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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1953-11-26, Page 2Pirates Still Rove The Eastern Seas "Chinese pirates attacked the British steamer 'Wing Sang' in ]Formosa Strait, the vessel's mas- ter, Mr. Harold G. Goddard, re- ported today when the ship reach- ed Hong Kong." How many years ago, do you guess, that item made news? Two hundred? Fifty? It was this year ---in June, 1953. Nor is the attack on the "Wing Sang" an isolated case. Owners Of shipping lines sailing Far East- ern routes can echo the story week by week. The presence of United Nations' ships and air fleets, operating in those waters, has not checked the pirates. Al- most daily their daxdng brings fresh peril to the crews and pas- sengers Of peaceful vessels. The "Wing Sang" was machine- gunned; other craft have run a blockade of cannon fire, Piracy on the high seas in 1953 may sound imposible. But mar- ine insurance policies still cover it as a real risk in a special clause, "Be it known that . . we the Assurers are contended to bear and do take upon us in this Voy- age , . Fire, Enemies, Pirates, Rovers, Thieves, Jettisons . SurpriseIs, Takings at Sea " Dusk was falling on a July evening two years ago as shots ripped across the motor vessel "Taluei," on its voyage from the port of Tsingtao to Foochow. An officer and a rating fell wounded in the volley. Vainly the radio officer tapped at his gear. The radio was shot away. With excited yells the pirates swarmed aboard their prize from their junk and took command at gun point. Into the darkness the "Taluei" was piloted to a secret hide-out. There part of the general cargo, all provisions, and all the crew's personal effects were looted. Days later the ship was releas- ed. Piracy of Captain Kidd days was echoed when a large motor junk let fly with machine-guns at the steamer "Nigelock" and then clsoed to fling grappling - irons aboard. British crew battled hand-to-hand with the invading Chinese who scrambled up the irons. Even when the enemy were repulsed. the master of the "Nige- lock" reported his ship was under fire for half an hour. Strong -arra aid sometimes .:one, from an unexpected quar- ter. For when the British coast- ing steamer "Lady Wolmer," a motor vessel, was fired on and then boarded by pirates, a Chin- ese Nationalist gunboat raced to the rescue. There were no casualties and no cargo was broached, but be- fore the gunboat sent them scut- tling to shelter among the is- lands the pirates rifled the crew's personal belongings. Why doesn't some authority stop this piracy? "Take a look at the map," said an engineer officer. "There's a lot of sea around there. There's a lot of China's coastline that isn't anybody's responsibility. And as for islands—all the way from Shanghai to Hong Kong the map looks as if someone had shaken out pepper from a pot!" It is down that run, between the mainland and Formosa, where many pirates operate. Three junk - loads of them slid out of the jig- saw maze of marsh and islands to take their richest post-war prize. They boarded the Dutch steam- er "Van Heusz," smashed her radio, stripped crew, passengers Shove -On Device Simp,„ Adjusting Necklace Lengtf Bios BY EDNA MILES , PETTING a necklace adjusted to the wanted length without revealing tow it's done is a problem, Be- muse it's a woman's problem, it took a woman to salve it. She is Judith McCann, who previously dreamed up the revolutionary earrings that fit without pinchingor ma - store. Fier new in`;'entlon is a device that simpy'"shoves onto a necklace, fastening it firmly in place:" tre- With the shave•on device a woman can make a neck- lace into a choker, if she likes, or wear it at any,length she prefers. She can change the length with the neck- lines of her various dresses and, further, find new ways to drupe and fasten the necklace. Each necklace may be detached from the shove -on de- vice and the device itself worn as a clip or hair ornament. Each necklace may double as a bracelet. Ornaments have ,a custom-made look but actually are in the medium -price bracket. . Companion pieces+ to these necklaces are the earrings :that even women with tiny lobes can wear with comfort. ,These are the only earrings that come in "lefts" and .°/rights" tor perfect fit. 'Orwin necklaces are ehtwiaed as hair ornament white sineie-- a - shove -on device,- detached from its necklace, becomes s cliR and safe of valuables and jewel- lery totalling $375,000. Their information is accurate. Halting one ship, the pirate chief asked for an American passenger by name. He was held to ransom. For 10,000 American dollars, They are up to all the tricks, Half -naked Chinese on a junk will shout for help, then open fire and board a vessel whose master slows to aid them. They will feign bad seamanship, and one junk of three or four "help- lessly" sails across the bows c a victim so that it has to slow down and become easy prey for the rest of the pirate fleet. Hardest trick of all to defeat is when the pirates sail on a steamer as paying passengers. As one captain recently in China waters explained: "We can- not search every man, woman and bundle that comes aboard for concealed arms, But this method is so often used that many vessels are now fitted with. steel bulkheads so that all passengers are kept for'ard. "Only one guarded steel