CHINA: Indemnity

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The Chinese Government handed over to Dutch Minister W. J. Ondenick, dean of the Diplomatic Corps at Peking, $300,000 in Chinese currency, representing payment for damages sustained in the bandit outrage of 1923 (see under). There are still supplementary damages to be met, but the amount of these is disputed.

Almost two years have passed (TiME, May 12, 1923, et seq.) since a horde of Chinese bandits rushed down the steep, cloudswept sides of the mountain Pao-tzu-ku, derailed the Peking-Shanghai express near Lincheng, carried off 24 foreigners and nearly 300 Chinese into their impregnable lair, there to hold them for ransom while the representatives of the Occidental powers worried and fumed and sent stern reminders daily to the equally worried and more impotent Chinese Government.

The robbers actually captured 24 foreigners; but one, Miss Lucy C. Aldrich, sister-in-law of John Davison Rockefeller, Jr., grew tired on the way to the mountain stronghold, lagged behind, eventually lagged so far behind that she was able to escape. By virtue of an active mind and a good memory, she was able to recover her jewelry, valued at $50,000, which she had buried in the ground immediately after the train had jumped the rails. Subsequently she drew a map showing the place where the treasure lay hid. "Boy No. 1" of the Standard Oil Co. was despatched to the scene (TIME, June 11, 1923), later returned with what narrowly escaped becoming bandit duty.