November 9th.—(1) The members of the Grand Council were honoured with a verbal command to the effect that on the 11th and 12th of November there need be no attendance at Court.
(2) Ten sticks of Thibetan incense are ordered to be sent to an Chun-pei, Governor of Shantung, as an offering to the Yellow River God in recognition of the protection afforded by that deity during the progress of the autumn freshets, (8) With an unimportant exception, the whole of the remainder of this day's Gazette is occupied with a report by the Governor of Kiangsi into the circumstances of th escape from the district jail of Ku of sume criminals under sentence of death by strangulation, On the 14th and ith of Tuly, 1879, there was a continuous fall of heavy raiw in the district in question, which caused the river to rise over ten feet, and on the 16th there was a descent of hill water" which flowed into the town and flooded the prison, The prisoners were at once temporarily removed to the Magis trate's yamen, but their removal had hardly been effected when a second rush of water tok place, invading the yamen itself. A boat was at once hired and the prisoners were placed on board to be conveyed to some rising ground outside the town by some of the clerks of the criminal Court, the soldiers and underlings being required to look after the granaries and treasury. Onits way to this rising ground, this boat was upset by a rush of water that was encountered, and the prisoners, with the jail-warden in charge, were precipitated into the water, Two of the former maneyed to divest themselves of their manacles and swam to some rising ground hard by, from whence they absconded by. different ' roads. The jail-warden and two other prisoners were rescued by. a passing raft, but two were not saved. The matter having been duly reported, the Acting Magistrate was denounced by the memorialist, and the usual decree issued sanction-the penalties proposed and ordering an enquiry to be held. The two prisoners who
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.