An instance of the rapaciousness and injustice of the ordinary official and his hirelings comes from another little village, called Shehtsun, but a few miles east of the city. About two weeks ago a beggar fell dead on the road just outside the hamlet and the Shangyuen hsien was at once notified, as is required by law. He repaired to the place with his usual crowd of runners to make investigation. These ruffians calmly sat down and feasted themselves at the expense of the villagers and then proceeded to levy blackmail, extorting from each family a sum varying from two hun-red cash to six or seven dollars.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.