door allows communication." When the British steamer "Hu- peh" was rushed by a surprise at- tack of pirate passengers, an SOS appeal brought the New Zealand destroyer "Rotoiti" to her rescue. But by then the crew had regain- ed control, so there were pirate prisoners. In the past five years about 300 pirates have been captured, tried, and imprisoned. Those found guilty of murder have been executed. Yet still piracy flourishes, Be- hind the screaming, gun -mad roughnecks who do the work are business -like Chinese who deal in piracy as a profitable speculation, Without them and their money for junks, arms, and information, this thriving age-ol`d crime would die out. But among the current Far Eastern unrest the heads of the pirate "firms" must rub their hands as they see their present success. A BLE T e clam An skews. One of these nrornnings you'll see the date on a newspaper— or hear some newscaster on the radio—and all of a sudden you'll realize that Christmas is upon us —"and not a single thing done!" Well, thank goodness, those puddings really improve with age, so here are a couple of re- cipes—the first for the rich "old- fashioned" kind, the other for the lighter sort so many famil- ies seem to prefer nowadays, PLUM PUDDING 1 lb. flour 1 Ib. suet ei Ib. brown sugar 1 lb. seeded raisins 2 ozs. sweet almonds (finely .chopped) 4 cups soft breadermnbs Juice of one lemon A little salt 2 tablespoons baking powder 1 ib. currants 1 lb. sultana raisins ' Ib, mixed peel What Makes Doggie Run? ..-. That's what little Judy Boorman is learning as Harry Miller explains 10 her some of the features of 'Vesta," the world's first transparent dog, Miller, director of the Gaines Dog Research Confer, which developed the plastic model, is helped in his lecture by Vesta, who was equipped by electron. ice Experts with en intricate sound system which enables her to "talk" about herself for several minutes, each of her organs lighting up as it is mentioned. Every detail of her body, including' internal organs and muscular system, is faithfully reproduced in plastic. Modeled after a female Great Dane, Vesta is life-sized,• being 51/2 feet long and 31/2 feet high. Nutmeg to suit taste 6 or 8 eggs Milk sufficient to mix to right consistency Sift baking powder with flour; add suet, finely chopped bread crumbs, sugar, nutmeg and salt. Then add fruit, etc., leaving eggs to the last. Beat them well and add to mixture with lemon juice and milk. Boil for eight hours, Enough for four puddings. .. * @ LIGHT PLUM PUDDING 1 cup finely chopped suet 2 sups soft breaderumbs cup dour and 1 teaspoon baking powder sifted to- gether 1 teaspoon nutmeg A little finely cut citron peel 3 eggs A little milk 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup raisins Combine ingredients same as for dark pudding. Steam four hours. Serves four. Here is a hot mustard sauce to serve with ham or frankfurters; if you like it with brisket or other seasonable cuts of beef, add a little salt to this recipe. HOT MUSTARD SAUCE ?.a cup cider vinegar 1 tablespoon butter or mar- garine 1 egg, beaten 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons prepared ntus- tard 1 teaspoon paprika Combine all ingredients. Stir and cook over low heat until thickened. @ Y An onion sauce is sometimes liked for meat. Here is a de- licious one. ONION SAUCE 2 onions, sliced 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon fat 1 tablespoon flour 1. cup beef beelillon 1 teaspoon vinegar 1 teaspoon paprika, Cook sliced onions and sugar in fat until onions are lightly browned. Stir in Hour bouillon, vinegar, and paprika. Stir and cook until smooth and thick, Add I teaspoon salt for meats requiring it, Crack - hied Ways Of Committing Suicide It was Mrs. Corea's birthday. So good-looking, genial George Corea, always a thoughtful hus- band, if a little eccentric, decided to buy her a nice new pair of red sandals. Home he went with them one evening a few weeks ago, to their fifteenth -floor flat ,in a Manhattan skyscraper. But as soon as his ?mart and pretty young wife saw the san- dals, there was trouble, "Take them back to the shop first thing in the morning," she exclaimed crossly. "I hate the colour and won't wear them!" Then George saw red. Anger- ed by her attitude, he hurled the sandals through the window .. . and his horrified Wife was too late to stop him as he leant out after them. Such crack -brained suicides don't occur every day. But the records of coroners all over the world reveal some startling and original ways of committing self- destruction. A determined New Yorker, who -had been jilted by a pretty girl he planned to marry, de- cided that life had nothing else to offer him. But he could not make up his mind how to kill himself. So he fust took poison, then cut his throat, and finally knot- ted a necktie round his neck — all while seated in an over -flow- ing bathtub, which would prob- ably have drowned him anyway if the poison hadn't done its work first. Returning io her home in Paris, Mme, Moreau found her °,husband lying ,on the floor in agony. After his death, a doctor found that the man, who had been depressed for many months, had cut up a bath sponge into small pices which he had fried in a pan and then eaten! • Or take the curious case of James Bartle, a fifty -three-year- old man who was determined to save the police