Il continues very dry here and the river, which rising a little, has been fall again, No steamer has appeared of the murderer and clave of the famil at a con- hxingking about ten'days ago, as the Kiang Yuan, which left clan it was determined that should receive as terrible a they could invent. Naturally they felt themselves unskilled in the art of torture and took their victim over to the nearest camp of soldiers and requested the commanding officer to execute him the most spectacular, way could invent, The soldiers who were no longer entertained by the daily executions at the hands of a firing squad naturally took a groat interest in the affair and iF" their best to. satisfy the demands of the enraged family.
Market day just before New Year was selected at the best date and many thousands wore Present to witness the scene. his only his-trousers being The murderer was suspended by
left on him. These were soaked with kerosene and fired from tke top, and a bundle of reads was also fixed so that his fect and logs would be slowly consumed. Chinese observers are not always accurate in their estimate of time but they claim "that this slow burning continued for fully two hours.
The victim was throughout determined to show his courage and in spite of his awful sufferings head tle" a viling against his family. To put a stop to this abuse qne of the soldiers ripped open his cheeks with a knife but this was abs¢ Intely ineffectual in checking flow of curses. Finally when the white-hot lava of his maledictions became utterly unendurable to the watching family, one of them piled heap of straw beneath the victim's head and fired it, bringing to an everlasting silence the tongue that nothing had ever before tamed.
I was not able to hear one word of commiseration for the victim. To my query whether anyone felt that such tortures were unjustifiable there was at emphatic denial. Tt was pointed out that his own family were the directors of the affair and that he got only his just deserts He had committed the greatest crime in the Chinese Code and no possible punishment could be too Tax Japanese officers arrested at Vladivostok have at last been brought, before ther accusers, afares the "Japan Advertiser." Preliminary examination of the prisonors—Lt.-Cdr. Minoahima and Capt. Moteui—wag concluded last Monday, sei /2ty ran on the rocks. Considerable 08s of cargo and some loss of life are reported. Apparently no for-igners' were on board. The Kinng Yuan was owned by the Ho Kiang merchants and waa one of oats flying the Chinese lag which ply between Chungking and Suifu io low water.
Mr. Barrie's boat have not ventured out of Chungking yet.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.