Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1896 — PIRACY STILL EXISTS. [ARTICLE]

PIRACY STILL EXISTS.

In the Chinese Seas the Old Trade Has Many Followers. In the Malay Peninsula piracy has decreased considerably since the ex pc, ditlon of twenty years ago, but Perak, Sanlangore and Uamliow still distinguish themselves now and again by a little undisguised business of this kind. In China the two great hot Ikmls of buccaneers are the places which have been celebrated In this direction for centuries—Amoy and Canton. The Amoy i>eopie proper, who speak the Amoy dialed; and live in the walled city, are very’ quiet, peaceable and orderly and have a pronounced antli*atliy for lighting, whether on sea or shore. But back of Amoy is the mounts nous district of Tongan. It Is connected with the ocean by many arms of the sea. Its soil is sterile and Its resources are very few; its people, like nil mountniners, arc thin, muscular, brave and resolute. Even to-day they preserve ti semi-indopendemoe of a military nature. Tbsse are the gentlemen who make' their living by piracy. They and the men of Canton have learned wisdom by experience. They wo longer cruise the wide seas, attacking any craft that may come along. There are too many gunboats patrolling the coast—too many rifled guns and too many yard arms. Daw and order, in the past halfeentury, have shot, hanged, drowned, blown up or burned at least 100,000 followers of the “black flag.” To-day the work Is done u]K>n a smaller, but a far shrewder and safer, basis. They keep spies at various places in their ueighlK>rbood,who report to headquarters whenever some junk 1b about to leave that lias a rich cargo or carries a large amount of money. Along with this goes the Information of who commands the bout, how large a crew it carries and how it is armed. The pirates then plan to Intercept the craft in some river or arm of the sea, or else in some shoal water near the coast, where there is no chance of meeting a gun!>oat, and where, after the robbery, they will have a safe means of escape. Their calculations are carefully made hut come out right only once iu four or five times. It nmy be that a foreign or Chinese gunboat suddenly appears upon the scene. It may lie that the Junk they are after goes past their rendezvous with a European steamer or a river launch, or mayhap the prospective victim Is delayed by adverse winds and tides, and so does not appear at the time and place figured upon. When they do make a capture they are not so brutal and cruel as in the old years. For the rest, any one who knows China and the Chinese will not need ttt be told that the booty is easily disposed of without risks or questions asked.— Pall Mall Gazette.