No less than three foreign houses have been visited lately by thieves, who morning, saw a watch and chain on the bod, lifted the mosquito curtain, removed the watch, carefully tucked the curtain in again, and then made off. The Chinese perhaps are wise in making a compromise with thieves. The heads of the thieves are recognised officially and received small salary from the yamen, and also of course a big share of all that the thieves bring in; and only those things are recovered that the mandarin is willing to force these head thieves to produce, and he will only take this trouble because of the suffering citizen's importunity. The natives thus act up to our Western proverb and literally sot a thief to catch a thief. All the thieves in Ichang are systematized into bands, and all are Known and registered, and should a strange one arrives he is soon found out and enrolled. China has its Professor Moriarty, but knows no Sherlock Holmes.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.