Lam strongly impressed with the rapid way the Anuch'ing secret society is spreading over this end of the province. The number is rapidly increasing and they are Leocming more Jawless and daring all the time. Only the other day a farmer, living 4 miles from town, was carried off and made to pay quite a ransom before he was released. Unless the officials speedily take steps to hold these people in check there will be serious trouble before long. The magistrates in this Fu seem to be weak men and afraid to handle the matter and, in the usual Chinese way, are letting it go, hoping something may turn up to stop it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.