THE PLAGUE SCOURGE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3167, 13 March 1911, Page 5

THE PLAGUE SCOURGE.

PLAGUE RAVAGES IN CHINA. . MANCHURIA'S POPULATION REDUCED BY A THIRD. Professor Beckmann, of Vienna, who has just returned to Russia from Manchuria, declares that the ravages of the plague have Ben so great that whole have been swept away. In some places not a survivor has been left. The epidemic, says Professor Beckmann, will reduce the population by one-third. FAMISHED NATIVES. CATS AND DOGS FOR FOOD. A relief worker, who has reached Shanghai from the interior, reports that 3000 people are dying daily from starvation. The famished natives everywhere are killin- dogs and cats for food. AWFUL VENCEANCE. 500 RAIDERS BURNED TO DEATH. A grim tragedy is. reported from Ivuashan, a wailed village within 50 miles of Shanghai. The village was invaded by a band of 500 refugees from the famine-stricken districts, who raided all the stores and looted them of everything eatable. For two whole days the famished refugees held possession of the place, and kept up the ransacking process, killing aill who made any resistance to their plundering operations. At. the end of that time the villagers banded together and prepared to deal it out to the invaders. A desperate fight took place, and the villagers eventually gained the upper hand. Seme horrible scenes were witnessed, but nothing exceeded the grim callousness with which the villagers set about punishing the raiders. The latter were all surrounded in a wattle compound, which was set on fire, and the whole of the refugees were slowly roasted to death. TWO HUNDRED DEATHS DAILY. BREAD RIOTS IN THE INFECTED DISTRICTS. Two hundred deaths from the plague are occurring daily at Chaulintze, 50 miles from Harbin, Manchuria. The epidemic is raging also at Kirin and Hulanclio and Bodune. Bread riots are taking place throughout the infected districts, and the foreign consuls are preparing to take their departure. Troops have refused to go to those places in which the plague is raging with the greatest virulence, and martial law has been proclaimed. The Chinese have reprimanded the Manchurian authorities for their lackadaisical methods. Tlie vernacular press fears a recrudescence of the Boxer troubles. Several Japanese who were endeavoring to enforce precautions against the spread of the plague have been lulled in a pitched battle near Mukden.