Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-03-04
UACOIps OF BURMA.
THOUGH SOMEWHAT CHANGED THEY
/ STILL EXIST TO PLUMBER.

tuOOop 0OWeWHAb CF1AN6eO Jn6Y
/ STILL EXIST TO PLUMBER.
AutAssitjss A. UnaAls - oesp t. Thisv.
f, ~ ed ID Me- oftsa cssears o,s Il
I! tAs Daesifs-A aanpls Csc q the Inas.
Aess,ey q the Police oAesra
Burma u one Of the countries that
ne changing very fast and one Of the
things that bave changed In Burma ID
the dacoik The sportive gentlemen de.
sosibsd By Rudyard Kipling and others
IAe craotfed villsee3 4&olesals and
Alled old ladies with kerosene were
Aohtishins in full vigor les than ton
years ego, but they already belong o.
completely to the past - Dick Turpin
and bis colleagues in England. No doubt
fresh war or any event seriously sbak-
ing the British power OF reputation
might produce a recTudescence Of the old
disease, but in the meantime the daooits
hsve entirely changed their habits. In
stead Of living together in bands In the
jungle they are scattered through sepa.
rate villages in the guise Of peaceful
cultivators. During the day each man
attends TO his paddy fields Just like bis
neighbors. and it IL only ct night that
they meet together for the dispatch Of
their more important and lucrative bust.
ness.
Dacoity - defined BY law IL simply
robbery committed BY q band Of i've
men or more. and it il important only
because Of the Burman's strong natural
propensity toward it and the great diff.
culties which his national character
places in the way Of his detection. It
must always be remembered that, Bur-
ma being In q transition stage and
much less settled than India and the
government being extremely short hand
cd. an immense amount Of various kinds
OF work falls upon each single English
official. Hence it is wholly impossible
for him to exercise any close or detailed
supervision over any particular part Of
bis district. This Of itself renders the
detection Of criminals . difficult mat
ter. When the dacoits were in the woods,
1t was simply q case Of turning out &C.
casionally to hunt them down. At pres
ent the matter must necessarily be left
chiefly in the hands Of natives.
Now, the natives are for the most
part honest and tolerably law abiding,
and they have no sympathy whatever
with man who goes dacoiting, but the
dacoit goes armed, and the supineness
and cowardioe Of the Burman in the
presence Of arms, more particularly of
firearms, are something almost incom-
prehensible to the western mind. It 10
quite sufficient for a party Of half dozen
men to have gun among them-effect-
i've or useless, loaded or empty, matters
little, the mere show is enough-and
they may 60 fearlessly to work in the
midst Of crowd. No one will interfere
with them. In more than one instance
bold robbers have made successful At
tacks when armed merely with their
dabs-the dagger which every Burman
carries-and with q pretended rifle made
OF stick, with which they frightened
of all opposition.
But perhaps the strange workings Of
the native character are best exhibited
in the following case. which occurred
quite recently. The facts are vouched
for BY an English officer! There was q
band Of five men who were in the habit
OF practicing dacoity occasionally. Three
OF them came from the same villaee-
not . common thing, ~ it makes detec-
tion easier-the fourth from another
village, and, a. for the fifth, no man
knows whence he came, for reasons that
will appear. One night these five men,
armed with nothing but their knives
and spears. which are used for fishing
in lower Burma. entered . house, tied
up the owner and began plundering.
Now, this house was in large village.
containing not only population Of
some 400. but . police post with 10
native policemen armed with sniders.
The alarm was given and the house
surrounded. and then there was q pause,
The robbers continued their work undis-
turbed within. The villagers. some 900
or 300 ablebodied men, all more or less
armed, sat around on tho dam which
surrounds and protects every house ON
the delta. looked down on the house and
discussed the question. The police stood
rather nearer the house and fred shots
into it through the bamboo walls hurt
ing no one.
One solitary policeman after q time
volunteered to advance. He crept up
quite close to the house and fired in
through an opening in the wall. Then
ne went farther and actually put his
head and part Of his body through the
hole, apparently to see what execution
no had done. One Of the robbers prompt.
" pinned him to the ground with . fish
spear and killed him. By this time they
had completed their preparations; 60
they sailed forth, each man with his
pack OF plumber on his back. Though
the house was surrounded, they appear
to have had no dificulty in making
their way through. only the police fred
after them with buckshot and hit three
Of them in the back, not seriously
wounding them. But one Of the band
had the misfortune to stumble and fall.
kn