Page 269 - Malay sketches

A PERSONAL INCIDENT

out of the mud, and as Raja Alang considered this
to he called to the man and told
disrespectful him,
him he must pay a fine of a hundred dollars. The
man was of course unable to comply with this mon-
strous demand, so the Raja took him, his wife and
into the and said he would
children, house, keep
them there till the money was paid. After a couple
of days, during which they were given no food,
Raja Alang said he would sell the woman and chil-
dren to raise the amount of the fine. Just at dawn
on the following morning the Patani man got up,
took from a Malay lying near him a kris, and with
it stabbed the owner to death. Then he struck out
wildly, killing another man, a woman, his own two
children, and a child of Raja Alang, while he
wounded his own wife. Raja Alang hastily left the
house, hurting himself considerably, for he forgot
the steps in the hurry of his exit. The murderer
went next door and killed two more women and
then he killed nine and
escaped. Altogether people
wounded three. It is a I mention it as
detail, only
showing the state of society, and because this inci-
dent, at the time of my arrival, was, with rumours
of war, dividing the interests of the people of Kuala
Kangsar.
On the ist November I read and posted the pro-
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