The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-07-08
2aotes' porttolto.
How The Chinese Fight.

nCV. DE. W. l.. AoSCo q OSOh Si'D
he Biblical Recorder a narrative of his long
Missionary experience. Here is an account
of the fighting at Nankin between the
"Rebels'' and the Imperial troops.
The .sRebels'' seemed to have possessed the
brains, energy and courage. :.
He seized the Ntn0pOUay-kWdn, WITHIN
q hundred feet of the city wall. This is .
large space enclosed by a high wall. Within
there il q large temple and several hundred
rooms, used as a depository for the dead
from Ningpo till their friends lind 1t con-
renient to remove them to their family bury
ing ground. For convenience | will call
it, as it is usually called here by foreigners,
1.-THE Ninqpo5ass." They sunk a shaft, but
necessitated q greater depth than most wells
are. To impede the rapid influx of water,
thew removed the dead bodies from cofhns
and used the sides and top, which were
usually about four inches thick, to wall
their mines. These. when cemented, kept
the water out. In their operations they
opened q coffin that instead of a dead body
contained gold bars and silver bullion. Some
wealthy chinaman, wishingt to find a place OF
security for some of his wealth, and thinking
that the s~anctity of the dead would not be
invaded, had arranged a funeral as OF an
official, with sixteen bearers, and multi
tudes of mourners, and all the solemnltles
Of the burial of the dead. and deposited the
coffin in the ordinary way. This discovery
naturally, according to Chinese human ma
ture, led to the opening of all the cofins IN
the Ninoo jass, most of which were required,
rs they from the first to last went under the
city moat in 60 less than ten different
places; for rs soon as they passed the moat,
and, to avoid the water, rose nearer the
surface, q slight depression in the surface
revealed to the rebels the direction of the
mine. To Illustrate the enemy's plan, the
rebels sent down a man at night to make
fast, with two spikes, one end of pieces OF
American drilling, while the other end was
held at the top of the wall; then with a
relay of men with buckets, water was turn
ed into a sort of trough formed by the way
the double pieces of cloth were arranged,
which caused the end Of the mine which
had not been walled to fall in. In one of
these unsuccessful mines thirty men were
buried, where they remain to this day.
They were more succ essful at the little south
gate, where they succeeded in mining the
whole semi circle of the gate wall, and also
q smaller one some two hundred yards from
the gate, This however was only a felnt,
designed by its explosion to attract as many
possible of the leading Iebels to the wall of
the city gate to defend the gate. In this
scheme they were wonderfully successful !;
for the springing of the small mine, that
did not much damage to the wall, caused a
great crowd to rush upon the wall at and
around the circle of the gate, when, alas!
the mine under the city gate was sprung
and all were blown high into the air with
the large stones and bricks. One poor man
was blown into the Imperial camp, some
distance AVA There was a breach of at
least fifty feet. But even this success was
a failure, and perhaps fortunately so, for
Ching foo-tai had issued a general order
to his troops, that on entering the city all
who were found with long hair were to be
put to the sword. This would have led to
the ndiscriminare slaughter Of all the peo-
pie, for the rebels had forced all within the
walls to allow their hair to grow long This
calamity did not befall the people; fol
Ching Foo ia, calculating that the force
certain direction, took q position near the
city wall when, however, it did explode,
it spent in the direction in which he bad
located himself, and he was struck on the
head BY q large wall brick and instantly
killed. As the Imperial forces were now
without a leader, they did not dare to pen
citrate far into the city, and on the first ap
pearance of the rebels in force they retired
to their camps to mourn over their misfOrt
uAe In the loss of their leader, and The
breach was speedily repaired by the ''red
heads"
Meanwhile the Imperialists had secures
IA American 12-poun6er guns. with which
they had constructed a formidable battery il
the Ningpojass but it being only 100 fee
from the city wall, the rebel sharp shooter
would not allow them to work the guns
they then made one more-and this tim,
,uccessful-attempt at mining. Their I'm
foreground trench was in the shape of al
0btuse angle. They reached the wall ant
excavated along the wall a space sufficient,
large to place nine large collins end to end
which were filled with powder and connectec
by a train. By experimenting with sticE;
of incense they were enabled to explode tn
mine Just after daylight, when there woul
be the fewest rebels present to defend til
breach. Two sticks of incense, of the sam
length and quality. were ignited at a give
time; one was placed in the mine and tn
other In the Ninonniass house where til