The officers in charge have been asked by representative people to put a stop to this, but they say they can do nothing. The fact is they are not trying to do anything and, meanwhile, the people are being robbed of practically all they possess. Many of the people haven't enough clothing to keep them warm, Since their quilts hava been taken many of them gather rice straw with which to cover their ill clad bodies at night. But the soldiers even take this straw from them. Business has been at a standstill for weeks. There is practically no rice to be bought, and the people are subsisting very largely upon vegetables, and even these are difficult to buy because the country people are afraid to come to town with their produce. Business organizations have ceased to function because of the heavy demands made upon them. Their leaders and many other leading citizens have fled ana are in hiding. The poor people who can't get away are suffering the brunt of it The wheels of local government are also at a standstill.
The people in this whole district of south-eastern Hunan are terron suriakeit, for they are at the mercy of these merciless out-Jaws. With this city as the centre, thousands of Chao's troops are going east, west and south, evidently forming a line of defence along this southern border of Hunan to prevent the return of any of Tan's men from across the Kuangtung border, where most of them are now located.
The Da Shi Ling mine about 15 tiles southeast from here is controlled by L. Alff & Ca., Changsha, Hunan, Mr. Willems, the only foreigner at the mine, is in charge. At present the monthly output of the mine is about 300 tons of arsenic, 150 tons of sulphur, and 75 tons of lead. Owing to the disturbed condition of the province it has been difficult to ship the ore. At present there are about 300 tons of lead on hand, During the afternoon of November 14 six armed soldiers entered the home of Mr. Willems at the mine, and at the point of their guns demanded $1,000. They finally left after getting over $300 and two gold rings. Very likely these were some of Tan Yen-kai's soldiers who had turned bandit It is generally thought that Tan retreated because he lacked ammunition, having been out off from his source of supply from Kuangtung, by the rather daring expedition of Shen Hung-yin, from Kiangsi through southern Hunan to the borders of Kuangsi, his native province But when Tan's army passed through this city many of his soldiers had their balts and pockets well filled with shells. The information was gathered from some of these soldiers that they would not use their remaining ammunition in fight-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.