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wounded, in 13 cases the cause of death is not stated, and 39 (including 3 soldiers, 17 students, 2 women, a postman, a fortune-teller, etc.) were hurt through contact with the crowd. The other 65 were wounded by bullets. Of the 65 so wounded, 40 were soldiers, 5 were students, 3 were labourers, 3 were pedlars, 5 were unidentified, and there was an oilman, a seaman, a postman and a policeman. All together, 22 soldiers and 4 students were killed and 50 soldiers and 5 students were wounded by bullets from Shameen. The percentage of soldiers to the total killed is 50; the percentage of students is 9. Fifty-four per cent, of the wounded were soldiers, and seven per cent, were students. The number of soldiers killed and wounded represents 56.8% of the total casualties from gun-fire, while the percentage of students to the total is 8.2.
This analysis of the official record is a certificate that the fire from Shameen was concentrated on the soldiers, who were between the British and French bridges, and not on a defenceless crowd. The rest of the procession had passed westward out of the zone of fire, and most of the civilian casualties were due to stray bullets and ricochets. The majority of these accident cases were spectators and passers- by, and people on business or plying their trade in the vicinity, who were in a state of panic. Yet Mr. C. C. Wu, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in his distorted version of the incident forwarded to Karakhan, the Soviet Ambassador at Peking, stated that "fire was opened from Shameen on the demonstrators, particularly the students." Was Mr. Wu merely repeating the wild stories circulated by those who took part in the procession but who, on account of its length, had not the slightest opportunity of seeing what really happened? His statements are amply discredited from every point of view: and one is forced to the conclusion that he is either
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wilfully untruthful or woefully ignorant, for he mis-states the facts when he does not omit them altogether.
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The Commissioners urge that if the attack from Shameen had not been sudden, the wounded would have escaped or at least the wounds would have been in the back instead of the left side." The relevancy of the remark is not apparent. It was not so long ago that an outcry was raised in Shanghai because a few people had been hit in the back. The fact was charged up to the British as a heinous crime. However, the parade in Canton moved forward from the east, keeping Shameen on the left, the canal between. Shakee Street is wide, but not so wide that when it carries a large procession it still leaves room for unfettered locomotion. Moreover, the exits from Shakee Street are into very narrow lanes which soon become congested. And soldiers standing their ground would naturally add to the restrictions on the movements of non-combatants. Nevertherless, the fact that 56 per cent. of the casualties from bullets were soldiers indicates that many civilians did succeed in retreating unscathed. The few who were wounded before they escaped from the melée would naturally be hit in the left side, or in the right side if they were running in the opposite direction.
The report further states, on the authority of Dr. Kwok, Physician of the Whampoa Academy (The Red Military School), that the Shameen authorities used Dum-dum or soft- nosed bullets. Dr. Kwok's evidence is not given, but the evidence of Dr. J. D. Thomson, Surgeon to the Canton Hospital, is reproduced, and this tends to substantiate the opposite conclusion. He says: "The entrance wounds were for the most part either in the front or side of the body Some of the wounds were obviously caused by ricochet and spent bullets. The missiles which caused several larger wounds were not determined." The manufacture of Dum-dum
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