Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-07
HOW STORIES SPREAD IN ORIENT
False Rumors That Have Caused
British Much Trouble

From the London Evening Standard.
A remarkable story is being told in
Mandalay to account for the ravages OF
the plague. The city has been sorely at
flicted. A month ago people were dying
at the rate of sixty day. Business WIS
practically at standstill. and thirds
Of the population had fed. Not the worst
feature of the panic was the credence
given to a widespread rumor that the
pestilence was the result of the royal
visit.
While their royal highnesses, 1t was
said were in Mandalay the princess had
dreamed that some Burmese had tried to
murder her She told no one, the story
goes, at the time but when the royal
party reached Rangoon. on the way back
to India, she informed the prince, who
gave orders to the lieutenant governor
of the province to have number of Bur-
mese in Mandalay put to death. In obedi
ence to this ruthles command men were
sent up country, such is the legend, to
poison the wells and strew poison about
the roads; hence the terrible mortality.
Even makers of soda water were bribed.
II is alleged to put poison into all bottles
sold to the Burmese.
The scare, ridiculous as 1t may seem,
has taken hold of the credulous natives,
and they have gone so far as to appoint a
committee of safety, which sends out par
ties of young men, armed with slaves and
"dahs," at rfght to look out for sus-
picious strangers. The panic has extend
ed we are told. to the villages in the vi
cinity of Mandalay, and three Europeans
who were out shooting recently were ac-
cused by the country folk of being poison
ers, and had to fly for their lives.
How stories OF this kind first get abroad
Ii Is seldom possible to discover. but
every one who has lived In the east knows
ignorant and creduloua people No inyen-
ton is too preposterouss ito find believers,
Sometimes the gossip Of an Indian bazaar
Is that the government requires quanti-
ties of human blood wherewith to anoint
the foundations of bridge or other pub
lie building which it is about to erect.
Every family in the district will be In d
fever of apprehension lest its children
shall be seized and murdered for the pur-
pose. Many old travellers relate Instances
OF such panics, which have also occurred
within quite recent times.
In some parts of the Punjab people have
gone in terror of the Mummy Sahib." an
atrocious European who is supposed to
abstract his victims brains through a
hole bored in their skull, using the ex-
tract in the preparation of a particularly
valuable and efficactous medicine. The
. Mummy Sahib' is reputed to pay fee
to the government for license to carry OH
native official in Assam was prosecuted
for circulating a report to the effect that
the government had ordered list of mar
riageable girls to be complied in ordor
that they might be distributed a re-
ward to the officers and men of military
force serving on the frontier.
In this case the origin of the rumor
could be traced, and It's inventor had evil
IDENTIFY purposed to make a little money
by promising, for a consideration. to with
hold the names of any girls whose friends
and relatives desired to save them from
such fate. As n general rule. however,
the agency which starts the libel remains
a mystery. Nor does any one know to
this day who dispatched the first of the
iil-Omened cakes which were sent about
from village to village n warning of
trouble to come on the eve of the mutinv
OF 1887. What is certain is that horrible
ard malignant rumors like that current
I'm Mandalay meet with ready acceptance.
and that. once in circulation, they are not
quickly eradicated. Whatever the au-
.thorities may do, it is quite likely that as
long as the royal visit to Burma is re-
nlembered ii Will be connected with the
plague. and that graybeards who are now
children viii be ready to explain how the
affair came about.
The eastern idea of justice is not that
which prevails in the west. A Persian
historian relates of the Sultan Alptegin
that when one Of his followers had been
found guilty of stealing poultry he sem
fenced the man to death. but. relenting,
ordered him TO be driven through the
army with the purlotned fowls, still alive.
hung by their legs 10 his ears. The writer
gives 4 graphic description of the tor
lures suffered by the thief the biros
In their fright tore at his face. and he
adds: The news of this fact having
reached the ears of the people they agreed
that upright and just a sovereign was
worthy to be their ruler" 1t would not
be surprising IL the story of the poisoned
wells at S1andalay came eventually to be
cd the sagacity and statecraft of the
told with the coroilary that 1t only prov
khahzadah.