“White Wolf.”

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 13, 6 May 1914, Page 2

“White Wolf.”

ATROCITIES IN CHINA. CITIES SACKED AND BURNED. THOUSANDS OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN KILLED. Peking, March 24. A stream of blood, a wide swathe of smouldering embers, a string of ruined cities, bathed with the tears of thousands of ruined maids and women, are being left in the wake of the fastmoving brigands commanded by the ,uow notorious “White Wolf,” a more brutal, bloodthirsty band than any that has menaced China since the days of the Terrible Taipings. “White Wolf” is no stranger to the Chinese, though he has not risen to wide-world notoriety till recent months. He has long been a terror in the region of north Hupeh and south Shansi, mostly confining his attentions to robbery under arms and the holding-up of Chinese villages remote from railway communication and garrisons of troops, not murdering for pleasure, but killing when necessary to obtain the wherewithal for bis band to live and enjoy life. Troops that have been sent against him in the past have Tailed entirely in their campaigns, the mountain paths, the difficult passes, and the local knowledge of the bandits always combining to bring about their discomfiture. The peasants and the townspeople in the region ultimately abandoned attempts to capture the band, and compromised with them by agreeing to pay regular sums for immunity from their ravages. “White Wolf” was the king, whose word was law. Peking had no terrors for him, and meant nothing to the unhappy farmers, who found it much more profitable to pay “White Wolf” to leave them alone than to pay the Government taxes to protect them. Government influence and authority thus lapsed and the brigands were eventually left to act upon their own sweet wills in a large area, the Government being content to permit them to conduct themselves as they would so long as they did not overdo the thing by coming too far east into the regions where their deeds would find chroniclers in the press, and thus bring discredit upon the Government. As with all types of men, so with “White Wolf.” The other worlds which existed to conquer tempted him, and eventually he pushed over his erstwhile boundaries, and, to his delight as much no doubt as to his amazement, he found the Government for-eign-dri lied troops which occasionally encountered him no match for his wild men from the hills. Offered a Position in the Army. Just prior to the last rebellion be acquired muck “face” by an emissary from President Yuan Sbib-kai coming to him with an offer to a high post in the regular army of the Republic. That overture raised him in the respect of his men, made the country people more than ever afraid of him. and generally enhanced his prestige.h also puffed his pride to such an extent that he declared himself against Peking, against Republicanism, and against constitutionalism. In a “proclamation” which he posted in many towns he set it down that he neither knew nor cared what those things were, and tho only way to teach him was for some force to come out and whip him. That force has not yet been found which has been able to give him the requisite lesson. The rebellion and the consequent unsettled state of the country brought recruits to the ranks, as well as additional arms and ammunition, and no persuasion ■ was needed to set him afoot with his motley followers to ravage where lie could. Ho left the fastnesses of the mountains and started off towards tho oast, the Government not being seriously mindful of the danger which was arising until township after township was reported looted or burned, and the whole countryside became alarmed, and either fled before the brutality of the band or were killed or wounded ip their tracks. Government troops were despatched to centres to anticipate the march of the brigands, but awoke some days later to find that the ravaging was going on long distances in their rear. “White Wolf” crossed the Peking-Hankow railway, with the Government warned of his coming, but the troops were unable to encounter him. He burned village and town, wiped homesteads out, massacred inhabitants without lot or hindrance, and when tho newspapers began to report the terrible bloodletting, raping, and burning, then the Government awoke to a sense of its responsibilities. An army of from .‘IO,OOO to 40,000 troops were sent out fully equipped for war. They are alleged to have hemmed “White Wolf” and his followers in tho Anhui Mountains; florid reports of desperate battles poured into Peking; telegrams chronicled the 1 daily slaughter of hundreds of brigands, and eventually the generals in command announced that the end was about to arrive; “White Wolf” and bis bandits were tightly held, and the gallant troops were about to descend upon them and wipe them from the face of (lie earth. A battle was fought—despatches arrived in Peking declaring the break-up of the desperadoes. and the country was told to be at peace—-the soldiers bad triumphed ! The Lust for Blood. One day later telegrams arrived from a different section of the country, announcing the sacking and burning of another city. “White Wolf,” far from being cornered, was more alive than ever. He turned westwards again, recroased the railway again,

