WHO IS WHITE WOLF?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 12, 2 June 1914, Page 3

WHO IS WHITE WOLF?

j A MAN WHO DEFIES CHINA

Seven months ae.o White Wolf. lh» famous brigand of lloiihu, was just a eomrnon nuisance, To-day the question of Ids capture or destruction is beyond all dispute tlhe most urgent that confronts China.

In this country of vast populatloil. Scanty employment and corrupt government brigftiv; 1 in epMii'mii'. Thv. onor moufl (majority of the people depend Upon agriculture, but t lit; fields are not large enough to provide for nil. Trade, industry and marine employment provide for but a fraction of (lie surplus. The rest must depend on casual labor, and the transition from this to outlawry, salt smuggling. 01* piracy on the inland waterways, is short and easy.

I During ihe. revolution thousands of | those, characters enlisted. The I rebels were scattered to the open counj try, but this time they were provided I "with good nimluni -rifles and ammunition. Of the Government troops as many as possible have been paid off and turned adrift. No consideration was taken of the fact that t.hey had neither resources nor trade and that tliey were frequently far from their homes. Brigandage claimed Ohein as the' only possible means of making a living. White Wolf, or IV'i l.aiig, to give him his Chinese name, comes of a decent Ilonan family, and jmssed through a military college, graduating fourth on the list. Last year he sided with the rebels, but since last July ho has been operating entirely, on his own account, as many mined cities tell.

At first the Government seems to liave [ underestimated his importance. The old trick wae tried of offering him a* official post. White Wolf refused, and the Government in a very leisurely manlier resigned itself to capturing him. ITp to the end of last year White Wolf was kept busy with the cities of the Honan-Hepeh border. About Christmas lie began to move eastwards, zig-z:>gging •across Southern Hoiian into Anhuri, where the devastating march culminated in the appalling sack of Liminchow. It was here thai Father "Rich, the French Jesuit, was murdered.

| FIENDISH FOLLOWERS. White Wolf has no quarrel with foreigners. He is described as siuive and Courteous, and he expressed deep regret at Father Rich's death. But his men are flew 31 In « rorcnt civ-iag-emont. with the Government troops they'are said to have fastened girls on ponies, with tins of burning kerosene tied to their shoulders, and driven them against their opponents. Nothing like the destruction wrought at Liuaiicliow has been seen since "Nanking won racked by the Tai pings fifty years ago.

Humour attributes to White A\\>W 30.000 followers. Probably he has not more than -li.lMI <ir S(KM> :tt the outside. They are agile, and the troops against them aiv' s.'hw and clumsy. None the less they ought to have, been suppressed months. ago but for the culpable slackness of Chang Cheng-fang, Tutuh of Ifonan. The Chinese openly declare that Chang received a percentage'from White Wolf, but that as he, Chang, is a brother in law of Yuan Shih-kai (say the Chinese), no redress can be expected. Mark the sequel. After the sack of Luianehow, Chang was cashiered and Titan Ohih-jtti, Minister of War, was appointed with as many followers as he pleased (it is said he ha* 40 000 now in the field)- to cateh White Wolf, whose continued depredations arc. seriously affecting China's cicdit in the eyes of the Powers-. Put three weeks later another mandate appw-mt. the purport of which was to give Chang another chance, and to retain him in joint command with Titan. —From the Daily News.