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”.