Huang: Houtzes, the
V
!
CHTNTCSB ROWrRRR AT PFPOT.
(Copyright. 1909. by Frank O. Carpentaria, man who represents a large organlza
(Speclal Correspondence to The Bee.) tlon of British and Japuncse capitalists.
HIN-CHOU. Manchuria, 1900. I He Is opening up a gold region In the
I 1 have been riding all day on th. Klrln province and has to send his sup-
I C I railroad with armed guards at plies to the mining oamps across country.
1 1 hnlh mnAu nf mv tr "Wm Vi nil
" '
a company of soldier In the
iliird-class compartment next to
,iue and every station was guarded, brigands to go along In person. He did
'iii-r n been a recent outbreak of Uie thl, wltn two English mining engineers
liuantf Houtzes. They have been holding whom h. ,ent forward last week. Said he:
up trains in the various parts of Mau- ..bey mltbt hftv Botten througo aIl
churla. and just the other day they robbed rUnt vltn Huang HouUe flags on their
the express under the very shadow of Uie utt outlld th, orcanlia.
. city of Harbin and captured moOQO. Even Uon of br1jriuidlli ther ar. bttD(J,
I here, in the south, the trains are not of robbv, who atUlck th,m 8ucn
afe. and they all have soldiers upon them. m,a not dar t an
Th. first thing on. sees on his arrival by ft Huanl HouU... fop ,f th
t rery depot 1. a squad of Chon sol- would fc fc
dlers carrying Mauser rifles. They Una
themselves up In front of th. train and Ko.ntedltiobfcera.
auad to attention untU It pulU out. n Huang HouUe9 M wel, mounted.
Taarega tHsteimrU. They have Cb lease ponies, which can go
These guards are a necessity on account thirty miles a day without tiring, and can
of the Huang Houtses. who form, perhaps Pushed to twloe that. Th. ponies ar.
th. most wonderful organisation of brig- Broomed and ar. .xceedlugly dirty,
ands ever known. They might be called th. Tna bandiu carry nothing with them but
Taurega of Manchuria, for they surpass In tbelr arms, except a long fur coat, which
number and daring the veiled, camel- they wear In th. winter, and a quilt folded
mounted bandits of the Babara. They hav. over their saddles. They have modern
rapidly Increased sine, the Boxer uprising guns and are armed with revolvers. Th.
and especially sine th. Japan-Russian majority carry Mauser rifles or big bore
war. They now number over 200.000, and Winchesters. Some hav. Russian pistols,
their agents ar. to be found In .vary and many have Japanese weapons which
city and village. They hav. a regular toll th.y hav. collected from the battlefields
which they collect on all travelers outside or hav. gotten hold of In some way or
th. railroads, and every Chines, paasen- other during th. war. Their ammunition
ger who goes over Manchuria on foot. In is of European mak. and soma of them
a cart, or on horseback, must pay tribute hav. cartridges of smokeless powder. Dur
to them. They have fixed charges as to iDg the China-Japan war they bought or
goods In traiiBlt, and the carta carrying ,toia a quantity of rifles from the run
freight are marked with little printed flags fcway Chinese soldiers, and got additional
with red borders furnished by them, ypon arm, , 190o, when th. arsenals of North
th. flags are printed Chinese characters, china were looted and the arms distributed
certifying that the owner has' paid his toll. gTtlt by th. officials. They hav. cap
and that the vehicle and drivers ar. not tured om gunB from th, RuBBan8'durlng
to be molested. Otherwise the man is sur. t, )a,t (ew year, an(, they hav,
to be robbed and his men may be killed. ft ,plen(111 .quipraonU
A few months ago on the earn, day 100
carts started out from Mukden. Of these OrsIitlos
all but two had paid their toll and bor. . ,. . .. . " .
.. . ., , . . I am told that these bandits hav. ex-
Huang Houtze flags. Th. men and goods . . ., . . .
in th" cart, so flagged completed their tat " n otlon for ages, but
journey in safety; but th. others, who that th have nevw 0880 S8olte
had refused to pay th. toll, were attacked together as now. Their resorts have been
by the bandits before they had gone thtr- th. mountainous regions of Mongolia and
teen miles from the city. Th. goods w.r. Manchuria, from where they hav. gone
tolon and their drivers wer. killed. down regularly to prey upon the people
during my stay In Mukden, I talked of the lowlands. The words Huang
with th. agent of a big mining concession, Houtx. mean red beards. It la said that
Dead Old
AND around Omaha la capable
LI of producing appi. or as nn.
