Wasih, Oct. 2
A sort of silent reign of terror exists among country people in this vicinity. As one old man expressed it recently, "A man with two bowls of rice is in danger!" Robbery and extortion is reported in. the local papers almost every day. And it fear the victims have of Inter reprisals if they talk.
In a village some 80 li from here jan old man was shot dead in his own home, before the eyes of his family. His son sat up i bed to inquire the cause, of the alarm and was shot in the back, without a chance of escape or resistance. One hears of pitched battles around some of the larger villages who have armed guards, One old gentleman cribed his anxiety to the writer during a recent attack on his village—on that occasion the marauders were beaten off; but they will doubtless return in greater forze later.
From the village of Zak-Daung-Wan comes word that the child of a wealthy gentleman has just been kidnapped and is held for a ransom of $80,000, One of the most disheartening features of the situation is that not all the evil is wrought by outsiders, such as disbanded or runaway soldiers; but in many cases by local dad characters who have got pos session of arms and use them in this outrageous way.
There is little hope of relief in ight in the immediate future. Pos-ably the long suffering countrymen will be driven to the format n of vigilance committees, which would soon end the matter. "Such Committees act instantly, they capture the guilty, try them and execute them
tive, with a promptness which is effee-
The attack on Liyang was of more daring nature than us Reyorts in Wusih state that the police in Liyang recently captured Me-me, wife of the most. important bandit leader in the district. She was in prison and the first act of the attacking force was to raid the gaol and set her free, along with all other prisoners except three, who refused to leav About twenty houses were burned the attack, five or six soldiers and a few policemen were killed and all shops in the city closed their doors. They are said to be still closed until they can be assured of adequate protection, Thirteen of the robbers have been caught and executed. Their bodies were cut open and examined to see if they were differently made from other people, giving them unusual daring.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.