The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-07
MONKEYED WITH ELECTRICITY
AND GOT A GOOD SCARE BUT NO
SERIOUS INJURY AS A RE-
suit
OBJECT OF LIS VISIT IS OUT.
Here Studying American Railways
With the View of Improving
China's Lines.

! Chang and his party arrived here at
noon today. Rain was falling at the
| time and the visitors dampened their
! silk blouses and gold lace somewhat
in the journey to the Cataract house,
where rooms had been engaged.
Immediately upon arriving here Ii
sat Tor dentist and had his teeth ex-
am1ned. The rain was a great disap-
| po1ntment, as the viceroy was very de-
s1rous of visiting the American falls in
the afternoon. There was no cessation
In the downpour Of rain until shortly
after o'clock, when the sun struggled
| through the clouds. Carriages were
! quickly summoned, and the visitors
| spent two hours in inspecting the won
ders Of Niagara.
At the electric power house Of the
Niagara Falls Power company the dis
tinguished visitor had his first expert
ence with American electricity, the re-
suit being as startling as it was unex-
pected. With his usual curiosity and
desire to make q personal investiga-
ton Of the machinery before him, he
poked at a switchboard with his walk
Ing stick. The metal ferrule closed a
circuit instantly and LIS stick was
VIOLEN lily THROWN
from his grasp. He was naturally
much astonished at the effect of the
sticks contact with the switchboard,
but fortunately he suffered no damage
beyond good scare.
Last night Ii and his party passed
their first night in an American sleep
ing car. Before this novelty they en-
Joyed dinner in a dining car. This
meal, which was especially prepared
by the Pennsylvania railroad dining
car people, was quite elaborate. The
menu card was decorated with the
American and Chinese flags inter
twined, and facsimile Of the auto
graph Of Earl Ii done in yellow
After eating a rather hearty supper
Ii sent for George W. Boyd, assistant
general passenger agent of the Penn
sylvania Railroad company, ana spent
about two hours questioning him about
railroads. He had a map of the United
States before him and he branched off
to the War of the Rebellion, asking the
names Of the states that seeded from
the Union. Ii asked particularly about
the battles in which Gen. Grant partic-
ipated, and all of them were indicated
on the map for his benefit He dwelt
long on this subject, and marveled that
although IhC OOuIIICIH lOIccS SuCC0GQ-
ed in approaching quite close to Wash
fngton, they were not able to capture
that important point. The story of the
assassination of Lincoln also interested
him greatly. He inquired what became
Of Booth and where Lincoln Is buried,
and then queried: 4sDo not the Amer
lean people. regard Lincoln as very
good man?''
The deep interest he shows in rail-
road matters convinces those who paid
attention to the subject that
HIS PRINCIPAL OBJECT
in visiting this country is to study
American railway construction and
management, with view to the adOp-
ton Of some Of the features in a pro-
posed general extension Of the Chinese
railway system. In fact, the vfceroy
intimated today that he is negotiating
for the service Of an American civil
engineer, who, If he accepts the offer
| made him, will go to China in the near
future and take charge of the railway
extension scheme now outlined. Ii says
there are only about 200 miles Of single
track railroad in China at present.
Only three trains are run each day, and
there is no traffic at night.
Lii slept during the night In a bed
made especially for him, with a soft
downy mattress more than a foot thick
The preparation of his toilet CONSUME
ed an hour and then he ate some BIRDS
nest soup and drank cup of tea. At
$50 he was ready to receive visitors
Ii is NERVOUS.
At his request no effort has been made at
fast running, an even speed of about thirty
miles an hour being maintained. Even
the train the earls personal bodyguard slept
outside the door of his stateroom.
Contrary to his usual custom, he took a
morning siesta. sleeping soundly from I'M
al 11sn zI.1l
Here the train left the Pennsylvania and
passed on to the tracks Of the New York
Central, the connecting line to Niagara. The
only change was the substitution of loco
motive Of the latter company, and new
train crew At Rochester, General Passenger
Agent George r. Daniels, Of the New York
sistant, boarded the train. AS soon as Lii
awoke these gentlemen were presented to
him, and then he settled himself comfortably
in his arm chair in the observation compart-
ment of his car, and with Mr.. Boyd and
Mr.. Daniels on either side and Interpreter
Marks at his elbow, INDUCED in his favorite
pastime of cross-questionfng for nearly three
hours. He asked Mr.. Daniels his age and
salary, and inquired how much President
Depew's was. and was astonlshed to learn
that his salary Is equal to that of the pres
ident Of the United States The earl said
that If he had some money he would invest
In American railway stocks. He declared he
was too poor and could not raise $40, 000. This
statement from the man papularly regarded
as the richest person in the world caused
smile. The run to this point was without
special incfdent. General Manager J. NJ
Touey, of stheoNew York Central was at the
station to meet the party and after Ii
paused long enough to ask him his age and
salary, the procession started for the hotel.
All were intensely interested in Ta-Po-Tu. the
Chinese for 1.-THE great falls, and some of the
party summoned carriages almost Immediate
ly, and started out in the rain to see the
sights.
Ii Hung Chang Is not teetotaler; he
drinks single glass Of claret with his dinner,
and at bed time takes small quantity of
Chinese wine. famed for its medicinal quail
tiles His secretaries declare that he cannot
understand English at ALL He has learned
the words 'How do you do" and always
greets his visitors with this sentence. One Of
the party said today, In explaining the mon
etary condition of the Chinese empire, that
In order to raise funds to pay the indemnity
of nearly 5000, 000, 600 to Japan, that Ii Hung
Chang has hypathecated the customs revenues
at the ports on the coast, where import duties
are collected and that increase OF the
customs charges would probably follow. This
the only way to raise the money. as it
ing the taxes. Only a small on OF the
population is aware of the fact that there
was q war with Japan and that the Chinese
forces were defeated The 1evving of 8 tax
would be the means OF spreading the infor-
nation, and dissatisfaction with the govern
ment would arise, possibly rebellion.
At o'clock tomorrow morning the start for
Canada will be made. Sir Henrie Jolly de
Lotbiniere will welcome the travellers on be-
half of the Canadian government, and Cen
Kruger will cease his Official connection with
the viceroy the representative OF Pres
ident Cleveland.