Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-06-04
RUSSIA'S BANDIT FOE.
Potent Part Played In War by
Chunchus In Manchuria.
BLOWS AIMED AT THE RAILWAY.

Potent factors in the war in the far
east are the Manchurian bandits. says
q London ca BILE dispatch to the Chicago
Record Herald. Locally they are called
"chunchus," or hunghusa, and by the
authorities are known as red bearded
robbers. You hear OF them now almost
every day as operating against the
Russians, who are their aYowed en-
emies. and their special efforts seem TO
be directed against the Manchurian
railroad.
1.-The chunchus make their living by
preying on the public and the villagers,
and until the invasion by the Russians
in 1900 they virtually controlled the
trade of the province. Their mode OF
operation is simple, but effective. Di-
vided into bands under approved lead
ers they manage to rule the carrying
trade. extorting large fees from the
persons engaged in it. They give what
might be called permits TO the villagers
or country people who bring their prod
uce to the towns both by water and
roadway. Carts and boats holding
passes from these robbers carry the
flag of the band that issues the passes.
and, strange to relate, these flags al
ways are respected by members of the
other bands. Once having paid his toll
to the bandit, the villager goes on his
way rejoicing. we'll knowing that he
has nothing more to fear.
The bandits are reported to be 2OO,-
600 strong. They have plenty of small
arms. but no artillery or large guns.
Mostly composed of disbanded Chinese
soldiers who have been drilled by for
eigners, they generally are better shots
than the Siberian Cossacks, for their
straight shooting is their living. The
Chinese militia are very friendly to the
chunchus and in case of a general
uprising very probably would join the
robber bands. These militia are pretty
fair soldiers and are armed with mod
ern weapons. In fact, they use the
rifles which they capture from the rob-
bers from time to time. 4 conjunction
of these forces would be a serious mat
ter for Russia, for both the robber and
the militiaman hate the car and his
army and are friends OF the japanese.
The reason for this feeling is easily
explained. When the japanese took
possession of southern Manchurta fol-
lowing the war of 1S94-95. seeing that
they could not cope with the bandit
they allowed him TO carry on a trade
that kept the country settled, to the
satisfaction of both viIlager and BAN
dit, and wisely decided not to inter
fere. On the other hand. when the
Russians seized Manchurfa during the
Boxer troubles of 1900 they endeavored
to put down the chunchus by force
Of arms when they could not bride
them to meet their demands.
incidentally it should be remembered
that the Siberian Cossack is not too
well paid, and as he generally was on
patrol in the various villages the viii
layers fell between the bandit and the
Cossack. but as the troops were always
being moved about the country the IN
fortunate villager was required to pro-
vide himself with a pass from each
new body OF troops, in contrast to the
bandits one request. and this request
was Of daily occurrence. The result
was that the rObber could not get his
living because he could not guarantee
the villager against losses through the
CossackS; hence the conditions were
that the villager dared not send his
goods to market, for even il he could
settle with the bandit he was sure to
fall into the hands of the Cossack.
Thus 1t will easily be seen that neither
the vlllager nor the bandit has any
warm regard for the Russian forces.
The bandits, it will be remembered,
destroyed the Manchurian railway be-
tween Mukden and Port Arthur during
the Boxer revolt. They carried away
rails and ties for miles and cut into
MI hn IBID
would think to be impossible, but they
had the country people to help them.
Their operations in the present war
have become so serious that General
Kuropatkin practically has lost the
services OF about 10000 soldiers. who
now are assigned TO duty guarding the
road. 1t has become obvious that ia
pans hopes were well grounded when
she counted on the assistance of these |
desperate men. Similarity of language
permits them TO understand one an
other. while the Russians. as a general |
thing. have no knowledge of the Mant- |
choo tongue.
1t is a mistake to assert that the |
Chinese government is provoking the |
chunchus to attack the cars forces. |
for the bandits are no way subservient |
TO China. In fact. the strong force of
Chinese troops sent toward the Mon |
golian Manchurian frontier is for the |
purpose of preventing the bandits from |
invading China proper and the neutral |
part thereof. IL this precautionary |
step had not been taken the robbers. in /
event OF their being driven of by the /
operations OF the armies OF Japan and |
Russia, would begin proving on the
rich province OF Chill and might even |
prove a menace 10 Picking China de-
sires TO show that she intends 10 keep
neutral and VIII use strong efforts 10
confine 10 the bandits the display OF