"On May the Sth the Chinese remaining in Formosa and living outside of the treaty ports became subjects of Japan, It was thought that the day might be taken as an occasion for a rebellion, as the north has been infested for a considerable period with a troublesome class of natives—half rebels and half brigands. Their exploits during the last few months have been. limited nearly exclusively to armed robbery. Ruincurs have been rife, however, for some time that a large party of rebels were making preparations to attack the capital and Twatutia; the latter place with the intention of destroying the foreign Consulates and business houses, believing that such an act would embroil Japan with the Foreizn Powers and eventually result in Japanese evacuation of the island. Whether the rebel party ever really had any such designs or not is unknown, but it is true that armed parties came down. near the city on several occasions commit ting acts of pure brigandage and nothing more; rich Chinese to be held as ransom and loot seeming to be their only object.
On May the 7th the military department received information from loyal Chinese to the effect that on the early morning of the 8th, Taipeh and Twatutia would be attacked by about seven hundred outside rebels assisted by certain Taipehfu and 'Twatatia Chinese. That the party would be divided into three bands and that after the loyal residents at Choho, Shakko, and other neighbouring villages had been dealt with, those - in sympathy with the rebels' would all join in an attack on Taipch and Twatutia, The rebels were to be under the lender-ship of the famous chief in the north, Sen-sin by name, a character well-known tothe Japanese. "The Japanese authorities had confidence in the report and accordingly prepared to give the rebels a fitting reception. Troops were stationed outside the settlement on the principal road approaching it, including a large force at Shakko, a village to the East of Taipeh. Tt was thought that this would be sufficient to guard against any rebels entering the city and surrounding suburbs and consequently the attack could not occur. The Chinese, however, occasionally rise above their usual level and. exhibit spurts cuteness and ability which quite surprise even the old hands. It was so in this case, A Chinese theatre near a large joss house ad been slying performances for some days, and on the night of May the 7th an unusually large crowd attended. It is now pretty certain that the audience was largely composed of rebels. After the performance had concluded these persons id in the near neighbourhood, no doubt receiving shelter from Twatutia bad characters, for the Settlement unfortunately has its are, About 3 a.m, an outside party made their appearance very quietly to the east of the city and made so attack on a small wooden building used as a tax office. It was occupied by two Japanese, one of whom escaped but the other could not be awakened from a drunken sleep and fell into the hands of the rebels, who probably carried him off as he has not been seen since. The soldiers connected with the engineering corps and occupying a building near by were now aware of the presence of the rebels and the morning's firing commenced. Volley after volley was exchanged for some time. The night was very dark and it was impossible to distinguish the enemy, the flare of the riffes affording the only
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.