As little substantial progress was being made, I went to the Popa subdivision in January, 1890. I called up an additional police force and saw that the utmost pressure was put, under the Village Regulation, upon the villages which harboured and assisted the dacoits. Some success against the smaller leaders followed, but at the end of April all the greater men, ten in number, for whose capture rewards had been offered, were still at large.
In the middle of April the Commissioner, Mr Symes (the late Sir E. Symes), advised that the time had come for adopting the procedure followed so successfully in Sagaing, Minbu, and elsewhere. This was done. Proclamations were issued much in the same terms as those used in other districts, offering pardon to the rank and file, and warning all concerned that villages assisting the gangs would be severely fined, and that sympathizers and relatives would be deported to a distance. The rewards offered for the capture of the leaders were doubled.
The success was extraordinary. The whole dacoit organization fell to pieces. It collapsed as a tiger shot in the head falls in his tracks. On the 30th of May, 1890, Ya Nyun surrendered. Eleven of his lieutenants or comrades had fallen in action, and forty-two men of note surrendered with him.
One very influential leader of the bands in the Myingyan district, whose name was well known in the years preceding, was not caught. Bo Cho had not shown himself since 1888, and was reported to have disappeared. He lay low until 1896, when he managed to get together some men and began his old game. But in 1896 the Government knew what to do and did it. An officer with sufficient military police was at once appointed and empowered to take action against him, the provisions of the Village Regulation were put into effect, and in a few days he was a prisoner. He was not given an opportunity for further mischief.
FOOTNOTES:
[27] This was the Burman substitute for finger-prints. I have often seen men who have endeavoured to cut the brand out of the flesh.
[28] The usual practice was to kill the man and then tie the body to a bamboo railing, with the arms and legs stretched out.
[29] Ya Nyun himself on this occasion had a narrow escape. His dah, or sword, was taken and presented to me by the officers and men of the Myingyan battalion. It is a handsome weapon, and was, I believe, presented to Ya Nyun by village headmen of the Yamèthin district.