I quality as can b. grown any
I . w Tkl. I. .hitnilintlv Am-
onstrated In th. Park View or
chard, at Fort Calhoun, Wash
ington county, sixteen mile, north of
Omaha. Th. Park View orchard la a re
suscitated orchard of twenty-two acres,
owned by I. Sibbersen of Omaha, who
bought It three years ago as m summer
home. The trees of the orchard had up to
this time been permitted to Struggle along
as best they could, and th. entire orchard
was ln a dilapidated condition generally.
Many of th. trees wer. broken down, and
but few of them bor. any fruit at all. and
that of a scrawny, stunted variety.
Air. bMbbersen, being of a practical turn
.Of
"J14JD OF TUS
i
H
u w. . . . .
t mi iiv uki iiui aivut vul vtiri
without such protection, and that in lm-
portant cases he usually employs one of the
Orchard
of mind and a xnowledge of fruit capa
bilities, saw at once that the location of
th. orchard was an ideal one, with east,
west and north, slop, and that th. trouble
with th. trees did not 11. so much with
generio barrenness aa with neglect. Mr.
Sibbersen went to work at one. to' hav.
th. tree, trimmed up, the decayed trees
removed and to give th. orohard a chance.
Th. orchard responded at once. The trees
began to brighten up. The process of spray
ing was adopted and the first year of Mr.
KibbertMn'. ownership of th. orchard, from
a product of practically nothing fur some
years previous, about thirty bushels of ex
cellent apples were produced; but the chief
featur. was th. brightening up of th. trees
and their manifest willingness to respond
to cara.
T"
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ORCHARD."
Touaregs
thse outlaws sometimes dye their hair mounted Huang Houtzes. They robbed her help: and some British officers and a rem
ind beards red, and that thus decorated of all her belongings. Including even ber pany of East Indian troops were sent
their names become synonymous with shoes and stockings, leaving her barefooted against them. This company was the
the devil tn the minds nf the nnrthern and bareheaded by the roadside. She had Fourth Punjab Infantry. It found the
Chinese. I understand that each band
has one chief, with several minor chlrfu,
wh. form his bodyguard. There are
about fifty of these head men in a band.
and each has ten or twenty brigands
under him. the whole making a gang of
1,000 or more. Such a band will take
charge of a certain part of the country,
similar bands being located In other
regions. Th. brigands have a system of
mrrcommunicauon oy wn.cn mey can
combine and by wh.ch the guarantee of on.
....
Every band has Its secret agents in
the locality where It operates. These men
know all about th. business of the towns
and villages. They notify th. bandits
what cargoes of goods are to be shipped
and, as far as possible, the wealth and
standing of the shipper. They are said
to keep books. Including the rolls of the
bandits' names and the pay they receive,
as well as the profit of each robbery and
its disposition.
Taxing: the Villages.
The Huang Houtzse are taxing the
villages of Manchuria. The chief of the
band holding th. right to certain terri-
tory keeps track of tho wealth of Its In-
habitants, and he makes almost every
man pay for protection from the Huang
Houtze raids. Villages are taxed as such,
and ln these cases the brigands agree to
keep off other robbers. They gome times
station guards about the towns, and ln
case of attack come to the aid of the
police. In such places the Huang Houtze
agent furnishes the flags to travelers.
mr,A thl. t. Armm. Ill, .U,I.. l 1 .
" "
cities
Take, for Instance. Newchwang, which la
the chief seaport of Manchuria. It has a
Huang Houtze agent who has a regular
offtce wher. anyone may go and buy th.
right to travel over the country. It is only
recently that it has been necessary for
foreigners to have such protection, but now
all people going alone will do well to get
Huang Houtze flags. Just the other day a fight when attacked. It was just after the
young woman, an English girl, who was boxer trouble that 1,400 of them came down
going across the country ln a cart, was through the great wall and advanced to
swooped down upon by a band of fifteen ward the railway. The Chinese asked for
Made New
Th. work of restoring the orchard was
necessarily one of patler.ee and persistence
and the following year ihe trees began
showing a renewed energy, recovering from
th. severe trimming of the previous year
mad. necessary by the decayed and broken
limbs, and while th. product of the
orchard was not large, yet double th.
amount of fruit all of a superior quality,
was harvested In 1908.
Spraying was resorted to again during
that year with most encouraging results.