and proceeded back to his fastnesses. Peasants were pressed into the service of his men to carry the loot they had collected. If they faltered they were shot dead in their tracks. Blood lust dominated the brigands, and tliey shot countrymen for sport. It is estimated that every girl and woman in the line of march was ravished, villages and farm-houses burned, and the utmost brutalities were practised. . What happened in one or two centres (will sufiiiee to show the methods of jthese bloodthirsty men. At the walled j city of Kuangchow they were expected for many days, and the brave among the 100,000 inhabitants mounted the walls, armed with.knives and cudgels, jto keep a look-out for an advancing horde. The inhabitants paid little at(tention to the people who entered the agates, but lead they done so it is probable they would have discovered spies of the “Wolf.” Hundreds poured into the city disguised as farmers, and many mounted the walls to help the citizens discover the first coining of the brigands. A signal from the distance showed Wem that the leader and bis followers were arriving, and in compliance with an arranged signal the brigands within commenced tiring on the populace when the brigands without opened their attack. The gates of the city were thus kept open, and resistance was useless, the bravest of the citizens having been killed before they knew where they were. Terror-Stricken People Commit Suicide As “White Wolf” approached the rates the cry went up, “Old White Wolf is in. He is going to kill the rich and save the poor. All keep indoors, and yon will be safe.” '1 he wealthy donned ragged clothes and sped to the houses of the poor, women and girls, terror-stricken, crept beneath beds, hid under straw and farm produce, or ran to commit suicide in wells or waterboles. In the wild pandemonium of the firing in the city and the screaming of the lleeing people, the bandits arrived from without, firing on all who ran, killing all who carried even a stick, or who wore fur or silk clothes, or who locked their doors, or who looked like soldiers. Over 1000 were killed within i few hours; all shops were looted of everything valuable, houses were ransacked, and the valuables were placed upon the hacks of their owners, who were compelled with a rifle to carry them. Women and girls of all ages were ravished, or killed for resisting. Awfui Tale of Woe. A missionary, writing of tire scene, says:—“Brigands entered one house, winging.with them a dozen or so of voting women, who were to do their sewing, ■lung to her mother, and because she would uotgstop crying lybrigand wan- ; only silenced her with’ a bullet. They aughed and joked, dressed up in women’s clothes, kept the family cooking or them, and grumbled at everything ,’ney got—and then burned the house is a reward and a punishment.” The brigands seemed to want guns and ammunition more than anything •Ise. If silver wore £*ot produced, t hey merely shot down ,the people. ash and notes were' flung out of the Tor, and if one helped himself to too much a trigger was pulled, and the non fell dead. A boy bandit of 14 ’ailed many people in the streets. One

Id citizen who had been defending he wall, was returning home, Ids mg knife in his hand, “Drop that mire,” called the boy. The man reused, and a second later he was

lead. The boy thus killed right and oft. One old man was fired at and oil wounded. His groans were silenced with bricks, but he still lives. The Mayor of the city hid beneath straw under which a boy already was hiding. Brigands shot into the straw, killed (lie youth, but missed the father of the ■ity. He crawled out, donned poorrags, and stood as a gatekeeper, thus escaping to write a poem of warning on the event. Shangcheng city was also sacked, the houses looted, the women assault'd. The magistrate, the highest official, was climbing over the wall when the bandits captured him. He pleaded that he was a schoolmaster; Iris fur jacket aroused the suspicions of the brigands, who demanded in, and as lie was taking it off his official seal unhappily slipped out of his pocket. He was hacked to pieces on the spot; kerosene was poured over the remains, and they were burned. Many of the oldest families in the districts traversed by the band were entirely wiped out. At a village near Shangcheng someone was indiscreet enough to fire an old cannon. Every man, woman, and child was killed with the exception of two hoys, who escaped’ to tell the tale. Foreign Missionaries Killed. At the city of Laoholow, the brigands repeated what they had done in dozens of other cities, hut in addition killed and molested foreign missionaries. They attacked the city after midnight, burned houses on the outside of the walls, and either so scared the garrison or had a previous arrangement with it that the gates were opened for them. Colonel (’boa, in charge of the troops, fled, casting off his top hoots in the street, and calling to the people that each man must care for himself. The missions wore besieged with the terrorised populace, the screaming and noise of the firing and murdering and burning being heart-rending. At the mission hospital the brigands fired at the entrance, accosted Dr. Eroyland, Mr Holland, and .Miss Tstad, and demanded rifles and ammunition. On being told that the foreigners had no weapons the brigands demanded watches, and silver, and possessions of this kind were freely handed over. Mr Sama came from the house hoping to got the bandits to release (he oilier

three missionaries, but he was shot down for his paius, and his associates were prevented iroui assisting him. Taken into the streets, the throe missionaries wore met by large numbers of brigands, who cried out, “Foreign devils, foreign dogs,” and pointed rifles at them threateningly, but they were allowed to pass, still being hold prisoners by oilier bandits. Later Mr Holland was requested to doctor a wounded brigand, and ho became separated from Dr. Froyland and Miss Istad. He was kept at the brigands’ headquarters, where loot was being carried all through the night, the brigands, as they came in, recounting with glee the horrible orgies in which they had partaken. Without any notice, the brigands left Mr Holland next morning, and ho returned to the hospital. Dr. Froyland and Miss Istud had also been requested to look alter wounded brigands at another place, and Dr. Froyland was busy with such work when he was accosted by a brigand, who asked who he was. In reply to the statement that ho was a doctor the brigand retorted, “You a doctor?” and shot him dead. Mr Same, though lying in bod wounded, was threatened by several brigands, as also was Mrs Sama. Other missionaries had narrow escapes, but all eventually got away, having lost all their valuables, and drifted down the river to safety, with the blazing city behind them. Since these escapades “White Wolf” has burned many other towns and devastated a wide area oi country, and a few days ago it was reported in the capital that he had audaciously sent a telegram to the President saying that ho would soon be at Sian-fu, the capital of Shansi province. The troops in that city have been sent out to ‘•‘destroy” the bandits “for good and all,” and a sceptical foreign population in China is waiting to soe. Meantime other brigands, noting tho success of “White Wolf,” and the ignominious failures of Government troops to catch him, are making sorties from their haunts which threaten to develop into bloody marches such as that which the “Wolf” is now upon. As the Government troops are powerless to arrest the activities of one brigand with courage, what will happen if several come out and combine? It is recognised here that the situation is serious, and if the Government is unable shortly to rid the country of “White Wolf” and his kind, foreign nations may be compelled to step in and do tho work for them. The Minister for War has been conducting operations against tho “White Wolf,” and he. gains no feathers For his cap as a result of tho “campaign.” \