trouble in recov- ering his body from a reservoir near Rockdale, Lancs. He tied one end of a rope to his leg and the other to an iron fence before drowning himself. He also left a note stating where his body was to be found. The police had only to haul on the rope to recover it. At Innsbruck, a young theatri- cal manager committed euicide before a mirror. It was clear that he had placed a chair opposite the glass in his bathroom into which he had looked, waiting for his death ,after faking a Targe amount of arsenic. Then there was the farmer in Spain who lost his wife and was so grief-stricken that he decid- ed he could no longer continue living. He took a chair and plac- ing it beside his wife's grave, sat down and ate a baked apple which he had Oiled with strych- nine. He died an hour later in great agony, Can a person commit suicide in sleep? It seems so, judging by the story told at the inquest on a Bangor solicitor, It was sug- gested in evidence that hr cut his throat in his sleep. The man lived eighty minutes after the wound, He cried out to his wife and son, "Forgive me!" then, motioning for paper and pencil, he wrote:: "I dreamt that I had done it. I awoke to find it was indeed true." A vet, diet of suicide while temporarily insane was returned. Another man, whose body was taken from the River Seine at Poissy, near Versailles, had his left wrist bound to the handle of a bicycle to which he was further held fast by a cord fast- ened to his belt, It was believed that after mak- ing up his mind to end his life he rode full, tilt into the water People who commit suicide may be mentally unbalanced, but often they are normal folk driv- en to their desperate course by wort , In that case, self-destruc- tion' s a wasted life — for no problem is so great, or worry so acute, that it cannot eventually be overcome, It is mistakenly believed by some that to commit suicide re- quires courage. That is utterly wrong. Suicide, after all, is the coward's way out, a selfish es- cape from troubles, usually tem- porary, with utter disregard for those left behind — wife, hus- band, children — and then ter- rible mental anguish. There is only one known in- stance of a man committing sui- cide in battle, He was Major Todd, the son of a butler, and he was serving under the Duke of Wellington in one of the Pen- insular campaigns. Todd was famous for his shill as a bridge -maker, but one day a bridge he had erected chanced to break down under the weight of a gun it had never been con- structed to carry. The Duke abused Todd for his carelessness in the presence of some of his fellow officers, and then incensed the young man by saying: "Are you now going to take up your father's trade?" Next day an officer in com- mand of troops skirmishing with the French was amazed to see Todd obviously trying to be shot by the enemy, He tried to save him, saying: "They can't miss you if you stay here." But the young man, fired by the insults hurled at him the night before, declared: "I don't want them to!" —and rode with head high still nearer the French. Immediately afterwards he drop- ped from his horse, riddled with bullet,, rive fit! 4269 Care a CI X121 r'ihn-Stars Making With The Muscles I1'llm companies, prompted by the box-office appeal of a decent- ly bared male torso, demand front, their new leading men, not only acting ability, but bulging bleeps and a swelling chest, . The army of muscle -seeking film males is increasing rapidly. Scores of screen stars—and stag* and radio personalities, too—have been bitten by the "big biceps bug," and are taking regular work-outs with disc -loading bar- bells, striving 10 gain that im- portant coating of solid muscle. Bernard Braden is one star who "muscles -up" the bar -bell way. And acording to a recent maga- eine agaeine announcement, weights were recommended to Braden by none Other than Sir Laurence Oliviers In Hollywood Ricardo Montal- ban is a firm believer in the mus- cle way to a good:, appearance, and uses bar -bells regularly. Other top-flight stars who have taken physique treatment include Tyrone Power, Jackie Cooper, Mario Lanza, Montgomery Clift, and Robert Taylor. In fact, it was Bob Taylor who started "beefcake" for stars when he put on almost 28 pounds in the right places in a few months' training for his role as boxer in "The Crowd Roars." Call Me Mister: The gay times at the U.S. Legation in Luxem- bourg will soon be only plea- sant memories. At Washington ceremonies swearing him in as Minister to the tiny Grand Duchy, Wiley T. Buchanan, an investment banker and real- estate operator, said he expected tat be "too busy to throw any parties." His predecessor was Perle Mesta, friend Of the world's great as "The Hostess With the Mostest on the Ball." Marks The Spot — Charing Cross, a monument copied after one erected in the 131h century by England's Edward 1st to comme- morate his queen, Eleanor of Castile, was recently announced by the British Ministry of Trans- port as the official center of Lon- don. All mileages shown on sign- posts leading to the city are now to be figured from the monu- ment. Royal Tribute — Clad in {Mack, Britain's Queen Elizabeth it places a wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph Shrine in London's White• hall section. The ceremony marked the highlight of Britain's tribute to her dead of two world wars,