The trees all showed vigorous, thrifty life
and were getting themselves In readiness
for a bumper crop ln 1909.
Frank Koslowsky, a practical orchard
man, was put ln charge of th. orchard
last year, and given carta blanche to see
what he could do. He la an ardent believer
In the efficacy of spraying and every tree
in the orchard was given Its spray bath
when needed. The bloom of the present
spring showed that the orchard was bent
on making a record, Just simply to demon
strate that eastern Nebraska can do aa
much In the big red apple line aa any other
locality on earth if given half a chance.
The location of the orchard and the vigor
of the resuscitated trees reduced the likeli
hood of winter killing to a minimum and
tbe fruit began forming with a remark
HOW THE
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T1IE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: AUGUST
of Manchuria, and
' " '; '
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COACrTMAIC MAT BE A BRIGAJTD TX DISGUISIT.
onIy
J
Hailroad Holdaps.
In the last few months th. Huang Hout
ses hav. held up several trains on th.
Tranaslberlan railroad and especially on
vnai urancn ui 11 wdivii uuiutiB uuwu
through Manchuria.
I talked last night
with a man who was on a train stopped
nar l-Tnrhln. This Is nnv of the hlirKest
cltlM of northern Manchuria, a large mlli-
tary and .urrounded with Russian
olQler. N.verthele... th. Huang Houtzes
naa arraI,s;ea 10 aucn me car. ana roo
th. passengers. They had twisted the rails
Just above an embankment about twenty
feet high and were waiting on the hills
nearby for th. express to com In the
meantime th. patrolman had discovered the
!nJur3r aon t0 tha track- H ,lrea tn"8
hots- nd tnu warne1 ,n (nln,er
h he train was stopped within about
Illiy leei oi wnere in tkub were urunwu.
Upon the cars was a large guard of Cos-
sacks, who made a demonstration. This
frightened the bandits and they remained
on a neighboring hill while the train
stopped. They watched the railroad men,
guarded by the Cossacks, relay the tracks,
and red a parting volley at them as the
trato pulled away.
Mnansj Hontses and Sepoys.
There bandits will have to be controlled
by the Chinese. Neither the Japanese nor
the Russians will permit a continuation of
the attacks upon their trains. As It Is
now there seems to be a combination be-
tween the Chinese troops and Chinese of-
ficlBlB "nd HuanK Hou,ze"- u la eve"
said, that some of the policemen of the
vll oitaii ar thAmuelvA TTimnr lTmitsea
"- " " '
an(1 that th. officials of the larger cities
are ln alliance with them. Every few
months some soldiers are sent out to pull
them down. They come back, bringing the
heads of what they say wer. Huang Hout-
zea, but which. It is generally believed,
are the heads of coolies, whom they have
killed. Instead.
These brigands ar very daring. They
do not seem afraid of death and they will
and Fruitful Through Proper
able uniformity throughout the orchard.
Spraying was again re.umod and the re
sult is now manifest In the perfected and
perfecting fruit and the production of over
2.0U0 bushels of late summer and early fall
apples, to say nothing of the winter varie
ties. The varieties of apples In the Sibbersen
orchard Include all those best adapted to
this latitude and Include th. Duchess, Red
Astrakan, Wealthy, Wlnesap, Genltan,
Jonathan, Beu Davis and a few other
varieties of summer and early fall apples,
with a few Rutsets, Crabs and Greenings
and others of the winter varieties.
Just at this time th. orchard is a ma-vel
of beauty. Thr. trees look like monstrou
bouquets of flowers with their burdens of
fruit of red, purple and yellow among the
rich healthy green of the leaves. The long
aisles of fiull laden trees are veritable
fairy bowers and the fragrance of the
ripening fruit adds to the beauty of the
scene. So heavily burdened are the tree,
with fruit that the limbs are fairly bent
to the ground. Braces have had to be put
under the heavier laden limbs and with th.
continued growth of the apple, these
braces are bunding under the weight of the
fruit. In spite of the care to preserve
the trees, nwi:y of the large limbs have
TREES IN THE SIBBERSEN ORCHARD BEA-R.
15, 1909.
