Michael Alderton notes: This visiting card can be found attached to a 19 August 1925 Minute from the British Legation at Peking composed by H.N. Steptoe, representative of the British Secret Service at Peking, reporting on Morris A. Cohen’s visit to the Legation. It was suggested in British diplomatic circles that Cohen’s trip from Canton to the North in company with Dr Sun Fo, Minister for Communications and Commissioner of Reconstruction, was in connection with projects for extending the Canton-Hankow Railway and for developing the Canton Harbour. It was further suggested that these two representatives of the Canton government had visited Peking for the purpose of finding a formula to enable the governments of North and South China to cooperate in matters affecting foreigners and to endeavour to bring about a rapprochement between the two parties.
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Adjutant General M.A. “Two-Gun” Cohen.
Michael Alderton (essarem) notes: March 1923 – Soon after passing through Hong Kong during mid to late February, on route from Shanghai to Canton, Colonel Morris A. Cohen is appointed to serve under Generalissimo Sun Yat-sen as Adjutant General (A.D.C.) at the General Headquarters of the Generalissimo of the Republic of China, which was the military government established by Dr Sun at Canton on the 2nd of March, 1923. It was the highest military and political authority at Canton up until the 1st July 1925 inauguration of the civilian National Government at Canton, following Dr Sun’s death on 12th March.
The Adjutant-General (A.D.C,) to the Commander-in-Chief (Generalissimo) is a senior military officer serving on the personal staff of the Commander-in-Chief. He is a member of the Military Council, and he assists the Commander-in-Chief in the field by: conveying his orders; procuring him military intelligence; and by making arrangements to protect his person. On occasions he exercises delegated authority on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief. At General Headquarters, the Adjutant-General conveys the Commander-in-Chief’s orders to the General Staff.
Adjutant General M.A. “Two-Gun” Cohen.
April 1923 – Extracts from the Canadian press selected by Michael Alderton (essarem):
EDMONTON, ALBERTA. A Friend of Sun Yat Sen. Edmonton Man Has High Post in Canton. Military Strategist with the Sun Yat Sen Forces. Morris Cohen, the Edmonton Political Boss, is now a Confidant of the President of the Chinese Republic. M. Cohen for years was one of the most picturesque figures in the capital city of Alberta. Everybody knew of him. Few knew much about him, in spite of the fact that his figure was a familiar one in ward-politics circles here. A product of London’s east end, he came to Edmonton eleven or so years ago. In those days Edmonton was known far and wide as a boom-town. Morris, soon after his arrival here, opened up a real estate office. His business included all the buyings and sellings and rentals in which Chinese figured. He protected their interests and they regarded him as their friend. When Dr Sun Yat Sen visited many cities in the U.S. and Canada, M. Cohen travelled with the noted Chinese republican, acted as a bodyguard, and that then was built up a friendship that today is bringing its rewards to the Edmonton man. Cohen was the only white man present at a big meeting of Chinese from all over Canada, held at Winnipeg last summer, and at that time he was elected foreign secretary of Dr Sun’s representative organization in Canada. Following that, Cohen went to Vancouver and lived at the Vancouver Hotel for a short period. At that time he was seeking financial backing for concessions running into millions, including railroad work and other construction work in China. Cohen, Jewish soldier of fortune, foreign secretary of one of the strongest fraternal movements in Chinese Canadian circles, and well known all over Western Canada, has dropped from sight since he left Vancouver en route to meet Dr Sun Yat Sen. He is believed to have been called to China on a secret mission. Since he sailed from Vancouver to Shanghai on the Empress of Asia, all trace of him has been lost. Morris Cohen had disappeared, but a new star has arisen in the Chinese firmament. There is a General Kow Hen leading a portion of the Sun Yat Sen forces, and his local Chinese friends are wondering if the ex-sergeant of a Canadian Railroad Construction Battalion has not given an Oriental touch to his name and got promotion in the Chinese army. There is one thing sure; Morris Cohen of Edmonton has disappeared, and General Kow Hen of Canton has taken the centre of the stage.