The record-union., 1896-06-21
NEWS FROM THE ORIENT.
FAMINE CAUSES A BIG RAISE In
PRICES OF RICE.
Only Wealthy People Can Now Afford
to Use the Staple Article
of Diet.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 20.-Special
correspondence of the United Press has
been received per steamship Rio de
Janeiro, dated Toxic, May 31st:
The famine in Kwangsi Province las
become so severe that rice is selling for
so or S12 a picul, or about eight to nine
cents a pound. At such a price only
wealthy persons can afford to use this
staple article of diet. 1t is stated that,
in view of the impossibility of support
| ing life in the poorer families. pernis-
sion has been given to sell children, and
that girls from 2 to II years of age are
offered in the open market for from So
to $50.
| The British Consul at Canton has
taken steps to form an estimate of the
ravages of the bubonic plague in that
city By counting the collins as they
passed out Of the gates of the city, he
concluded that about 240 people are
dying daily. The population of Canton
| is something like 100000.
| The Kiangyin antimissionary out
rage has evoked vigorous official ac-
toin, but though the plot has been un-
raveled and the guilty persons arrested,
another cruel feature has been added
to the affair. 1t will be remembered
that an accusation of numbering chill
dren having been preferred against the
missionaries by a quack doctor who
entertained a grudge against them in
connection with the lease of their prem
| ises, a search of the house and yard
made in the presence of the mob re-
vealed the body of a nfteen- months
| old child. The missionaries barely es-
capped with their lives. Reaching Chin
1 kiang, they laid the case before the
! United States Consul-General. who inn
mediately communicated with Shang
/ hal and also with Pekin, the result be-
/ ing that Lieutenant Mclean of the
United States steamship Boston was or
dered to proceed to Chinkiang to COM
pile a report, and the Boston was got
ready to proceed up the river.
| Meanwhile Chinese family who were
| friendly to the missionaries had applied
themselves to discover the truth. They
succeeded in obtaining a confession
/ from the quack doctors chief accom-
plice, while the latter was under the
influence of opium.
1t appears that the accomplice had
/ been informed by the doctor that the
missionaries would give $50 for the
body of q child. and the two, proceeding
at midnight to a grave, carried off the
corpse and hid it under some rubbish in
the missionaries compound, whence
the doctor unearthed it subsequently, In
the face of the mob. On the night of
the riot the mother of the child, going
to burn incense at the grave. saw that
the body had been removed. The friends
of the missionaries induced her to pre-
fer a complaint, and thus the whole plot
was divulged.
But, unfortunately, the quack doc
/ tor knew the family that had been in
strumental in exposing the truth To
i be avenged on them he declared, when
making his confession, that the eldest
son had been an accomplice. The man
was arrested. AT first he maintained
his innocence, but being subject to tor
/ ture his fcrtitude gave way. and he
/ falsely implicated himself Whatever
redress may be ultimately obtained. the
cost of befriending the missionaries viii
i thus seem very high to the people of
! I<ianpyin