Milford chronicle., 1911-05-12
CHINESE REBELS
TAKE FIVE TOWNS
Half Of KWangtung Province
Given Over to Anarchy.
DEAD LIE IN CITY STREETS
Canton Highways Are Red With BLOOD
and Hundreds Have Been Slain.
Troops Are Powerless.

Rebellion, brigandage and anarchy
are laying waste the western half Of
the province OF Kwang Tung, China.
The troops loyal to the government are
fighting desperately to crush the up.
rising, the seriousness of which is re
vealed in further dispatches from
Canton. Five towns have fallen before
the Iebels and have been pillaged.
Wa SUM- who has adopted the dress
of western countries. is the leader Of
the revolt against the Manchu dynas-
ty. The brgand chief, LUX. Of Shun-
TAX, is at the head of a no de of out
laws, whose object is robbery and
murder Following the standards Of
these two men are anarchist groups, to
whose purpose the present outbreak
lends itself most adyantageously.
These combined forces have thrown
themselves with fanatical disregard Of
their own lives against the troops, and
since the first outbreak Thursday
night much blood has been shed. Sc
dition is rite among certain of the
troops. and il is feared that the dis
affected soldiers will desert their Off
GERS if the reyOlters appear to have
the upper hand.
Official adVices and the refugees ar
rivlng from Canton confirm the sinis-
ter reports. Bodies Of the slain lie in
the streets of the city. Famine prices
are asked for foodstuffs. and the shops
generally are closed In the panic
there have been few attempts to bury
the dead
The revolters have Withdrawn to
great extent from Canton and are de-
vastating the country to the west
along the West river Before falling
back they fought the troops from
street to street, many persons being
killed. They attacked the provisional
arsenal and, being repulsed, gathered
in an immense rice store, which they
barricaded with bags of rice. From
the building they threw bombs into the
attacking troops and were only dis
lodged when the building was set on
fire. Many of the revolters escaped,
but thirty or more died in the flames,
while others killed themselves to avoid
capture.
While the fighting was progressing
in the streets. Chinese gunboats pai
trolling the West river fired into sew
eral parties of rebels. slaugntering 200
of them. Retreating to the country
side the reyomtionaries attacked and
captured Sam Shut. thirty miles west
of Canton, and murdered the prefect
The troops were put to fight and the
rebels moved on to Wen Chow and
Woo Chow, both of which towns they
took after slight resistance. Luks bri
gands, following in their wake, looted
the shops Of the three towns.
The triumphant sweep of the revO
lutionaries continued westward along
the West river. and reports from that
district say that the movement is
spreading and that the revolutionaries
are numbering and pillaging in other
places.
The revolutionists are cutting the
telegraph wires throughout the scene
of their operations, and communica
tion between Canton with points tc
the north and west is generally inter
'rupted. Traffic ON the Chinese section
of the railway leading north from Can
ton has been suspended
A report that Shamien, the foreign
concession above Canton, had been
invaded lacks confirmation. The. Amer
ican gunboat Wilmington has the
place under her guns.