Lilong.
7/7/99.
403
(10)
My dear Mr Rowcroft
Many thanks for your interesting letter. It is very good that you are showing the people that they are still under the British Government. What you are doing in Sham Chun has a good effect on the whole population. The man who was shot a few days ago (See below) near our mission station was an opium smuggler. It was a daring robbery at noon in the tea hut on the pass where some women were sitting to drink tea. The smugglers had their opium carried by women. The Sham Chun robbers robbed them & carried the opium ($2000 worth) away. The poor women were very frightened, but for the opium smugglers, I am not sorry they lost $2000. When we got the news from Sham Chun about the robberies going on there, a merchant wrote to our pastor that it is rumoured the Sha Tau robbers are doing their work in the market, but the Chinese also wrote to our pastor to burn the letter as soon as he read it, so that nobody knows that he mentioned Sha Tau. The stupid Chinese are always in fear & because of that, they will not tell the truth.
Sha Tau is at the mouth of the river & well known as a nest of pirates & robbers. Last year, six of the Sha Tau robbers were beheaded in Sham Chun by the Chinese Admiral Ho. Many robbers fled & did not dare to return as long as Ho spread terror in this region.
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Note. He was wounded by a revolver shot & cut on the head with a knife. He is still alive. C.R.
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