Shanghai Shoot ‘Em Society
If you need proof that living in Old Shanghai really was like being in a Bonnie and Clyde movie, consider the story of the Shanghai Shoot ‘Em Society, reported in colorful detail in The China Press newspaper.
It was November 24, 1929, just a month after the dramatic stock market crash in the U.S. A group described by the newspaper as “sinister criminals …. banded together for the purpose of sinister callings”, had been preying on innocent, God-fearing men and women throughout the Settlement. Armed kidnappings, robberies, murder. They called themselves the Shanghai Shoot ‘Em Society. (Side note: Seriously, now: this was a Chinese gang of criminals. The Shanghai Shoot ‘Em Society?!)
It was just 10 minutes before noon on Rue du Consulat (Jinling Lu) when decent people were worshipping at nearby St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, on Rue Montauban (Sichuan Lu). The Society, however, being neither decent nor God-fearing, were planning their next atrocity in their lair at 455 Rue du Consulat. Thanks to careful sleuthing by the Central Police Station’s finest, a group of Chinese detectives led by Donegal-born Detective Inspector James Hunter burst in on seven “Chinese bad men”.
A scuffle ensued, but Detective Hunter got the better of the unnamed gangster who had made so bold as to reach for his pistol, and apprehended four more “desperados” as he headed down the stairs. While that lot were carted off in the waiting Black Maria, the detectives went in search of Lou, the gang’s only female member.
Lou was in her hideout on Rue de Palikao, with her automatic and ammo, lipstick and rouge. Word had come to her of the bust, but vanity, thy name is woman. Ah, Lou. “She had paused to put some dabs of powder on her nose and some rouge on her cheeks and lips”, leaving her gun and ammunition on the table when the fuzz strolled in and said, “It’s all up, Lou.” (At least she looked good in her mug shot.)
According to the newspaper account, the remaining gang members were nabbed using the old French tactic of cherchez les femmes – look for the women: figuring that her gallant male compadres would come to warn poor little Lou, the coppers waited outside Rue Palikao (Yunnan Road today) and picked off the final two members of the gang.
Rue du Consulat (Jinling Road) today. The street is linked with another famous Shanghai crime, the 1941 assassination of Baron d’Auxion de Ruffe at no. 45. Sadly, its famous arcaded terraces are soon to be demolished.
Our Hero: Detective Inspector James Hunter
The Shanghai Municipal Police badge. Photo: Virtual Shanghai
Doing battle with Shanghai’s underworld was not something new for Detective Inspector James “Jimmy” Hunter of the Central Police Station (Foochow/Fuzhou Road), who had joined the force upon his arrival in 1911. In August 1928, he and his Chinese constables were praised for their bravery in a gang shootout, in which the good detective narrowly missed being killed, even as he put a fatal bullet into one of the gangsters. This particular gang comprised nine men and – once again – one woman. No details on her name (or whether she powdered her nose).
The Central Police Station, Foochow (Fuzhou) Road, where Detective Inspector Hunter worked. Built in 1895, it stood until 1933, when it was replaced by a more modern, streamlined edifice. Photo: Virtual Shanghai.
Hunter had studied Chinese from his arrival, and had become adept in the language- no doubt part of the reason for his strong rapport with the Chinese detective force, instrumental in both the cases mentioned. He married Maud Isabelle Crank at the Union Church in 1926, and died at just 45, of “lung trouble”, on July 31, 1934, after 23 years of service. He was buried in the Bubbling Well Cemetery.
The China Press
The first U.S.-owned newspaper in China, The China Press was established in 1911 by Thomas Franklin Millard, Wu Tingfang, and Y.C. Tong. A daily Shanghai newspaper, The China Press was unique in covering both international and China news – “native news” was generally ignored by other foreign papers. By 1918, Millard had sold the paper to prominent Jewish businessman Edward Ezra, who eventually sold it to the journalist (another of the “Missouri mafia”) and later diplomat, Hollington Tong, in 1930.
The Sources:
The China Press, “Inspector Hunter Praised for Valor in Mix with Thugs”, August 8, 1928. Accessed July 14, 2018.
The China Press, “Notorious Criminal Gang Rounded up by Settlement Police on Rue du Consulat”, November 25, 1929. Accessed July 13, 2018.
The North China Herald and Supreme Court and Consular Gazette, “Weddings: Hunter-Crank”, April 24, 1926. Accessed July 15, 2018.
The North China Herald and Supreme Court and Consular Gazette, “Obituary and Funerals: Mr. James Hunter”, August 8, 1934. Accessed July 15, 2018.
French, Paul. Through the Looking Glass: China’s Foreign Journalists, from Opium Wars to Mao. Hong Kong University Press, 2009.
“Yankee Journalists in Old China” (February 19, 2008) https://www.historic-shanghai.com/yankee-journalists-in-old-china/ Accessed July 13, 2018.