'A man named Tsao, who formerly, lived near Tenghsien, had an argument with his mother-in-law, a few weeks since. AS ust, the principal subject was money. He wanted the old lady to give him some to buy plum, but she was unwilling... Hav. ing failed to persuade her to supply his needs, Tsao devised another scheme. He called on some of his friends, who happened to be bandits. An arrangement was made, whereby the "bandits were to kidnap the mother-in-law, collect ransom, and] divide up with Tsao, The plan was carried out according to schedule, The kidnappers collected $800 of which Tsao received his share, and every one was satisfied; at least almost every one was. Shortly after yo turning home, the mother-in-law died.
Tt is diMeult to find out exactly: what took place at this stage of the fame. Some say that a wife of one of the bandits decided to part cor pany with her husband, and informed the officers as to where the gang] might be found. Another story is that Governor Han sent one of his special detectives to work on the ease, and that he disguised himself as fan opium peddler, and thus got into] touch with Tsao, Whatever the details may have been, Teno was captured, and he and: some of his bandit friends were unwilling participants in the execution Finanelat Returns It seems that a local gentleman, named Wu, enjoys a monopoly on all executions ordered by the Tenghsien Magistrate, This is a rather lucrative! profession: $2 each for shooting and $2 per head for decapitation.
Immediately after the fatal shots! were fired yamen runners who were in charge of the funeral arrangements stripped the bodies of all superfluous clothing; and practically all clothing regarded as superfluous on such occasions.
The six bodies were then buried in three very shallow graves, just out= side one of the gates in the mud wall of the eily. That night, several] yamen runners sat up and watched over the graves, fo keep the bodies safe from dogs, and from relatives! who might try to carry them off with out paying money to the runners.
On the following day, friends and relatives of some of the deceased came and began. negotiating for the corpses. Of course the yamen runners refused to allow the bodies to be removed until satisfactory finan* cial settlements had been made, The bodies of executed criminals are usually held for ransom. In other words, they are for sale, and the price demanded varies according 10! concerned. the financial standing of the family
The Yamen runners demanded $60 for the body of the officials, but this price was finally talked down to $16 and the deal was closed at this figure. Three of the other bodies"were sold much lower rates, about §8 or
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.