- I-
brigands In a town about ten miles from
the railway, and fired upon them. They
returned the fire; and at the first volley
Major Browning, who was In command,
was killed and Lieutenant Stirling was
wounded. Several of the Sepoys were also
killed. The firing became general and a
retreat was ordered. The East Indians,
whA a'r nn frtnt m niiruf1 bv th
" 1 . . - "
had great trouble In getting back to the
railroad. The next day a company of ,00
l" " ' ' nf " trv Tim.. tnt out
f nes. lTdie an"d aUacked
the brlBandB, Tney found them In the
8am, vlna(rei and u took four hours of
heavy fighting to drive them out. In these
two engagements the Huang Houtzes lost
mor9 than 800 men. or about one-fifth of
their whole number,
Spies and Slgrnal Fires.
On my way from Mukden to Shan-hal-
Kwan I saw fires blazing on th. moun
tains. Truev were of a peculiar shape.
formn a rln Ilke a horseshoe, and I
wag tol(, that they mght possibly be the
xi..u., u.,t.. Th..,
nin . av. MIn, ..,. KV.,'m that
onco prevallpa ln Korea- Xney communi.
cftta lnteIllgence by flres bullt on tne hIH-
topg By the number aml ghapa 0f ,UCh
fires they tell their fellows what they are
doing and within a short time are able to
send word from one part of Manchuria to
the other. Many of their signal lights are
made of wooden pegs, which are hollowed
out at tho top and filled with a compost-
tlon. Half way down each peg there Is a
hole to which a fuse is attached. When
this is lit the composition biases up, giving
a very bright, round light, which lasts
, , . v. i t. ..
BVerl BUtUHUO. WriO UCII 11U.C1I UlCSlia UI.O
thing, two another and three another, the
number of flashes Indicating the message,
The Huang Houtzes have their spies all
A.i .a.- I. Aiiuntrv ond Ihflr ah start In h sa
magistrate's offices. Your coachman may
be a brigand in disguise. You are not sur.
as to your fellow passengers, and the na-
tlve who says he Is not afraid and boasts
Immunity from the Huang Houtze.
Is pretty sure to De roDoea.
(.
rirates of Manrhorla.
These same men carry on piracy along
broken down under their fruit loads.
As an example of the profliflcness of the
trees, 00 bushels of apples have been
gathered from sixteen trees thusfar this
season, not Including the windfalls. The
picking season is now at Its height, under
Mr. Koslowsky's superintendence. Then
boys are almost constantly employed In th.
work, The apples are picked direct from
the trees, tall ladders being utilized for
the work. Th. apples ars all seleota and
ar. carefully barreled In the orchard and
hauled direct to the railroad station. Most
of the product has thus far been shipped
to a commission house at Blair and thence,
to Minnesota and northern Iowa points.
The average product per tree is about
twenty-five bushels, though some of them
will produce even a greater quantity. Th.
wirdfails will be fed to the hogs, though
some of the better xpectmens will be made
Into elder and vinegar.
A noticeable thing In connection with this
orchard Is the absence of low rrade,
stunted or wormy apples. Over thirty
tiees were examined in various parts of
the orchurd and not a bad apple could be
dlrcerned on the trees. AH of them bor.
the appearance of perfect development.
The trees all have a healthy appearance,
few or no dead or dying branches or leaves
Their Organization
"W. !
grott or MANcmmtAN roppmr.B pntBANns. x
the coast. They ro out In Junks, pretend
Ing to be merchants, and later put In at
little-known harbors to take on their fel-
lows. They have captured sailing junks
and the smaller trading craft of the Chi
nese. Their sphere of operation hna been
the Qulf of Peohlll and the coasts of Man
churia and northern Korea. If they are
chased by the men-of-war they Ball up Into
the rivers, where the water Is so shallow
that large vessels cannot follow. Some
years since a Japanese gunboat captured
. . , . , , . . .
o Pir jun ana iouna more
than 1300.000 worth cf silver in them. The
plrat fre(iu,ntiy appMir near New.
chwan(r ,yig wait for the Junk. a. th.y
come out of the river and making each
junk pay toll. They sometimes leave their
junks and pillage the villages on shore.
Brigand, of Klrln.
One of the chief seats of brigandage Is
the province of Klrln, which lies north of
here. It Is a rich territory, three times as
big as the state of Indiana, having alto
gether a population of about 6,000,000. Its
capital is Klrln, a town of about 100,000
Deoule. There ar. manv mountains In that
region, which are Infested with Huang
vint,. Th. .... un.mnnni.H uh w.ii.
