The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-09-17
VERY MONGOLIAN.
Rumor of Ii Hung Changes
Suicide.
A SURPRISE FROM CHINA.
The Great Premier Said to Have
Been Ordered to Die,
AND A DUMMY SUBSTITUTED.
Ingenious Reasoning by Passengers
of the Oceanic to Substantiate
the Startling Tidings.
AND A DUMMY SUBSTITUTED.

LII hung CnaDR, the CnlueS6 6l5marCK,
has either suicided or number of pas
sengers on the steamship Oceanic, which
arrived in port yesterday, are greatly mis-
taken. He is either, also, moldering
corpse, food for the angle worm Of his
native land, or else the newspapers of
Japan are more VIGOROUSLY mendacious
than ever they have been given credit for.
Ever since the war broke out between the
two countries and the news of the sinking
of the Inflated transport Kow Shung was
made known to the world it has been evil
dent to the reading public that rupture
had been made in the pleasant re latiOns
heretofore existing between Ii and his
celestial majesty. There was not a doubt
about 1t, and when the further information
came that the famous yellow vest of the
pigtailed statesman had been fguratively
torn from his august back, the evidence
became even more conclusive. Every body
at once set to figuring how the dlspleasure
of his ma jesty would terminate, and all
came to the conclusion that it would be
mighty uncomfortable for Ii. something
painful and lingering, with boiling oil or
melted lead in it,
At this stage of the proceedings the
wires in China and Japan and the sub
oceanic cables very unaccommodatingly
the news has been of the most meager de-
scription, principally made up of Chinese
canard and japanese hyperbnle, the en-
tire world locking on and wondering at
the ease with which the guileless heather
was discounsng Joe Mulhatton and Eli
Perkins. despite their advantage of occi-
dental civilization. The references in the
dispatches to Ii Hung Chang we're not
many. but they had sort of black look
for him. The intim tions were strong that
his Chinese Majesty had limited to bis
Prime Minister that his early demise
would be a qualification to the imperial
mind not to be measured by words.
Further than this the dispatches went not,
other than to say that Ii had failed to
grasp the meaning between the lines as
an order and still persisted in living.
Passengers on the Oceanic go further
that this. One of them was positively as
sured by al officer Of the British Govern
ment at Seoul, in an unofficial way, that
Ii hung Chang, full of that delicate per-
ceptiou of the poison in the flowers, the
threat in the Emperor's words, had snuf-
fled off the coil. Some subtle drug was
chosen and Lii imm ediately slept for
ever. Others on board the steamer had
heard of the publication OF wel-authen-
ticated rumor to that effect In the japan
ese newspapers just before they mbarked
for San Francisco. Most of them dis
counted il at once, for the very reason that
they would discount anything they saw in
| the same columus. 1t was probably
printed for the purpose Of Influencing the
spirit of the nation.
| Percy Matthias is the gentleman who
got the sorry of the suicide, in what ap-
| pears to be a very direct way. He made
| the trip on the Oceanic, and was telling
the news to T. ID. Mckay of the Burling-
| ton aud group of newspaper men in the
| Occidental Hotel yesterday.
While at Seoul, Mr.. Matthias said, short
I l..
was told by an English officer stationed
there that Ii Hung Chang had committed
suicide; that the Emperor. diSpleased at
| the poor showing of He Chinese army,
| after FIRST venting his dispeasure on Ii by
| depriving him Of his yellow veSt-a great
disgrace in itself-had finally informed
| him that, TO avoid public execution, he
had better end bis own life. With all the
| ftoicism OF fatslist Ii had accepted the
| expression from the Emperor, and as be-
came loyal cit zen and servant had i'm
mediately and privately killed himself.
How this news came to Mr.. Matthias in
| fOrmant he is not quite certain, but rather
gained the impression that the event had
| been impaired to the English and other
| En- bassadOrs at Picking by the Chiness
Government for The foreign Governments
| Information in the strictest secrecy; nut
that, in that mysterious manner, in which
| such things leak, it had Travelled through
flicer at Seoul, from whom Mr.. Matthias
got it, What Impressed the latter with
! the truth OF the statement was the fact
| that the detail, while unpretentiOuS, was
| singularly cohesive. He had asked his in
| foImant If such q prominent man as Ii
! had killed himself his absence would not
| ceI talnly be noticed and the news would
not spread like wildfire.
He was told that all this had been care
fully provided for. When the secretary
| OF LII became aware OF his masters death
| he at once prepared to spread the news
broadcast. He was promptly stopped by
| two of the spies of his imperial Majesty
| and informed that silence was the price of
| his life. A very fair imitation O4 the de-
| ceased premier was then made up from
| the literary party which camps around
| the imperial court and it was an easy mat
ter. considering that the Minister does not
show himself much to the public, to hide
what was lacking in the resem blance be-
| hlnd the curtains of a palanQuln.
The reason for the Chinese Govern
| ment's giving notice Of the death of the
Prime Minister tn the representatives of
! foreign powers was merely in accord with
| diplomatic usage. and the request for Sc
| crecy would be sacredly respected. Just
exactly what the Governments motive
might be for keeping the matter quiet at
home is not known. Probably, however.
| for the reason that the Minister was popu-
4
| j. +. Scott, a medical missionary of the
Meth dist Episcopal church. who has been
stationed at Tientsin, China, for the past
TWO years, heard the story in Yokohama
before he went aboard the Oceanic. 1t
was published in several of the native
papers. He discredits it largely from that
veTv fact.
X. Hayashi, a Japanese artist of some
note. who arrived on the same steamer
and is on his way to Chicago, had read in
the Japanese prints that Ii Hung Chang
was dead. He had become insane, so the
stories ran, over the reverses met with by
the Chinese troops, and in a ut OF madness
had taken his own life. Mr.. Hayashi also
stated that be was aware that many things
about the war had been suppressed by the
Japanese Government
With Mr.. Matthias information, how.
ever, obtained al Seoul, the appearance of
confiimatory news in the Japanese PAYERS,
the known displeasure of the Emperor at
the premier. and the peculiar methods of
Chinese justice, which holds the chief re-
sponsible for the smooth running of affairs.
| Il may be taken as one of the possibilities
that the once great Ii has committed
felo de sc IN the most approved Chinese
fashion.