Aaron Brenner, the New York Jewish furrier, who had been kidnapped and held for high ransom by bandits in China, was released this morning. Brenner, a member of Brenner Bros. of New York, has been in China for several years. His kidnappers are said to have been a band of Russian refugees from Harbin.
His captors had permitted Brenner to communicate with the authorities at Tien Tsin and with his brother Joseph, who is also in that city, in order to ask for $250,000 ransom. Brenner’s letters told of death threats unless the ransom was paid or if information about his plight was given to the papers or the police.
Secretary of State Stimson had been in receipt of a telegram from the American consul at Tien Tsin informing the State Department that all efforts were being made to discover the whereabouts of Brenner.
He had been held captive for nearly a week.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.