Show THE FORMOSA the rebels now completely routed charge of cruelty made against the japs it t conies from chinese sources SAM aug july sl the second insurrection in formosa is now practically over it commenced on the ot june in the center of the southern part of the island finding japanese totally unprepared and being moreover reinforced oy malcontents from the plains the insurgents achieved considerable success at first capturing cap turine beveral email towns and driving out the japanese garrisons but immediately on receipt of this intelligence at headquarters troops were dispatched southward and by july ath the japanese were ablo to assume the offensive after that the insurgents were eoon chased from the field and by the 20 of the month all positions were recaptured up to the date of latest advises advices ad vices the japanese casualties to 51 billed and 73 injured the remnants of the rebels fled to the hills aa attempt is being made by the in formosa to convict their conquerors of the most terrible brutalities and and to broye that this insurrection owed its origin entirely to the unbearable cruelties of the japanese we are without foreign testimony as to what really happened only two foreigners were in the disturbed districts of these one mr oilia ot the firm of A co was speared by the rebel the other mr patel of a co barely escaped with his life from a town ared by the insurgents every story cir 1 as to the doings of the japanese comes therefore from a chinese source is a fact in itself sufficient to vitiate the information precisely similar tales were invented by the chinese during tha insurrection last january but the region of disturbance being in the north of the island and therefore within range of foreign observation testimony wae eoon forthcoming to establish the complete falsehood of the charges the chinese account is embellished with many details of incredible cruelty but the main outlines ot the atory ia that on no stronger provo calon than that two burglaries were committed in tau lak by a gang ot robbers the japanese decapitated fifty innocent men and then commenced a campaign of wholesale destruction thirty five soldiers eol diers in the space of four days performing the miraculous ra feat of burning over seventy villages and butchering all their inhabitants it should be observed loo that not alone are impossibilities of that kind gravely related but that the various chinese versions of japanese doings abound with contradictions and obvious absurdities this is an unfortunate year for japan in addition to the block in the silk trade i a serious affair for her business nan two insurrections in formosa a seismic wave that killed people and very unseasonable weather at the time of planting out the young rice a great part of the island wa swept by a bevere lenorm of wind and rain between the band of july altogether something like houses were flooded about people lost their lives fifty abridges were washed away thousands I 1 of acres of arable land were laid waste deriver embankments were breached in in numerable places and several railroad 1 tracks were seriously damaged how i ever already the people have recovered their and the price of rice forced by speculation nd climatic perils to an unparalleled height has dropped to a normal figure the struggle tor railway concessions in corea 53 attracting much attention an american company was first in alie field it obtained a charter for the se line they followed the french backed by russian influence they are eald to have persuaded the corean government covern ment to grant them the privilege of building lines from seoul to cju on the und from seoul to Ven the northeastern coast |