The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1896-09-08
III AND ELECTRICITY
HIS FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH THE
AMERICAN ARTICLE.
He Touches Switchboard With a
Walking Stick in the Power
House of the Niagara Power Com
pany, and the Stick Is Thrown
Violently From His Grasp-L
Scared but Not Injured.

Niagara Falls, n. Y, Sept S-The
special train bearing Ii Hung Chang
and his party arrived here to-day.
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 Lii
sat for dentist and hau his teeth eX-
amined. The rain was great diSap-
polntment. There was no cessation in
the doWnpOur for several hours, when
finally the sun struggled through the
clouds. Carriages were quickly sum-
mOned and the visitors spent two
hours in inspecting the wonders 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 eX-
pected. With his usual curiosity and
desire to make a personal investigation
of the machinery before him, he pOlIed
at the switchboard with his walking
stick. The metal feTrule closed a cir
cult instantly and Lis stick was viO-
lently thrown from his grasp. He was
naturally much astOnished at the effect
of the sticks contact with the switch
board, and, fortunately, he suffered no
damage beyond a 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 a fac-simile of the auto
graph of Earl Ii done in yellow.
Talks About the War
After eating a rather hearty meal Ii
sent for George w. Boyd, assistant
general passenger agent of the Penn
sylvania Railroad company, who pilot
ed the train over the lines of his COM
pany, and spent about two hours ques-
toning 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 Grant participated, and all
of them were indicated on the map for
his benefit. He dWelt long on this sub
ject. and marvled that although the
Southern forces succeeded in approach
ing quite close to Washington, they
were not able to capture that i'm
portant point The story of the as
Sassination of Lincoln also interested
him greatly. He inquired what be-
came of Booth and where Lincoln was
buried. The deep interest he shows in
railroad matters convlnceS those who
paid attention to the subject that his
principal object in visiting this cOun-
try is to study American railway con-
struction and management with
view to the adoption of some of the
features in a proposed general extern
sion of the Chinese railway system. In
fact. the viceroy minated to-day 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 being 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.