Looting

In olden days, before the era of national armies, soldiers were recruited with glittering visions of the loot that would be theirs after the victory.

Today the soldier has still to be recruited. Instead of loot, he is promised a voyage to parts of the great outside world. He is shown on dazzling posters the life that may be his when he is off duty. Looting is not mentioned, as are not drill, fatigues, button-cleaning, etc. In most armies, in fact, looting is a crime.

The Chinese who, as recent events have shown, are not slow to exchange their medieval methods of warfare for the modern system devised in the Occident, have accordingly made looting a crime. This is, of course, only a half-truth, because in China there is no National Army, but an enormous number of private armies, each governed by a different discipline.

It happened that a brigade under Brigadier General Chang Chih-kiang marched to Kalgan, about 100 miles northwest of Peking, to replace the forces of a local Tuchun (military governor) who had been ousted. The troops rounded up a revolting brigade which had been celebrating by pillaging and plundering the populace.

General Chang did not believe in looting; he became angry, wrote orders in enigmatic Chinese. Every man that was found with loot or confessed to looting was condemned to die.

Three whole days were given over to executions. The condemned were marched on to a railway bridge, made to stand on the edge of the ties, were blindfolded. They were then shot by soldiers standing on the other end of the ties and toppled backwards 30 feet into the frozen river below. Those who were not killed by the bullets broke their necks on the ice. In all, 1,065 were thus executed.