Litchfield enquirer., 1868-05-28
CHASED BY TARTAR CAVALRY.

good fortune to be attached to the l9r1tlSn
 Naval Brigade which accompanied the ar
 my throughout the campaign, Thus il
 was that eventually found myself in the
 mythical old city of Pekin.
 Although the allied armies had marched
 without sustaining single defeat up to the very walls, and, after a show of resistance,
 now held the imperial city in military occu-
 patton, yet the force of cur arms had fail
 ed to strike terror into the hearts of the
 Chinese individually. The Chinamen were
 were abject enough in the immediate pre- 5.
 ence of a superior force, but, let them get the upper hand by tfeaehery or, otherwise, and it would go hard with you. ">
 In this way it happened that many of the English soldiers strolled into the city by twos and threes, and were never seen again. They were, without doubt, tortur- ed to death. In our government returns, the word missing" was written after their names; that was all that was done, it saved so much trouble. <, -.
 With the French it was very different. They did not content themselves with sim ply reporting their men as missing. They sought out and discovered those who were implicated in the murder, and the China men generally had to pay six lives for one. If the outrage could not be satisfactorily tracad to any of the people, the whole street in which it was perpetrated would be razed to the ground. It must be a very blundering Chinaman who would molest a Frenchman; the Nemesis follows SO quick ly. .a.
 As regards the English, these things went on with such impunity that as many as six of the Rifles went together into Pekin with their arms, and all their accoutrements, and never returned. They were reported missing, and there was an end of the af- fair s-..,... -..t.
 These things were not pleasant, especial ly to those who had seen the effects of the slow, bone crushings and the myriad other tortures that had been inflicted on those unfortunate men who had been captured on the march, and whose lacerated bodies were sent back in retaliation upon the Eng fish. ,. .,.t5..
 Bad as was this state of affairs in Pekin, it was worse on the plain between it and Tungehow. Tungehow. being the nearest city to Pekin in direct water commnnica- tion with the fleet. was the headquarters of the commissariat department. It is 8 walled city of considerable size, and is situ- ated on the Hounhe, tributary of the Pei ho. Pen is twenty five miles distantin the II. cities there IS an imperial road, paved throughout with enormous slabs of stone. But this road led to the south gates of the city. and the camp of the allies was at the north east gate; besides, it was believed to be undermined. The, army, therefore. found it's way across the plain without fol- lowing any road in particular. With the exception of few hills, just visible on a fine day far away on the horizon, the coun- try is as fiat as billiard table, The Pago- da of Tungehow is soon lost sight of, and after that there is no landmark until Pekin,s entirely hidden by it's high gray waits, is, reached. Here and there, like oases in tIe desert, are clumps of trees with Q feyAou,, ses amongst them; they are all aie, ane serve rather to increase the mo-ottony oI the scene than otherwise. Bp/tnese peace, Unlocking farm houses hp'e proved 1atai to many stragglers. i. asJ @ ..
 covered a sword .sc.bbard half buried in the pround on the catskirts of ono of these viii iaoes. It beInged to man whose regi- mani; had rlarched to the front some time before. "a digging up the ground, not on- lv thekest of his accoutrements were found and his whitened skeleton as we'll, clean, without scrap of flesh on the bones. Some Chinamen of the village being seized, one of them more frightened than the the rest confessed that the man who had Jagged be- hind the Foreign Braves'' (mark the po- liteness now), had been kidnapped and boiled to death in cauldron, which he proceeded to point out. Such, it was to evident, was the revolting fact. These dastardly murderers were brought to a kind of trial, and the evidence not being quite as conclusive as would be requisite to con vict one of the mans own comrades of a similar crime. they were acquitted. In England this course would be considered but the Chinese attribute it solely to cowardice.
 A few days before the incident that am about to relate occurred, slow numbering train of baggage-wagons with 8 strong es- cort left Pekin for Tungchow at noon. At two o'clock soldier well armed and noun ted, was sent to order back portion of the baggage. It was presumed that they could not have gone very far by that time, and so he went alone. He was cut off before he could overtake them, and was never seen again. Another was added to the list of and there was no more trouble about that. '-s. s4i t-G al .fs 5.
 It should be borne in mind that these murders, of which the number was not small, were committed after the treaty of peace had been signed, and were, neverthe- less, consistently winked at by the English authorities. - ''l' : '-f 4i4f .-
 Dispatches were put into my hands by the commander-in-chieft to be immediately delivered to the head of the commissariat department at Tungchow. The usual es- corts of mounted Sikhs, without which no one dreamed of crossing the plain, was or dered to accompany me. But the com
 manding officer, most unpleasant man of
 the red tape order, made so much fuss and bother about sending his men away that
 concluded rather warm argument by tel
 ling him that he and his Sikhs might 20
 anywhere they pleased, for I would have
 none of them, but would go alone. A 5as This rash resolution was much condemn ed by every one. Friends and strangers were unanimous in declaring that I should
 never reach Tunchow. 1'sWhy?" seThere
 was that entrenched Tartar camp in am bush outside the city no one knew exactly
 where, so that you couldn't tell how to
 avoid 1t. Then there was the certainty of
 losing your way, and the probability oi getting murdered by the village cut-throats like Smith, Johnson. Green, etc. etc. You
 surely haven't forgotten that fellow who was sent after the baggage-train the other day, and never turned up again. Why YOU
 must be. quite mad, and so on, in this strain. for half an hour.