Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-10-11
CHINESE PIRATES.
Their Terrible Grimes and No Less Terrible
Punishment.

Punishment.
"rhe Scourge of the Eastern Seas
are the pirates that infest the China
Sea and the Philippine Islands. John
S. Sewall relates several thrilling stor-
les Of the Chinese vikings crimes anu
their punishment in the saltwater
Century.
Some of the exploits Of these red row.
crs are curioasly interesting. Ii an!
Of my readers have sailed up the Can
tor River they will recall the Chinese
fortress of the Boca Tigris Mt its
mouth, on the starboard side as you
enter. Down by the waterside long
white parapet stretches along the
shore: ut each end n wall Of masonry
reaches up the hill, and disappears
over the crest. Whether there Is a
fourth wall out Of sight, Joining the
two and completing the square, DO
not remember; but certain British tars
could tell you-if they have lasted
! from 1912 till this present year OF
grace. During the opium war the fort
ress was attacked; but the storr' 'ne
party pulled quietly around " --eau-
land. and forming on the each, clam
bered up over the hill. and the first
thing the Celestials knew their foe
was rushing down upon them from the
rear, and within the inclosure. There
was nothing for it but to surrender
which they did, brlstling with wrath
at such breach Of military manners.
"Hiyah. Why you no come front side:
More better fight where we makce
ready for you..''
But this Is q disgression. What we
are after is the pirates. 1t was an
earlier commandant Of this same fort
ress who met with equally bad luck.
One of tho fleets appeared in his neigh
borhood. and he sailed ont to attack
it. The pirates surrounded him, and
after furious engagement, which last
ed all day, and with such havoc as may
be left to the Imagination, captured
him and whatever fragments of his
feet were still afoat. This disaster
was partly avenged the next year,
when the Chinese admiral, with hun-
dred junks, attacked another fleet on
the same cruising-ground. Great num-
bers Of the pirates were destroyed and
some two hundred taken prisoners.
Those who are familiar with Chinese
methods can easily judge how long the
two hundred were kept from joining
their bloody comrades in the shades
below. In another encounter not far
from the same place, before the COM
batants could close upon one another
| it fell dead calm, whereupon crowds
Of the pirates leaped into the sea like
sayages. swan to the enemy With their
knives In their teeth, and attacked
them so fiercely that they could not be
beaten off, and actually cut out sew
era Iunks from the imperial fleet The
fortunes of war varied. With proTok-
ing impartiality, and apparently with
no ethical preference, victory would
perch on the standard of the pirate
quite ms often as on the banner of the
| rlGlIGOES upleuutlS VI iASii >oNh'A' :"
commerce. We read Of whole fleets
engaged, fighting all day and all night
two days even three days at q time,
two or three hundred junl1s on p side,
and a drawn game at the end. No
chlld's play this. At one time the I'D
miral is lying quietly at anchor among
the islands, when suddenly two hun
dred pirate crate slip around the bead
land, and pounce upon him with IN on
set so furious that, in spite of vigor-
ous defense. twenty-five Of his fleet
are gone with their captors before lie
can get up his anchors and chase them
These encounters were not confined to
the sea. There were frequent RAIDS on
the villages that lined the harDor anu
rirarc