It is reported from the North that a Chinese military officer of the rank of second lieutenant (Ts'ien Chung) named 'Tien, who held the post of commandant of a company of Chinese military police at Koichou, having recently arrested a man whom' he suspected of being Japanese secret agent, put the latter through a course of torture in order to extract news of the movements of the Japanese army for the purpose of selling the information to the Russians, in whose pay it is said the man was. It is not stated in the dispatch what was the ultimate fate of the unfortunate Japanese agent, but the matter oventually came to the ears of the Japanese military authorities in the vicinity, and they promptly effected the Chinese police officer's arrest for the purpose of investigating the matter. The upshot was that Tion, aware of his guilt and fearing the consequences, committed suicide on the night of his arrest by hanging himself in his cell. This closed the incident, so far as the Japanese were supposed to be concerned.
Another case, where another Chinese military officer, this time of the rank of colonel, was alleged to be in the pay of the Russians, happened a few days after the foregoing. The man's name is Liu. In 1900, or "the Boxer year," Liu was only a second lieutenant in one of the regiments of the Tartar General of Mukden, but upon the arrival of the Russians in that city Lin was so successful in currying favour with his new masters that through their influence Tsing Chi, the Tartar General and Liu old master, was forced into promoting the man so rapidly that by 1903 he not only commanded his own regiment but was also appointed Brigadier of the three regiments which constituted the Military Police patrolling the region to the East and North-east of Mukden, reaching as far as the borders of Kirin province, or Central Manchuria. Naturally Liu was grateful for favours received, which he showed by neglecting the interests of his own country and working heart and soul for his new patrons and masters—prosumably, of course, for a consideration. When the present war broke out Liu was atthe summit of his fortunes and gained the confidence of his masters by. his unfailing energy in getting news and all kinds of information for them calculated to put them on their guard against the Japanese. In fact, there are said to have been instances in which, but for Liw's perspicacity, several persons attired like Chinese would have escaped the summary measures -the- Russians prepared for such cases. All these things occurred previous to the Japanese great victory of the Yalu. After that the ro-peated reverses suffered by his masters caused Liu to think that he had better. be careful and look after the interests of "Number One" a little more cautiously, asin spite of the constant Doasts of his masters that they could in a few short months crush the approaching Japanese like an egg-shell, the latter were still proving themselves to be hard shells to crack even, much less to be crushed, 'The result was that the man tried to make' secret overtures to the actual "rising sun," naturally without much avail. On the contrary, a few days ago the Japanese military authorities, being fully aware of the kind of man they had to deal with, promptly sent a dispatch to Tartar General Tsing Chi at Mukden demanding Liu's instant dismissal and giving the reasons for such demand. It is quite probable that Tseng Chi will be only too glad to accede.
The Hunghutse in Fengtien.
That the guerilla warfare instituted by the Hunghutse outlaws of Manchuria against the Russians since the Japanese Grossed the Yalu is doing considerable damage to the Muscovites may be seen from the following, which we translate from the "Sinwénpao," whose correspondent at North Chinchou, outside Shanhaikuan, seems to be a reliable man, judging from the news he has been sending from that city lately.—A letter from North Chinchou, dated the 22nd July, states that early on the morning of the 8th of that month, and in the midst of a dense fog, a band of over one thousand Hunghutse outlaws made a dash upon the Szpingchia station, on the Chinese Eastern Railway, where they succeeded in burning the station and store houses, tearing up the rails for the distance of nearly half-a-mile, and cutting the telegraph lines and destroying the poles by making a bonfire of them. The steel rails were also thrown into the fire, but before they could be bent or twisted the Russian railway guards and a company of Cossacks encamped in the vicinity had recovered from the temporary panic which the sudden attack of the Hunghutse (being taken for Japanese) had thrown them into, came to the rescue of the station people, most of whom had, however, already boon shot; and finally succeeded in driving off the raiders, not however without losing over twenty of their own number in killed and wounded. The Hunghutso losses, in this instance, anyway, wore only one half of those of the Russians, showing that the bandits were well led and were working under an organised system. It is stated that the damage done by the Hunghutso will take some time in repairing, and it is quite on the cards that the Japanese will have arrived there before the repairs have been completed.—Another spoke into the Russian wheel in Lower Manchuria by the Hunghutse, on a recent occasion, is also reported. Coerced by the Russians at Mukden (who caused hostages to be given them asa mark of good faith), several cattle dealers of that city were compelled to enter neutral territory, west of the Liao river, to purchase at least one thousand ponies from the inhabitants living in the vicinity of North Chinchou and Yi ing. This was before the battle of Tashihchiao, which put Newchwang also into the hands of the Japanese forces. The contract was that the cattle dealers, after purchasing as many ponies in Chinchou and Yungning as they could, within a given period, should ship their animals at Hsinmintun and thence send them to their destination. The cattle dealers managed to purchaso—and that with considerable difficulty owing to the enforcement of the neutrality lais west of the Liao—at very high prices about 200 indifferent ponies and were on their way to Hsinminton to ship them according to contract, when they were suddenly met, about ten miles west of that place by a band of Hunghutse, who, learning. for whom the ponies wore, at once seized the drove and began to make off with the ponies. Thinking of the hostages held at Mukden the cattle dealers naturally showed fight, but they were overpowered by the Hunghutso, who outnumbered them ten to one, and so after losing several of their party the cattle dealers with loud cries of lamentations galloped off, followed by a volley fired into the air.
The Investment of Port Arthur.
The following telegram was received from Chefoo by a Chinese official on Sunday:—"'The Japanese attacked the Port Arthur line of defences on the Northern face, on the 28th of July. By the afternoon of the 29th the Japanese forces had captured the Russian forts erected ut Shuiszeying (Naval Camp) and Erhlungshan (Two Dragon Hill). The above has been corroborated by several refugees from Port Arthur."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.