The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-15
A GREAT FIGHTER DEAD.
THE REMARKABLE CAREER OF
COL. CHARLES 1. GRAVES.

the WOrId-A Native of Georgia
Who Served This and Other COun-
tries-He Witnessed the lombard
mcnt of the Pei-Ho FOrts-Under
Morgan at MObiIe-DecOrated by
the khedfve of icgypt-NarrOw Es-
capes.
| Rome (Ga-) Cor Baltimore American.
The death of Col. Charles Iverson
| Graves removes one of the most prom!-
nent figures in southern history from the
active scenes of life. cadet at Annapo-
lis at 15 lieutenant in the United States
navy and attached to the East India
squadron at 20, assigned to the position of
second in command on the confederate
cruiser Rappahonnock at %, and ten years
later an Egyptian hey, with the rank of
colonel, at the head of a command in the
| Somali-his life was full of romantic adj
ventures as were the careers Of the
knights of old. AS a mdshipman on board
the steam frigate Minnesota, he sailed
| under Commodore Tatnall to Cape Horn
and the Orient in 1853, and was present at
the bombardment of the Pei-Ho forts by
the allied fleets of Great Britain and
| France, when the gates of China were
forced open and the commerce of the
world was permitted, under protest, to
/ invade that exclusive kingdom.
Shortly before his death Col Graves de-
scribed to a friend in graphic language
| thot memorable incident in the worlds
| history. Ii Hung Chang was viceroy of
! the province and was just rising into
l,,r-~ s-E INT
TO him a demand that he open the ports
he sent back a naughty and defiant reply
| refusing most emphatically. He had a
/ considerable army posted behind the low
/ hills in the rear of Pei-Ho. and although
they were armed with jn-galls and stink
pots only, he, with the obstinacy charac-
terstic of the Chinese, thought to pit
them against the foreign devils" with
whom he had had no experience but which
ne acquired afterward, with their ships
and cannon.
He refused to allow them to set foot on
the sacred soil of the celestial kingdom
and mad large landing stage constructed
al a point on the shore where the ENJOYS
were received After his naughty refusal
10 treat with the powers they drew up an
| ultimatum, which they sent to the proud
| pagan, a procession of mandarins march
ing down to the landing to receive it.
The commanders of the two fleets de-
manded that he open the ports within a
| given time on penalty of their bombard,ng
the town. A Chinese artist made pictures
| of the landing of the ENJOYS and the
scenes that followed, which he presented
to Col. Graves, then midshipman, and
which are preserved in his wonderful cor
| lection of curios, many of them of VASE
| historical interest. The viceroy sent back
the same peremptory refusal to comply
and preparations began for the attack.
| The commanders of the American and
Russian squadrons were instructed to OBJ
serve a strict neutrality, and as the decks
of the British and French vessels cleared
for action. the n-combatants withdrew
to a safe distance in the offing and watch
ed the fight that followed.
The first broadside from the British
guns sent the mud walls tumbling about
the ears of the panic-stricken garrison,
and Lord Lii ordered his reserve to the
| front. Col. Graves captured one of the
formidable muskets called 'jin-galls," a
gun about ten feet long, with a short,
clumsy stock. a muzzle about an inch in
diameter and 9 pan to hold the powder,
which was touched off by pressing burn
ing coal upon 1t by means of a crude ar
rangement very much like the old-fash-
toned fiint-lock musket of revolutionary
| days. Two men were required to man
| age the weapon, one walking in front and
bearing the barrel on his shoulder, and
the other supporting the stock, sighting
the piece and pulling the trigger. At
every discharge both of the gunners were
tumbled heels over head in the mud, and
| Col. Graves said that the scene was grim
| ly humorous. AS the reserves marched
down, discharged their pieces at the YES
sells with boots and yells, lighted their
stink-pots and took to their heels, when
a broadside from the allied fleets sent a
shower of iron hail among the disordered
| ranks.
After a few such discharges the walls
of the forts were in ruins, and the SOL
diers had taken to flight, and Ii slgnalled
for a pariey. Thus the Pei-Ho forts were
taken, and the ports of China opened 10
the representatives of western civiliza-
ton.
The commanders of the fleets were in
vited ashore, with the accredited minis
ters of Great Britain, France and Russia,
Commodore Tatnall acting as the repre-
sentative of this government in the alb
senee of a civil represen tative. Under a
huge pavilion Of yellow silk trimmed
with blue and gold, erected on the plain
of Pei-Ho, the viceroy received his I'M
welcome guests.
Many curious and beautiful things in
the way of vases, articles of apparel, a
choice collection of gods and other rare
| articles of vertu were secured by Col.
| Graves, and are now in his cabinet. As
| an evidence of the ingenuity of the Japa-
| nese, he said that while on the afternoon
that the flagship dropped anchor in the
harbor she was the first vessel of her
kind ever seen in that remote region, on
the following morning, when the boats OF
the natives came off ashore to trade, one
| of them contained an artist who had made
| a complete model OF the vessel, during
the night, in blown glass. all the lines OF
the ship, from the water line to crow s
nest, being faithfully reproduced without
the aid of a single drawing to guide tho
shaping of the wonderful piece of work
| During that trip he saw cotton-seed oil
used as a common article of food while
the southern planters at home were de-
vising every possible means of getting rid
| of the seed from around the gin houses
| He reDorted the fact on his return and
was laughed at for his pains. as the seed
| was considered as little less than abso.
luteiy poisonous in that day and time.
After his return from that memorab bic
! cruise the war broke out. and he resigned
his position in the navy. having been pro.
NOTED to a lieptenancy, and offered his
A CLEAR HEAD,