November 15th.—(1) Postscript memorial from Ting Pao-chen. "The memorialist has received reports at different times from the Magistrate of Tzu-yang and the acting trate of Oh'ing-hsi, to the effect that there was a heavy fall of rain accompanied by wind and hail upon the 29th of July last in the eastern portion of the former district which covered a line of country several li in length by upwards of all in mud hate to fall down, whereby one breadth, causing some thirty and more
child was killed, six people crushed, some three hundred mow of crops being also destroyed. In Ch'ing-hsi Hsien heav; rain fell on the 13th of July and following days, which caused a descent of water from the mountains that washed away fifteen houses in different places, and drowned twenty-six people, the crops in stones. The Magistrates of tricts the vicinity being further destroyed by hail-in question personally visited the scene of the disasters, distributed money to the people, and caused the bodies of those that were drowned or killed to be recovered and given burial to. A list of the sufferers was also drawn up by them and forwarded to the memorialist with a prayer that he would do something for them. The memorialist, in view of the distress that had been caused by these disasters, has instructed the officers of the provincial Government to issue relief to the sufferers enumerated in the lists above referred to, and has sent a weiywan to the districts in question to survey the extent of the damage and report thereon.
(2) The Governor of Anhui reports the trial of the following case of the suicide of a widow in consequence of pressure being brought to bear upon her to force her to marry a second time against her will. Wang Hoiao, anative of T'ung-Ch'éng Hsien, who lived in thou-kiang district, took service in the year 1870 in the house of one Wu Tao-taum, where he was engaged by the month. Lu Wu shih, the woman who committed suicide, was the younger sister of Wu Tao-tsun, and was the wife of an expectant Prefect in Kuangtung. Wu Tao-tsun was a man of weak intellect, and his wife, Liu shih, was the ruling power in his house, she, in her turn, entrusting the management of all domestic matters to Wang Hsiao. In 1874, Lu Wu shu's husband died, and she returned to the home of her' mother and brother. The wife of the latter, Liu shih, detested her, and the widow having noticed that the conduct of Wang Hsiao was far from seemly, told her sister-in-law se, recommending her to dismiss him, which made Wang Hsiao her enemy also, and he was perpetually recommending Wu's wife to force her sister-in-law to marry again that they might be rid of her. Wu's wife accepted his suggestion and continually made her sister-in-law's life a burden to her by reason of the cruelties and indignities she heaped upon her. So much so, indeed, that the widow was repeatedly tempted to commit suicide, but was deterred from doing so, first by the thought that her. mother would be left alone if she died, and next that her late husband had left' concubine and a son who had been lost, and she considered ither duty to find them again. She bore her troubles therefore patiently. Meanwhile, in 1878, Wang Hsiao, having learnt that a tailor that used to be employed in his mistress' house was in want of a wife, put up his mistress to yetting out of the widow her eight cyclical characters that he might force her sister-in-law to marry the tailor by exchanging these characters with him and so effecting a betrothal. Wu's wife succeeded in getting the widow to write these characters, an handed the paper over to the tailor, but when the widow heard of it she began to ery and abused her sister-in-law, positively refusing to marry the tailor, and when the latter came to fetch her, she seized a knife and attempted to cut her own throat. She was prevented from doing so by a kinsman, who saw her in the act of attempting her own life, and the tailor beat a speedy retreat. "The widow then complained to her mother, but her sister-in-law declared that she had herself expressed a wish to marry again, which elicited a rebuke from the mother to the widow, and the latter, vexed beyond endurance, hanged herself. She was rescued, however, and Wang Hsino, fearing that the widow would not let the matter drop, concerted a plan by which, under a pretext of giving her back her list 'Y of cyclical characters, 6 widow was to be inveigled into a certain room into which the tailor was to be introduced, and the woman thus compromised and so forced to marry him. The plan failed, however, as the widow when she saw Wang Hsiao, was as obdurateasever. Wang Hsiao then gayged her with a piece of cotton cloth, and, aided by the tailor, proceeded to drag her off to the latter's home. The widow rolled on the ground and refused to budge, and as some people came up at the time, Wang Hsiao and the tailor gave up the attempt and It her go. The widow then went to her room and again hanged herself, but her mother cut her down, and shortly after left her son's home with the widow and went to live on a farm that belonged to her, keeping a careful watch on her daughter the whole time to prevent her putting an end to herself. In due course the mother died, and the son of her husband's concubine having been found, the widow laid a charge of oppress sion against her sister-in-law and the man Wang Hsiao at the yamen of the Governor-General and Governor. Orders were then sent to the Prefect to try the case, and he issued a warrant for the arrest of the tailor, but the tailor ran away and committed suicide; the sister-in-law also poisoned herself. he widow, feeling that her wrongs had been redressed by the death of these two people, then went to her mother's grave and poisoned herself in front of it. Wang Hsiao, the only survivor, was subsequently arrested, and having been duly tried, has been sentenced to prompt decapitation, subject to the approval of his Majesty.—Rescript: Let the Board of Punishments speedily consider this case and report.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.