New-York tribune., 1911-03-19
A MOB FIGHTING FOR RICE.

: The wooden railings by the shed gave
way. The crowd surged forward. men,
women and children trampling on one
another. fighting over fallen bodies.
crushing the leaders into the ruins u
! the shed and against the barrier Of the
wall The missionaries fought desperate
! ly to save the rice sacks. but they were
borne down by sheer weight OF numbers.
Chinese, weak with famine. tried TO
carry off the sacks whole. No sooner
was sack lifted than ii became the
centre OF a whirling fight. Twenty men
dragged down the man who held II ana
| fought for the rice inside Hats. pock'
! cts. folds Of gowns were filed win the
grain. and then torn TO pieces by hsht'
! ing neighbors. Then the tremendous
weight of the crowd behind surged in on
! the struggling mass and crushed II
against the wall. Boys and women went
down under foot and dragged strong men
down with them.
! When at last the missionaries cleared
the crowd away seventy bodies "efp
| left trampled near the wreck OF the
! shed. Twenty-one We're dead, mostly
/ boys and women. While the MISSION
aries were trying 10 revive the others
Chinese were going about among the
limp bodies and scraping up the snow
and broken earth, to take II away ahd
separate the rice which had been scat
tered and trodden over all the ground.
The Chinese papers and dispatches are
full of details OF the deadly work of tue
plague. The deaths of Dr. Mesny anu
DR. Jackson the two physician Martyrs
came at the very crisis of the epide'iN'
At Moukden itself the government mas
dug hundreds of graves and buried cav"
corpse in Quicklime. except such as ".'e
properly buried by relatives. But III
the smaller villages OF the country rou"u
about. which cannot possibly be policed
by the authorities. nearly all the corpSes
of plague victims are left on the grouhd
of the gravoyards in cheap wooo'"
boxes. When spring comes. the dN
tors say. the rats will tear open tue
cofiins and spread the contamination
far and wide.
The epidemic is said to have star'e'
when an American trader began TO Pun
chase pelts of the tarbagan. or Asia'''
marmot. an animal about the SIZE VI
house cat, which looks much like ia'se
rat. and has the habits of woodch"0"'
The skins are used for making ii'i''"
tion furs of different sorts. The Chlhes',
il is said. caught great quantities o'
these animals. sold the skins 10 wv
American and ate the flesh INV
creatures were infected with the phru
monic plague in its worst form. -
One of the principal measures wna"
has been taken for stamping out WV
plague is a campaign OF eHteri''i"a''.
on common rats. In some Eastern po'
q direct bounty of a cent or two a he"u
is paid for all carcasses brought IN. 80"
.Japanese have discovered plan t'a'
hath more effective and cheaper 10 ~"
government. Every rat that Is pro"e"
in entities its slayer to have MS n""
,.yistered once in the rat lotte'!
hooks. At the end Of each week ara"
ING is held. at which a number oi p''A'
ranging from two or three dollars
, several hundred are drawn for cav"
person having as many chances 40
has dead rats to his credit. Tne i'""
appcaIs tremendously to the 'lohss"o
men and miscellaneous rif-ran wh" 'o
the great body Of the rat catche's'
ia in effect in all the ports of Corea'