Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-05-30
HUNG-HuTZES.
The Part Played by Chinese Bandits
In the War.

HUNG G-hUTZES.
The Part Played by Chinese Bandits
In the War.
HE showed no sign of emotion
said an enthusiastic friend when de-
scribing to me the farewell Of a IA
nous officer Fl om the Shimbasi sta
ton. Toxic. His wife knew he was
going to almost certain death, yet she,
and her children too, bade farewell
openly and bravely without sign OF
grief"
why did death seem so certain?'
I asked. Soldiers come back from
the. war;"
YES" my friend replied, "but he
was going to organize the Hung-hut-
yes behind Harbin, and while he may
destroy the Russian railways he can
scarcely hope to save his owl life,
II the Russians catch him they will
hang him without delay"
For more than year past the
name Of the Hung-hutze-Chung
Chutze, as he Is often called-the Red
beard, has been familiar to English
readers. He is popularity spoken Of In
England as a brigand. He is some
times that but he is very much more.
He Is the man In revolt against the
powers that be. The successful Hung
hutze of today may be, II he plays his
cards well. the highly honored Chinese
general Of tomorrow.
The organization of the Hung-hutze
band is elaborate and far-reaching.
and yet at the same time worked in
dependently from different localities.
Primarily the Red-beard leagues were
a combination of village leagues or or
ganizations for protection and ag-
gression. Out of this has grown the
present network Of secret societies.
Manchuria, 1t Is well to remember,
has never been, save In the limited
territories Immediately under Russian
control, land where life and property
are oversecure. Each district has to
organize as best It can, and 1t has few
means for defense save what 1t creates
for itself. In hundreds Of little VII
lagos you will find great, strong,
roomy keep. with castellated walls
running twenty feet or more from the
ground. with gigantic iron-shod doors.
with gun embrasures and with out
standing turrets commanding the re-
mainder Of the walls. These keeps
are prepared for deliberate sieges.
Food is kept in them and there is
abundant rom for the storage Of the
property Of the people around. Near
the tops Of the walls turrets are
built. along which bowmen and rifle
men can stand In safety and fire down
on any attacking force.
Places such as these have not been
built for amusement. In q land where
crime meets with hideous punish
ment, when punished at all, there are
many temptations for a poor man to
become a permanent outlaw. In bad
winter a usually honest peasant Is
driven to steal. He yields, and know
ing that discovery may mean life
time In a wretched torture prison he
fees to the hills and becomes a rob-
ber by profession. Joining others of
his kind, he settles In one Of the large
waste tracts In the northern mountains
and establishes permanent nomad
community. He and his allies marry.
They have their own system Of gov
ernment and they strengthen their po-
sition and increase their means by oc-
casional raids on distant villagers,
who have organized to resist them,
They, too, are tempted when they have
a succession of bad seasons to use
their defense organization to- plunder
their neighbors.
The bands are incredibly bold.
When I was last In Liaoyang, al
though the city was held by Japanese
guards, robbers came down night af-
ter night from the hills and penetra-
ted the Chinese quarter, exchanging
shots with the soldiers. A band OF
horsemen will pick its time and ride
into large city and reid 1t as boldly
as a gang of desperadoes will hold up
western mining town.
Your Chinaman is eminently prac-
tical. II the robbers enter and sur
prise a large town, as they often do,
the authorities submit, pay their
Villages-weaker and therefore more
subject to plundering-have had to
erect their keeps to protect them. II
a robber band is very troublesome the
government sends out soldiers against
It. II 1t fights and overcomes the SOL
diers once or twice the authorities be-
gin to think that the services Of such
brave men are worth securing, and
probably offer the leader a general
ship In the army of the governor or
the province.
The Chinese business men found
that the Hung-hutze interfered with
trade, making internal transport un-
safe. To obviate this the robbers very
kindly placed trustworthy agents In
several Of the big towns. II you are
at Newchwang and desire to dispatch
stock of valuable goods inland your
Chinese number one boy" goes to the
Hung-hutze representative there, and
i:her hires one or two or more men
as a guard or arranges to pay GER
tain allowance for safety, form OF
burglary insurance" Once this Is
done the goods are as safe as though
travelling through England, for any
outsider who dared to lay hands on
them would have quick vengeance
wrought on him by the robbers them
selves. without question many OF the
robber bands are linked together al
though how cannot be told. One CHIEF
boasts that he can bring 10000 men
into the field whenever he wants.
Probably he Is lying boaster, but MS
strength is certainly considerable.
The Japanese, always ready to take
Of any means Of strength
ening their hands, early realized that
the Hung -hutzes might become valua-
BILE allies In the campaign against
Russia. Accordingly, three or four
years before the war broke out a
NJ Japanese non- commission