hers. It is a fairly common trick on the part of Chinese outlaws to send a finger or perhaps an ear. It is seldom taken from the person to be ransomed. . . ."

Miss Nettleton's finger was not the only outrage to British women in China last week. Mrs. A. R. J. Herne, wife of a British engineer of the Tientsin-Pukow railway, was sleeping in their house on the outskirts of Nanking some distance from her husband's bedroom. A Nationalist soldier on a rampage broke into her bed room, stabbed her with his bayonet, making the third attack unfortunate Mrs. Hearne has been subjected to since she went to live in China. "If brigand threats of further outrages are carried out," he warned the Nationalist Government, "the result will be a deplorable . . . reaction of public opinion throughout the world. The Chinese people and government will be disgraced."

Meanwhile four Japanese destroyers, the Cumberland and 160 British troops and an Italian gunboat were ordered by their respective governments to concentrate on Hankow, "Chicago of China," to cooperate with each other in every way possible. Eleven U. S. gunboats were at Hankow but under orders from the state department to avoid any official "joint action" with other powers. Foreign governments were nervous. Hankow, richest of prizes, was directly in the path of the "Communist" army advancing north from Changsha, and neither the Nationalist Government nor the Northern Peking rebels seemed likely to stop them.

Troubles of Hankow and the Communist army distracted world attention last week from China's other war, that of President Chiang Kai-shek fighting to maintain the Nationalist Government against the insurrection of the Peking warlords. Both factions, as usual, were claiming an equal number of victories, matching their toll of deaths and captures. Torrential floods actually stopped hostilities.

Hero of the week was a General Liu Chien-nien (see cut), a lesser war lord who controls the strategic Chefoo area, 100 miles from Tsingtao. For the weeks past he has maintained a delicate neutrality between Northerners and Nationalists. Fortnight ago the Nationalist Government sent Liu Chien-nien rifles and silver dollars. They were gratefully received. The Nationalist Government ordered him to attack the northern armies. Liu Chien-nien refused.

Last week Northern generals sent Liu Chien-nien more munitions and draft of 1,000 soldiers. They were gratefully received. Northern generals ordered him to attack President Chiang Kaishek. Liu Chien-nien refused again.

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