.rm,d .d th.v collect a heaw toll on the
blg cart traffic which Is alwnys moving
,betwcen the capital and Kwan-Cheng-Tsu,
the nearest station on the South Manchu-
rian railroad. Not only here, but in the
other provinces. Insurance companies have
been established to protect trade by brib-
Ing the brigands. Each of these companies
has its flag, which is usually of a trlangu-
lar shape. This takes the piace of th.
Huang Houtzes flag, and If the Huang
Houtzes have been properly paid it is re-
spected. Otherwise not. The Insurance
companies send armed guards along with
t h 1 r nnrtsr hilt It 1h an nnefl secret ttlAt It
,
the money which they pay the brigands.
and not their guards, that affords them
protection
TlnrttiC at vfalf thxat T mnAsa 1 1 th npnl
tentury In Mukden I asked the director
if he had any Huang Houtzes among his
convicts. He replied that he had and that
he would point out one ln the next ward
we entered He did so. The man's head
naa a pigtail o viai-n no umi vi mo vi-
dlnary Chinese and there was nothing to
distinguish him from the others in the shop
where he worked. 1 afterwards photo-
being manifest. Most of them are of the
m&xtmum bearing age. some being twleve
or fifteen years old. There Is a noticeable
absence of gnarled or misshaped trees,
neither is there tny evidence of attempt to
preserve only the most symmetrical trees.
The real secret of the healthy appearance
of the orchard and Its frultfulness Is th.
intelligent system of cultivation and spray
ing that has been carried on. Th. trees
were sprayed four times this year.
It is simply an Illustration that the Ne
braska orchards are readily responsive to
care, and that as fine a quality of fruit
can be produced from Nebraska orchards
as anywhere in the country." The flavor
of the fruit from this particular orchard
surpasses any of the irrigated products.
The apples are almost universally sym
' ...V
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rACKiNQ xrruu at xux
,L.I 1
graphed two Huang Houtzes Tetween th.
guards in the yard of the prison,
Wiping Out the Brigands.
The authorities say that the time has
come now when these brigands must b.
exterminated. Their raids hav. attracted
the attention of outside nations, and th.
reform movement which Is going en her.
demands that trade be freed from
their taxes. It Is only an account of th.
. . . . , ... i . . n
uuues navw.g men i.umiiuif u..v
tlmt an outrrv has not arisen Ions before'
thl(1 Xhe jammiatration of Mukden, th.l
pu,, of Manchuria. I. one of th. most I
progressive of the Chinese empire, and th.'
army connected with It Is especially well
drilled. The country . could be policed
as far as the main trade routes are con
cerned, and this will probably be don.
within a short time. If the government
once puts Its foot down and Insists that
the Huang Houtzes be destroyed, an end
will soon be made to these raids and th.
brigands, with the exception of those In
the mountainous district, with disappear.
During my stay In Korea the mili
tary officials told me that their chief
trouble Is not with the Insurgents, but
wlth Bome Koeran brigands who are mucli
,lk he Huang Houtzes. They hav. their
homei ln the mountains and sally out
to prey upon the villages. These Korean
brigands are supposed to number 15,001); i
and they have one chief who Is practically
the head of the whole. Th. Japanes.,
soldiers are policing tho mountainous dls-j
trlcts, and they are killing these brigands
wherever they find them. A similar policy;:
,B boun(j to be Instituted In Manchuria. ,
The cl,ineHe government Is now sending
em(rants lnt0 the country north of Muk.j
den, and It expects to open up mucru
of its rich government land to settle
ment. Mining concessions have been
granted to foreigners, and the Japanese
are Insisting that the country be mad.
Peaceful. Above this and more Important
tnan a"' " the very nera' on
the part of the men who ar. running
the Chinese government to Introduc.
western methods and the new civilization,
so that, altogether, It would seem that
the Huang Houtze, powerful as he la
today, is doomed to soon disappear.
FRANK Q. CARPENTER.
Attention
metrical, plump and Juicy, and hav. every
Indication of long keeping qualities.
Incidentally, Mr. Sibbersen has had
blackberry, raspberry and gooseberry
patches planted ln parts of the orchard
where the old trees were grubbed out.
Eighty crates of raspberries hav. been
taken from that patch this year, as well
as n.any crates of gooseberries and a con
siderable quantity of blackberries. Th.
production of th. smaller fruits has been
a secondary consideration In view of th.
greater work In caring for the orchard.
That fruit growing can be made a success
In Nebraska is pretty well shown In this
Instance, wher. a small - orchard of but
twenty-two acres can be made to produje
1.004 bushels of marketable apples in on.
season.
Tfi
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