1928 - Morris 'Two Gun' Cohen interviewed in Capetown enroute from H.K. to London.jpg

Sat, 04/04/2020 - 12:49
Date picture taken
1928

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Police Headquarters, Hong Kong. "Information on Morris Abraham Cohen": Cohen left Hong Kong on the s.s. President Wilson on 28-1-28, together with a party of Nationalist Government officials proceeding to Europe to study economic and political conditions. On 6-3-28 he arrived in Capetown, South Africa, travelling on a British passport. He stated that he was visiting his sister, and that he proposed to re-join the Chinese officials at the Chinese Legation in London.

1928 – Extracts from South African press reports: Cohen Of China. Amazing Story Of Rise To Fame Of English Jew. This is the amazing story of one Morris Cohen born in London, who at the present time is supposed to be a powerful personality in China. Claiming that it is able to reveal the full facts of Cohen’s remarkable rise to a position of far-reaching possibilities, he is described by the South African press as the active enemy of Moscow in their aims in the Far East. Erroneously reported to have been assassinated by his enemies in the civil war, Cohen, who is an Englishman by birth and upbringing, is still engaged in his secret activities in China. He is a man of whom much will later be heard. It is now believed that the recent report of his execution was put out by himself or his associates in order to facilitate his escape. The story of his life reads like a romance. His greatest hope today is that in the near future he may visit England as the accredited representative of a new China. In particular he is anxious to negotiate a million pound contract for rails, which had been placed with English firms prior to the latest disastrous upheaval in China.

Extracts from a U.K. immigration document titled:

Passenger Lists Arriving U.K.

British Passengers arriving at Southampton from Durban onboard the Carnarvon Castle, 30 Apr, 1928.

First Class British Passengers.

Name of British Passenger: Morris A. Cohen.

Occupation: Banker.

Country of Last Permanent Residence: China.

General Cohen in his own words: It was nearly ten years since I’d been home. I was coming home as a successful man-of-affairs of whom my family could feel really proud. I’d left them a sergeant and I was coming back a general. I’d had a finger - but if only a small one - in great events. In China I could claim to be a public figure. I’d not only met the great ones of the earth, but I’d lived and worked with them. The welcome I received from my family was as warm as it could possibly have been. My father took me to the synagogue to meet the circle of friends he’d made in Manchester since leaving London. (Extracts taken from: 1954 - Drage, Charles, "Two-Gun Cohen", Jonathan Cape, London, March 1954 | Gwulo).