The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-06-17
A WESrvIRGiNIAB OY
In Chinn-&xtrncts From a Letter From
Lieut.. q. TX. Curtis, of sthnny,


Lieut.. .. TX. Curtis, OF letl,nny. q,
Following arc extracts from letter
written by Lieut.. Q. X. Curtis, on board
the U. S. ateamer Alert, at Shanghai, China,
April 10, 1884, to hiH father, W. B. Curtis,
Of Weht Liberty, W. Va:
II have been on Bhoro several times
aince wo arrived. I judge the water front
OF Shanghai 10 tho pretties. in the world.
Instead Of rotten wharves and old tumble.
down warehouses, that are usually seen
on tho water.ironts Of cities, you see here
nice, clean, floating landing places, and a
street from seventy five to one hundred
yards wide, dotted here and there with lit
lilo gardens and squares facing the water.
Back OF this street is row OF magnificent
stone and brick buildings; two rows OF
shade trees run tho length Of the ontlre
street (called the Bund). am speaking now
Of tho European and American Shanghai
the Chinese Shanghai is different. Some
Of us went over TO old Shanghai a few days
ago. No one but the Chinese live there,
and It IL the dirtiest, llthiest place have
ever seen. The streets are only eight or
len feet wide, and always wet, muddy and
alippery; and the Chinese packed in them
thick al Bardines in q box. We we're
about Es much Of 3 curiosity to the most OF
them as o gang OF Cinnamon would be to
tho inhabitants OF Yves. Liberty, should
ouch gang suddenly make its appearance
there. OF course We had to have a guide,
Tor one would never in the world find the
way out OF Old Shanghai alone; that Is,
after you had LETT the entrance gate (all old
Chinese ci!ies are walled) a hundred
yards behind. There was always a crowd
following us, and whenever we would stop
to look at anything in some store, every
Ohinaman passing by would stop; and the
consequence was that as soon as we would
atop The street would be Immediately
b!ockaded. Beggars were as thick az could
be-all kinds and conditions-many OF
them lying fla. Oh tkeir faces in the 9th
and mud; and some with their feet, legs,
hands or arms dropping of of them Just
where they were lying.
The whole place was just simply horri.
bic. We visited quite a number OF the
prisons; the most OF them are simply open
cagea, 60 that every one can see the pris.
oners and make fun Of them. The most Of
the prisoners, besides being in. the cages
were ironed hands and leet, and had a
large board arrangement that was secured
around their necks, the weight Of which
they had to bear all the time; and, OF
course, they could not lie down with this
arrangement on, and what they got to eat
was just what tho people outside saw fit to
give them. Tho Chinese authorities never
feed their prisoners Two hours in old
Shanghai is sufficient to supply one with
nightmare subjects for two years. We
have littls war going on over here be.
tween the French and Chinese. but we see
nothing Off here st Shanghai. It is all
done down South, and even the little news
We receive from the seat OF war all comes
viz Europe or America. We are all ready
at any time to land force hero to protect
the American or European interests, in
case the natives should rise; but We do moi
apprehendany danger at present.
The Enterprise, Palos and Alert landed
our forces few days ago for exercise. The
battalion made quite fine appearance. 7
had command OF the artillery, four pieces,
two gatlings and wo3.inch breech leaders
Quits nice bi t ely, I'd a very wicked one
for troops to BIZ compelled to charge, for
with the two gatlings, could fire from 500
to LOCO rounds, and with the inch from
sight to ten rounds OF seven and q half
pounds shrapnel containing fity.tive balls
cach) per minute. A pretty tough little
battery 10 charge, do you not think? We
will probably remain here abou! six weeks
longer, then 50 10 Nagasaki, fill up with
coal and provisions, and go up 10 Cores for
the summer. l understand that there ara
plenty OF tigers up there, so il 1 ret a
chance to have a hunt ior them and am
lucky enough to kill one, will bring you
the skin for o robe. They are immense
fellows, much larger even than the Bengal
tiger, some Of them being from twelve to
fifteen feet long, Large enough and strong
enough TO carry away horse, as some Of
them have been known to do. l believu
they gonly infect one part Of Corea, and
whether We shall go to that section or moi.
/ cannot say at present" +sss ~ ~