Changsha, Jan. 8.
The 43 large bags of poppy seed which had been detained at the Niu-yn-tao station (at the top end of Wuchang) were released through the high-handed action of a band of soldiers sent by Chang Chung-cheng, one of Chang Chin-yao's henchmen, who is stationed at Liling and who sends down daily a special train of Pingsiang coal for' sale. (The trains are paid for half by the Military Board at Peking, half by the Railway Company, the charge being reckoned as military expenditure.)
These bravoes armed with revolvers confronted the guards appointed by Tuchun Wang and demanded the property of—their general. Telephone messages from the Tuchun Shu ordered the Hupeh guards not to fight. So, after being in Hupeh for 20 days, the seeds were released by the order of one governor and taken to all intents: and purposes to another with the transport paid for by the national
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.