The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-02-15
CHINESE GoRDoN,s sTIOK.

Ohlna Dy an Ola Artilleryman.
From the New York Tribune.
Although / actually served under
Chinese Gordon" said the captain of a
National Line steamer to a Tribune
reader, yet the truth is / never ex-
changed words with him but once, and
that was when / went to him for a COM
mission in the imperial service. That
was in 1863 or 1864, l forget which. l
was chief officer on a vessel that came
into Shanghai, and | left her determined
to join Gordon. All the young fellows
al that time were crazy to join Gordon.
So | went to General Gamble at Shang-
hal. He was in reality only a captain in
Her Majesty's forces, but was acting I'M
der Gordon as Quartermaster Gen.
eral. He gave me a chit, or letter of
recommendation, to the great man, and
| went up the river in a sail-boat. a ma
tive craft, to Quin-San, where he had his
headquarters. l had learned that all
Europeans who had any knowledge Of
gunnery were appointed lieutenants
with q pay of $40 a month
~ coy hObAAlhS Va INV CudIlGC6 VI
loot, picking up things you know, in a
captured town. When | lot to Quin.San
| found where his place was. 1t was a
large Chinese house, with q courtyard
round 1t. There was at orderly outside
TIE door, who asked what | wanted. /
said that | wished to see General Cor
don. He went into the room and COM
ing back, told me to go IL. The famous
man was In O white shirt and white
trousers, and his red sash lay upon a bit
of carpet on the floor. He was at a desk
studying over a nap. stood in front
OF the desk waiting. Presently he stood
up and fixed a pair of gray eyes full on
me, and said:
What do you wantF
IAN appointment
Where have you been? What do
You know? Are you acquainted with
gunnery2'
81 told him as briefly as possible,
showed him my credentials from the
Royal Naval Reserve, and my warrant
as a chief officer Of the mercantile ma
rine. He nodded, and said: very
good, and then wrote a note to the chief
officer commanding the Fifth Regiment,
'Ning-pos' we used TO call them. | went
off about the town and anchored myself
for the night in a sort of military hotel.
en- the piazza were a lot Of officers of
Gordon's force, some military, some
naval, and there was a good deal of
chatting about the two arms of Che SER
vice. /, being q sailor, naturally sided
with the sailors, and said my say. / no.
ticed that the captain of
N OF GoRDoN's GUNBoATs
was attentive to my remarks. Present.
ly he asked me some questions about
what / was going to do, and / told him.
He mounted his pony and rode off at a
hand-gallop. In half an hour he came
back AID handed me a commission as
lieutenant of his gun boat, The FREELY.
So / went on board next morning, and
remained on her for five months, when
/ LETT Gordon's force, and returned to
the commercial marine.
"And was that all you eve saw of
Gordon?n
"Oh, no. But that was ali I we had
to say to him, or he to me-. If i had
Joined the NiDg-pos, no doubt / should
have been brought often in contact with
him. / often saw him at the head of his
expeditions to take stockades, and it was
queer to see him marching in front of
his men, twirling in the fingers of his
right hand a short black stick. There.
were queer yarns in the force about
that stick. It was said TO have extra
ordinary powers. He has been known
to creep to the palisades of a stockade,
put one end of the stick to his ear and
the other to the bottom of the poles.
He would listen intently, and then he
would come back and detail q captain,
two ~lieutenants, and a hundred men to
be at q certain part of the stockade at q
certain hour. a couple of guns drawn
by Chinese soldiers, but manned by
European artillerists, ~lieutenants every
man of them, would be of the Q xpedl-
ton. He would suddenly announce to
them that the guns at that particu-
lar part had been Withdrawn to another
part ofthe stockades and that III breach
were briskly made, it could be stormed
with little loss. as soon as q guns had
made q hole the Infantry would go at 1t.
GORDON AHEAD OF EVERYBODY,
as likely as not without his sword, but
with a revolver and his little black stick.
He was very humane, and was most
careful in taking precautions to lose as
few lives as possible. He seemed to
realize that his Europeans were worth
everything to him. When one was
killed, he always felt it and showed
that he did /. !"
Twas there anything particular about
the stick?D
Not that I know OF. Shortly after we
took Soo-Chow, where he led his troops
as calamity as ever, with the stick twirl-
ing between his fingers. there was q
NOR ,hatit was lost. Thefe was q procla-
nation Offering a large reward for it,and
it was recovered. Some men stole
it, probably, for the hope or
getting a reward. re-
member there was q great deal of talk
abe ut it. Captain Curtis, who command
ed our boat, the FREELY, was an Amer
lean, and he thought it was hollow, and
loaded with some chemical arrangement
that made it remit sounds with singular
delicacy. Others thought it was filed
with quicksilver. and others had still