Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-06-27
HIGHWAY ROBBERY IN CHINA.
Celestial Footpads Who Are Driven to
ll,cir Vocation bv Poverty.

lhefr Vocation by Poverty.
The writer of the series of papers on
Chinese characteristics" in the North
China Herald of Shanghai refers to the
propensity of the people in certain dis
illcts to highway robbery. The ex-
cessive poverty of the mass Of the peo-
pie and the density of the population
make, he says, the presence of a large
number OF bad characters in any par
tlcular place q matter of certainty. The
restraints of the local government are
not sufficiently rigorous in most regions
to keep these bad characters in any
thing more than q general state of sub
ordination. If any event happens
which makes it peculiarly safe for them
to plumber with more than usual i'm
punity they are sure to take advantage
of the fact.
The autumn harvest is such an
event. The whole surface of Northern
China is dotted here and there with
dense growths of sorghum (kaoliang),
q plant which nature has apparently
devised for the express purpose of
meeting the wants of that region, just
as the palm and bamboo are adapted to
tropics. The sorghum plant grows to
n great height, often eight or ten feet.
BY the middle of July it has attained
such q growth that it is hard to see over
it, and from that time until the harvest
is gathered it is q constant occurrence
for the natives of the villages to become
confused, v in going short distances
from n town to another. If, by any
accident, q wrong turning is taken, the
traveller is as much lost as in u tropical
forest, with the disadvantages that he
cannot climb o tree to see his way out.
OF this state of things the bad char
acters are not slow to take advantage.
Travelling across country" becomes at
such times difficult and dangerous, not
so much because it is hard to find the
way as because there is great liability
to be robbed, and q great probability
that if one is so attacked one will not be
able to obtain assistance. The small
bands of unkempt soldiers, the only
provision for keeping order in any par
tlcular region-have some resemblance
to electricity, not i'll the rapidity or de-
cision of their movements, but in the
circumstance that they are an altogether
invisible force. They are never on
hand when wanted, and are often nom
existent. But when the kaoliang crop
comes up to its full height these troops
are at the maximum Of their useless
ness. They cannot see far ahead of
them on account of the dense forests of
%kaoliang; and if they came upon a
large band Of thieves in full course OF
gathering their plumber, and if they de-
cided to attemptto stop the proceedings
"a wild and improbable supposition-
it would be wholly out of the question
to do so, as the thieves could retreat
into these kaoliang jungles, where no
mounted soldier could follow for two
rods. The result of this state of things
is that in some districts the kaoliang
time is one of fear and trembling for
those who are obliged to go abroad.
The arrival OF a stranger ct this sea-
son is the signal for a plot to stop him
and strip him of any superfuous bag
gage, and often efthe most of his cloth
lug. This plumber of travellers is a
well.recognized industry of some dis
tricts, and is at its maximum during the
comparatively idle interval when the
crops have been hoed for the last time
and L not yet ripe. There are certain
procedures where the population seems
to take kindly to this occupation at al
most any season of the year. In these
regions the farmer in the field who sees
O stranger coming along the road will
sally forth to rob him, armed with his
hoe, and when he has plundered his
victim go quietly back to his work as if
nothing had happened.