There is now stationed at Pao Tou (Po-ebon) on the Grand Canal, and 'T. P. Railway, some 20 miles south of Teangehow, a. division of cavalry under Gen. Chang Cheng-te, popular~ "Yeh Mao-tzt" or the unit was origin= ally raised in Chahar Province as min tuan" and, after recent fighting that region. the force was borrowed by the Chill authorities for ser~ Vice In this province, The doughty eneral and his hard-bitten {nto whose antecedents st would wise not to enquire too closely, have been entrusted with the task of suppressing banditry in eight or ten fislen. No doubt being anxious to justify his. selection, the commander has been displaying a certain amount of activity, The difieulty must be to Know where to begin, for the pre-valling financial depression has great-increased lawlessness all over the countryside Two months ago a body of his troops made lightning raid on the notorious bandit haunt of Loa Chuang-tzu in Hsien-hsien, which resulted in a notable capture-Shih Wen-
'This celebrity, it appears, is the uncle mckamed "Fan Pan the rebel. of an. ex-corps commander, Shih 'Tenn-yn, who occupied an important position' in Anhui under Gen. Ma Lien-chia a few years ago. A nephew of "the rebel" Shih Tsun-hsi, enjoyed Another very lucrative official post While still in the early twenties, in That province at the same time. viz. superintendent of the Tax Collectorate in Feng Yang city. The latter is a heroin. addict and, having spent a fortune on the drug, has taken banditry" as a profitable diversion. The two relations are now sharing captivity in Pao Tow, while their followers are renewing their activities over. a wide area In the effort to raise $7,000 the fine demanded by the genral. Public opinion is divided as to Whether the captured men will be executed or released on payment of the fine. The issue depends upon the success or failure of attempts by the uncle to bribe prominent officials Tientsin or the amount of money required in Pao Tou to save the cul-brits from the extreme penalty. Hard feagh and influence will probably defeat the ends of justice, though at present the general is ina very vin-Gletive mood.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.