The past two or three days have been strenuous ones for Chenchow. When Chen Chia-yiu, the general of the forces that have been located here for months, returned from his unsuccessful trip to Kiangsi, or, at Jeast, to its border, it was a prophecy of future trouble, for he brought back more men with him than he took. Having taken sides with Sun Yat-sen and Ji Lich-chun, he had thus broken outwardly with Gen. Chao Hong-ti and as soon as he got peacefully settled again, word came that soldiers were closing in upon him, so his friends advises him to run. This he prepared to do. He must, however, have funds to run with, so he asked for $15,000 to be paid in hard cash within 24 hours, or he could not be responsible for his soldiers' acts. He went himself before the money was collected, but he left behind several hundred soldiers to collect and when it was not all forthcoming demanded the reason.
The whole town was afraid that looting would begin, but instead of this individual soldiers went to the shops and stores and collected all they could get personally. They commandeered every able-bodied man, and some who were not able bodied, to carry their loads. They could not get enough men this way, so they went to each house and compelled them to furnish one man. Often men would buy themselves off for a couple of thousand cash and so the soldiers were able to pick up considerable money in this way. They have demanded another $2,000 besides the $15,000 and some of the best families have been hauled off to prison, or have been driven into hiding because the amounts assessed were not forthcoming. The Chamber of Commerce has been surrounded with armed guards and no one is allowed to come and go except on the business of collecting the money required.
Only a few soldiers are left in the city to-day and the fear of a general loot has almost passed, but, as some said, they. might as well have looted for all the money that they could find and more has been squeezed out of the people. No one seems to know who is coming to take the place of the ones who have left, and the general fear is that it will mean another demand for rice and upkeep and_perhaps for money as well. Chao Hong-ti's soldiers are within 90 or 30 miles the city.
The local Famine Relief Association is feeding nearly 1,500 people
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.