The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-07-17
HOW STORIES SPREAD IN ORIENT
False That Have Caused Brit
i~h Much Trouble.

4 remarkable story Is being tod 4
Nanadalay 10 account for the ravaxes
of the plague. The city has been <o-ef~
afflicted \ month : people xsre dy-
inG a. the ate OF sixty a day. Bust.
ness WAS practically at a standstill and
two-thirds Of the population had fed
Not the worst feature 81 the panic vas
the credence given to . widespread
-umor that the pestiIenoe was The re-
suit If the royal visit.
While their royal hizhuess. It was
said. were in Mandalay he princess
/ had dreamed that sorne ruTreSe ca0
cried 10 murder her. She told no
one. the story goes. a. the time. but
when the royal parry reach Ran
Coon. on the y back 20 India. she
Informed the prince. who gave orders
to the lieutenant governor Of the pro-
vince tn have a number ~ Burmese
IN Nandalay put "a death In obs
di"nce 10 this ruthless command .n.n
were sent mp country. such IS he le-
Esud. 10 poison the wells and si-'@'
loi@on about the roads; hence ths ter
rible mortality. Even makers % soda
water were bribed. il Is alleged. 20
put poison into all bottles sold % ,he
! Burmese.
| The scare. ridiculous as il may seem.
has taken hold Of the credu.ou~ ma
tives and they have one 50 far as %
| appoint a committee Of safe'y. whlch
sends out parties Of young lei armed
with slaves and "dahs." at uilht. %
iook for suspicious strangers. The
panic has extended. We are told. 20 the
villages in The vicinity 40 Nantalay.
and three Europeans who We're III
shooting recently We're accused By tie
country folk Of being prisoners. AID
had 70 fly for their lives.
How stories OF this KIND fi~st g.
abroad il is seldom possible - alscuv-
er. but every one who has lived u
the east knows how readily hey ar~
swallowed by an Ignorant ami e~cdu-
lous people. No invention i too PIE
/ posterous to find believers. SomeiI-.-s
the gossip ~ an Indian bazaar i thar
the government requires quantities 80
human blood wherewith TO annoint III"
foundations of a bridge or other public
building which il is about TO ere,
Every family in the district Will % IN
a fever Of apprehension lest lis chill
| dren shall be seized and murdered for
the Many old travellers relate
instances of such panics, which have
f. also occurred within quite recent times.
In some parts of the Punjab people
, have zone 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 extract in the preparation
of a particularly valuable and eftica-
cious medicine. The Mummy SahiE'
IS reputed 70 pay 4 fee 10 the govern
lei for license TO carry on his ne
fariOus trade. Not many years ago
|, a native official in Assam was prose
cuted for circulating a report 10 the
effect that the government had order
ed a list of marriageable girls &c be
compiled, in order that they might be
distributed as a reward TO the officers
and men of a military force serving
on the frontier.
In this case the origin of the
| could be traced, and its inventor had
evidently purposed TO make a little
| money by promising, for a cOnsiderI-
| ton, to Withhold the names Of any girls
| whose friends and relatives desired In
| save them from such a fate. AS a
| general rule, however, the agency
which starts the libel remains a mys-
! terry. Nor does any one know to this
! day who dispatched the first Of the
iI-omened cakes which were sent about
| from village to village as a warning az
trouble to come on the eve of the NUT
inv of 1857. What is certain is that
horrible and malignant rumors like
that current in Mandalay meet with
ready acceptance, and that once II
circulation. they are not quickly Grad
icated. Whatever the authorities may
do, it is quite likely that as long as
the royal visit TO Burma is remembered
II will be connected with the plague.
and hat graybeards who are now chill
dren will be ready TO explain how m
affair came about.
The eastern idea Of justice Is n"t
that which prevails in the west. !
Persian historian relate 10 the Sui
tan Alptegin that when one of his FOL
towers had been found guilty OF steal
in. poultry he sentenced the man Z"
death. but relenting. ordered him 20
be driven through the army Wild
the purloined fowls, still alive. hung OT
their legs TO his ears. The WFlter
gives a graphic description 81 HI
tortures suffered by the theft as he
birds in their fright tore al his .ac",
and he adds: The news Of this Tact
having reached the ears IF the peop'"
they agreed that 50 upright and JUS
a sovereign was worthy 70 their ruler.
1t would not be surprising II he
story of the poisoned wells al Manda-
lay came eventually TO be told with
the coroliary that 1t only proved ne
sacacity and stat"craft OF the shahz1-
dah.-London Evening Standard.
Women Who Wear fNpIO~Ivc Gowns.