Smyrna times., 1892-02-10
Bandits Led by a Woman.
SHE DRANK BLOOD IN ORDER TO KEEP
UP HER COURAGE-OTHER CHI
NEsE ATROCITIES.

The steamer China, fIOm China and
Japan, brought advices giving details
of the suppression of the revolt in
China and Manchuria. The rebels, it
appears, were mostly bandits who
roam in the country just outside the
wall of China.
Last spring they joined forces, and
entered upon a regular campaign of
plunder. They were all well armed,
and being, as is stated, mainly com
posed of prescribed Chinese criminals,
they fought desperately when pitted
against the Chinese troops, and for a
long time always defeated their adver-
sares. Some of the large bands were
led by Buddhist priests. One of the
most notorious of these priestly ma
rauders was Han Chan Chung, who
recently lost his life during a fierce
engagement with the Chinese troops.
! He was for many years enshrined III u
| MOngOlian temple as the living Bud
dha. There is no doubt that the most
horrible atrocities were committed by
the wandering desperadOes. Eye
witnesses state that almost the entire
population of villages were cruelty
mutiated. The burning of children
alive, the brutal treatment and murder
of women was the general line of con-
duct pursued by these inhuman
tends.
A band of 500 marauders swooped
down upon Kutulan in the dead Of
night, ca ptured all whom they did not
kill outright, and finally carried with
them all the women. Before going,
they put fifty men in an enclosure,
closed all means of egress, after which
they set fire to the place. The shrieks
of those being burned alive reached
the ears of few persons who had es-
capped to the hills. The scene was
frighful in the extreme. This, how.
ever. is only one of dOze rs of such in
cidents
The rebels destroyed Christian and
heather villages alike. TO captives OF
former places they acted in partic-
ularly ferocious manner. At a place
called TalJOw, which has been Christ
ian for two centuries, they massacred
ten nuns and burned the orphan asy.
lum containing 60 children. The
bodies of captives were pierced with
spears and bayOnets the gOuging out
Oh eyes, the uistlu OOW6llllR OI uuI wing
J alive of victims were among the atrOc
} tiles practiced by the rebels. One
band is said to have been led by al
immense Amazon, who sat astride o
, her horse like man. 1t was reported
! among her followers that she drank
the blood of her victims to maintain
her courage.
9 The suppression of the revolt is dut
not entirely to the efforts of the Chi
nese Government 1t was really tht
extreme cold which had the most t
: DO with it. The robbers could no
;. stand the wintry campaign and many
, Of them retired to their strongholds il
, the hills. Their power, however i
broken. The Imperial troops showed
=, as little mercy to the rebels captured
bv them as the robbers had shown t,
> their victims. Many prisoners wer
taken but most of them were executed
o on the spot. The executions wer
: conducted on a wholesale scale. Th
: men were beheaded by hundreds an,
the entire trunks of trees utilized 70
f blocks, along which the prisoners wer
I arranged in lines, and the execution
:, ers simply moved off the prisoner.
. heads when the signal was giver
. The heads were hung in long rows o
o poles as a warning TO others.