The alleged attempts of certain Japanese to dig Ue parts of a Buddhist temple outside the city fof Mukden were the subject of an article in the "Shunpao" on September 23, which, it is said, makes a very interesting sequel' to the Russo-Japanese War, According to this journal, four Japanese policemen and a Japanese woman, accompanied by about a dozen Chinese workmen, went into a Buddhist -temple outside the city of Mukden early on the morning of September 15. After their arrival, the Japanese took out a map and instructed the Chinese workmen to dig the ground about two yards from the front of the main hall.
However, it is said, the Japanese policemen spoke in low tones in Chinese and they were overheard by @ young priest, who slipped out through the back door and reported the matter to a branch station of the Public Safety Bureau. A tele-phono message was sent to the Police Headquarters and a company of armed men immediately sent to the temple to learn what was the matter, The Japanese policemen yielded to the Chinese police and agreed to withdraw from the temple. Before they were allowed to leave the temple, however, they were made to tell the truth as to their intentions and the statements they fare reported to have made were to the following effect Thirty-three years ago, when' the Russo-Japanese War was fought in Manchuria, a Russian general and his men were defeated and compelled to retreat to Mukden. Here, in this very temple, the general buried his personal fortune. consisting 40 chests of gold with, the intention of recovering them when the war was over. He prepared a map showing where the gold was buried.
However, the Russian general was later taken prisoner by the Japanese, and the commander the Japanese forces treated kindly his prisoner and gave him his daughter in marriage. The latter obtained the map from her husband and she then came to Mukden, seeking the assistance of the! Japanese police in the recovery of, the fortune, The woman who accompanied them was the wife of the Russian prisoner and their intention was to recover the gold in the early morning when nobody would pay attention to their actions. Unfortunately, their schemes. were frustrated by the arrival of the Chinese police.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.