Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1900-10-11
xgho1esnle Depreciation Are Pres
vented By the severffx OF
LII Hung Chang.


During the recent startling events
in China a good deal has been heard
of niracv on the West river and the
ruthless severity with which Ii Hung
Chang dealt with the freebooters
when they fell into his hands. Con-
sul Scott. of Canton, thinks that these
river thieves should not be dignified
nv the title of pirates, and that 1T is
necessary to protest against the SEN
sational accounts of their exploits
which find their way into print. IN
his report on the trade of Canton for
1899, says the London Telegraph ne
describes the water Fobber and the
manner in which hle t eeolnn.d7Tnlets his
business in the following words;
ST can hardly hope, in view OF the
asserted dire results of piracy on Brit
ish trade, to be credited when as
gerS that during the year not one sin
gle bale of BFitish goods has been lost
in the far too Numerous cases OF
armed robbery recorded, but SUCH is
nevertheless the fact. The 'piracies'
are aanE robberies with arms, but
without, fog &be most part, actual
violence, the ordinary Gaii1n 1f227m1la lend
ing himself very Kindly to the coeFe
c4ea Of a 1eveled revolver. The usual
modus opexapdi is as follows: A Chi
nese passenger boat, capable OF hold
ing some 200 passengers and 1fhe4r per
senaa eFects, starts on her trip n to 10y
Of 3 steam fanBelka, Either at the point M
--~4ssFe OF at se4e calling sta. sta
of deps a4Rg Of men armed tt
ton en- route "a -%a II the
with revolvers go on d.
guise of passengers IF they susp.
any supervision is kept, or that any
examination for arms will be made,
they conceal their revolvers in sealed
jars supposed to contain pickles or
preserved fruits, some times addressed
to an official or some prominent per-
son further up or down the river, or
in some other innocent package; and |
then, when they arrive at some place |
where they have arranged to be met |
by confederates, they simply hold up |
all the passengers. The launch tenn
porarily clears out and the highway
men go through the boat, taking all
money, jewe1ry and valuables, not as
a rule goods, and then take their de-
parture-the launch returns to the
boat and continues her voyage
when it is the launch itself which
carries passengers the same course is
pursued, but the gang then takes pos
session of the launch itself, compelling
the engineers to continue to attend to
the engines and either run the launch
up some creek where their confeder-
ates are waiting for them, or use her
to make other robberies of launches
or passenger boats or junks. But they
never hold launch for more than a
few hours, and never dream of MAX
ing off with her as a prize. She would
be utterly useless to them, and would
lead to their certain arrest and de-
capitat.on. Dick Turpin might as
well have stolen stage coach. When
the gang have finished with launch
the men usually take polite farewell
of the master and crew, and some
times even. if they have given no
trouble, give them few dollars.
''Since his excellency Ii Hung
Changes arrival here as viceroy mat
tiers have assumed a different com
plexion. Robberies committed on
launches and passenger boats have at
the present time, temporarily at any
rate, almost ceased in Chinese waters,
and there can be no doubt that in
time, should his excellency remain in
Canton, the stringent and energetic
employed by him will re
store order throughout the district
But the mischief is deep seated, and
the evils caused by years of malad-
cannot be eradicated in
a day.'