The Alaska citizen., 1916-09-11
BY THE REV. G. G. BRUCE

on the floor, and they occasionally grabbed it, but cautioned them that it would burn and they let it alone In the cargo was a hamper of foreign medicine in small bot ties which they were continually opening, but warned them that it was probably poisonous, and they dropped them No one had been killed or severely wounded, I fixed up one of the crew and one or two robbers There was one native wo- man aboard who, after being strip ped of all her valuables was left alone.
 During this time the launch that captured us and our own launch were towing Us to the coast. and We were eventually taken to Tau moon, which is quite near to our customary route of travel to Can ton Here they robbed and cursed during the rest of the night. When day broke a lot of the local coun- try people came in boats and bought the rice which was all unlOaded within the next twenty four hours. In addition there was lot of flour and. have since heard, about $30- 900 worth of opium. In all they estimate a loss of about $S0,000 which is a large sum for Yeung Kong.
 It was fierCely hot, and as l was not permitted to move about, l simply lay in my bunk, three feet below the hot roof and perspired Among the passengers was the son of the chief magistrate of Yeung Kong. The young man, Iunanese, can speak very little of the local dialects. The robbers found some visiting cards of a detective in this young mans baggage. so they said, shooting him. I plead with them for his life, and after a great deal of acrimonious discussion they agreed to further inquire as to his identity before they settled with him. Of course you understand that these pirates always kidnap the pas sengers, holding them for ransom; in order to eXtort large sums a wet withe of bamboo is often tied tight ly around the head or abdomen, and shrinking causes exquisite tor ture. I hear they want $1O,0O0 for the son of our magistrate.
 Another young man, who has d part interest in the largest native drug store in Yeung Kong, dis guised himself as a coolie and came to me seeking a job as my servant. I willingly engaged him as a ser want, and he took up his abode i'll my room. He rolled up his trous- CTS, stripped himself to the waist, and bound up several dollars in sil- yer in a towel which he tied around his neck The robbers did not dis cover him. and he went free. Other passengers, when they saw that the robbers did not molest me, threw watches, money and gold fobs into my bunk, the magistrates son giv- ing me a draft for $3,600. All the passengers and chief men of the boat were put in a launch and taken away The next morning at dawn the robbers lowed our junk out in the bay about three or four miles and dropped the tow rope. The junk originally had two sails, but now. only having the foresail, it could only go with the wind There was nothing for us to do but try to TOW the big junk to the mouth of the river which comes down from Kongmoon The tide was with us, and there was no wind, so, hay ing no oars nor small boat, We, a crew of twenty-five and myself, took long blanks and rigged rope loops on the sides of the junk and pulled for the shore This vessel is over one hundred feet long by twenty five feet wide, and draws about seven feet of water. It was slow hot, blstering work, but we grad ually saw the shore line more dis tinctly and eventually sometime be fore noon cast anchor at the de serted customs station. Here we hoped to engage tow which was said to pass every day, but which we afterward found out was not running
 We had no more come to anchor than a bullet whistled over us, and another and another Some struck the water near us. We managed to entice a small boat out from the opposite shore We had no boat of our own, and two of the crew went to call help if they could fine any. They did not return, Wher the little boat left the shots begar and several came dangerously neal as it drew away from us. The shooting was from another gang O. robbers, whom we soon saw pad ding out in two boat loads whict came up on either side of us a