The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-10-15

when the first crop is destroyed. This
year the floods came too late for the
second crop to be grown and the re-
fugees will be dependent upon such re-
lief as is sent them until they can har-
vest next years crop.
From American standards their ne
cessities of life are ridiculously small
A dollar will supply whole family
with food for a week. A hundred dol
lars will keep a village in comfort for
a month. Poverty such as is ever
present in China is unknown in Ameri-
ca, just as suffering such as is caused
by this flood is unknown here. There
may be hungry people in America but
none is starving. In Changteh and in
other cities in the flooded district,
they are dying by the hundreds daily
of actual starvation. In all of these
cities you may see bands of refugees
so weak from starvation that they can
scarcely lift their hands to receive the
penny you give them. You can see
dozens of those who retain some
strength of body fight like madmen
over the possession of bit of rice
which has been spilled in the mud.
Rats, cats and dogs are being eaten
just as any other race would eat them
II driven to it by the pangs of hunger.
TO add to the horrors of the situa-
ton, thievery, and piracy have broken
out in the big and miserable refugee
camps. Formerly honest, many are
now able to obtain food by theft and
hunger has driven them to murder for
a quart of rice, to kill whole boat
crews in order to gain possession Of
few dollars.
Piracy has been practically driven
off the rivers of China but with the
floods it has reappeared. Merchants
who were driven from the small will
ages around Tung Ting lake, sought
to save their stocks of goods by load.
ing them on small boats for transpor-
tatiOn across the lake to higher
ground. AS soon as they started to
cross the lake, pirates were encounter
ed, who took possession of the boats
and goods, after killing all the men,
bers of the crew. Starving refugees
constantly joined the ranks of the
pirates until now they exist in such
numbers that none of the small craft
Of that section dare oppose them. With
the usual Chinese instinct for organ1-
cation, the pirates have already form
ed two guilds, one Of which sails un-
der red flag and the other under a
black flag. Several serious fights
have taken place between them in
which a number on each side were
killed.
One of the native papers prints a
who turned theief because of the
flood. The native paper tells the
story as follows:
MANY of the flood refugees in the
western part of the Hanchuen district
have become thieves. One of them,
Fang Chu, acted as spy for band Of
thieves in the daytime and at night
was their companion. Many people
were robbed and they hated the rob-
bers bitterly. Recently Fang Chu
guided the robbers to the home of Su
some clothes and about $40 in cash. A
few days later Su Shun Chang arrest
ed Fang Chu, beat him severely and
handed him over to the officials of his
own clan. The elders of the clan held
q meeting and decided to take Fang
Chu before the Hanyang magistrate
for punishment as he had brought in
fanny upon his clan. But an uncle of
the boy was violently enraged at him
and decided to put him to death in
spite of the plans of other relatives.
Knowing that his uncle was very OBJ
stinate the rest of the family let him
have his way. He bound Fang Chu
fast and carried him away to the open
country to spot where he had dug a
grave. He threw his prisoner into the
hole and filled it up, never needing the
prayers and lamentations which came
from the mans lips"
With the exception of Changteh, no
large city has been damaged by the
flood. Changteh, which has popula-
ton Of about 100000 is under eight
feet of water. Many towns with a
population of $4,000 are under water
Hankow, the commercial center of
China, is in the center of the flooded
district, but it has escaped serious
damage. The Yangtse rose high
enough to overflow the Bund and fill
the lower streets in the foreign set
Element to depth Of several feet, but
the water was soon pumped out.