Show NOTES FROM THE ORIENT Hai phong and hanoi papers give details of the ransom of victor and henry roque baptiste costa and their Auti amite servant from the touquin bouquin pirates M brif faud french resident and father accompanied by an escort of ten french marines left dong trieu with the ransom agreed on on march ath early in the morning and arrive about 9 am within a short distance of the brigands brigande bri gands encampment camp ment halt was called about meters from the camp at a place where a bambo post had bud been erected on which was inscribed certain words the translation of which is the french soldiers must stop here mr Brif faud entered into communication ni with the brigand chief luu ky and endeavored to persuade him to permit the exchange of the captives and the ransom to take place near the t post t where the escort w was as luu ty ky ah however however knowing that he be was master of the situation would not listen to this proposal he insisted that the exchange be made near the foot of the mountain at a spot half way between his camp and the post M Brif brillaud Bri flaud faud had to yield leaving the soldiers he and father advanced quite unprotected to meet a lieutenant and the men selected by luu ky to examine the ransom al along with whom wax was henry boque this lieutenant whose name is given as ning or nen was scrupulously minute in his bis examination the ransom consisted of five chests containing silver dollars and of pieces of silk and twelve watches the contents of some of the chests had to be counted two or thre times before ning was satisfied re we took exception to the silk declaring that it was not fine eno enough being assured that the silk was the best beat that could be obtained at Hai phong at short notice be finally after giving a good leal deal of trouble accepted the ransom the other captives victor roque boque costa and the Anu amite boy were then taen brought forward and along with henri roque boque were formally handed over to M Brif faud the europeans returned to their escort and left at once for dong trieu which was reached about pm luu ky and his men made for the mountains with the ransom and doubtless were not long in gaining the frontier while the for the ransom were going on the french resident and the missionary who ac companied companies compa nied him were entirely at the mercy of the brigands brigande bri gands they were out of sight of their escort ana round about them were jlius ays men about in number kneeling with their rifles at their feet ready to fire at the least signal the brigand chief who is said to be a young man not over 20 years old and his lieutenant who appeared somewhat older maintained throughout a haughty and insolent In manner allner dictating terms as a conqueror to the conquered roque boque and party arrived at Hai phong in the small steamer lagnes about 9 the same evening they did not appear to be much the worse for the long weeks of painful anxiety and rough treatment although their hands still retained the of the manacles maracles man acles during their captivity they were prevented for a whole month from using their arms being fed like children by their boy the fate of the chinese compra dore wing fat cheong remains in doubt government buildings seem to be particularly particular aimed d at b by Y singapore burglars some time ago the chinese protectorate offices were broken into then recently we had a baig lary in the jail attended with the loss of money and other valuables to the amount of and now we hear says the straits times of the ath inet dinst that hut night thieves got into the police offices burst open an al alme metrah irah and carried off a cash box containing about 52 in cash and some valuable papers the box belonged to the coroners clerk and it is thought from the general circumstances cum stances surrounding the me case that the robbery bad been committed by some person or persons well a ORgain acquainted ted with the routine of the office e t the number of large fires in japan during the last few months have been re remarkable the japan gazette zette in referring to the matter says on march we reported the burning of nearly houses at almori and now we have to cle the destruction of over dwell ing houses a tax collectors office and a hospital at hoshiro machi yama moto gun akita ken and of over dwelling houses one police detachment office a town hall and postmen post Mee at dimuro Mir nuro arava mu mura ra luand higashi araya mura rami kami gun in toy ama ken in the latter case the for six hours the american ship glendon went ashore on march near cape sagami am and was a total loss although part of her cago cage of oil from new york was saved the omaha went to her assistance but returned on finding that nothing could be done to get the etsel off the glendon was last reported with her back broken and mainmast gone through her bottom from a native paper we learn that it has at last beet definitely decided to establish the proposed telephone exchange for tokio and yokohama and that it is to be opened not later than may lat afterward it is contemplated tem plated extending the service to kyoto osaka and kobe |