Kidnapping Notes

P: Kidnapped last October by Chinese bandits with some smattering of Western culture, Rev. Bert N. Nelson, Minneapolis, Minn. Lutheran missionary, has been bargaining ever since for his release, communicating with his brother in Shanghai.

Last week Brother Daniel Nelson said he was about to settle with the bandits for $10,000 Mex. ($3,000) "less a sum to be expended for gramophone records, chess boards, wrist watches, ammunition, fresh fruit, fountain pens, tennis rackets & balls, basketballs, footballs and other articles."

P: Also kidnapped last October near Loshan in Honan Province was Rev. Kristofer N. Tvedt, a St. Paul Minn. Lutheran missionary, recently ransomed (TIME, April 27). He reached Hankow last week where his wife and six children have been frantic with anxiety for half a year. Broken in health, looking 20 years older and horribly dirty, Mr. Tvedt said:

"I was not allowed to bathe during my entire captivity. I was whipped frequently and driven barefoot across the mountains of northeastern Hupeh. But I was given plenty of rice.

"Eighty Chinese who were also held captive were treated far worse. They were horribly tortured and many died.

"The Communist army that captured us was well organized and led by foreign-educated youths. They subscribed to Soviet doctrines and flew the Soviet flag."

P: Kidnapped last week by Communist bandits near Ichang, Miss Esther Nordlund, 34, and Miss Augusta Nelson, 50, both missionaries, both of Chicago, were released almost at once.

P: Kidnapped 85 miles from Foochow, in Fukien Province, last week while en route to consecrate a new church were aged and ailing Bishop Manuel Prat and Father Alfonso Andres, Spanish Dominicans. "We very much doubt," said a Spanish mission spokesman, "whether our beloved Bishop can possibly survive the rigors of captivity."

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