Harbin, Oct. 4. News has reached us that at Haranor, a station on the Trans-Baikal Railway and seventy-six versts from Manchouli, the terminus of the Chinese Eastern Rail-
249 way, several persons have died and that the cause of their death is very suspicious; it is thought that they are true plague cases. It is to be hoped that such is not the case, but at any rate the medical authorities are sufficiently alarmed and are taking the utmost precautions to see it does not spread. The principal medical officer of the Chinese Eastern Railway has sent up two of his assistants to make bacteriological tests, Trait no longer stop at Haranor, whilst at Station Manchouli all 3rd and 4th class passengers have to undergo a medical examination.
The Haranor district is one of the chief marts for the tarbogan marmot, and it here that the hunters from the western Khinghan mountains bring their catches, to them to Russian traders, The season has hardly yet begun, for trapping is only carried on in the winter months, and so far all the information received is by telegram and no details are given. Neverthe less, nine cases, all ending fatally, are a matter that cannot be overlooked. The prompt action of the medical authorities cannot but be welcomed, for at such a time as this there are calamities enough without another outbreak of the dreaded plague.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.