New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-19

COURT LADY's SEDAN CHAIR-THE
FATE OF HIS PRIME Minister
Seoul Corea February 10.
This has been called a materialistc age oul
romance is not all dead yet. The story OF the
prince imprisoned In the tower and rescueu p'
the beautiful princess may be supposed to apper-
tain more to nursery lore than to real Ire pu'
something closely akin to this has happened mere
in Corea within the last forty-elght hours -
might be argued that Corea Is 50 far behlho ''c
rest OF the world that she has not emerged as ye'
from the age Of giants and fairies. However thdt
may be. strange things happen here once III d
while. and not the least strange and Interesting
is the story Of the escape OF the King from MS
captors by the aid OF the beautiful princess or
by some much like her
Before telling how he escaped II Is necessar!
TO show how he came to be imprisoned. king
In this part Of the world does not ordinarily en-
Joy the privilege Of going about as he pleases at
tending reviews laying corner-stones and sailing
In his private yacht He is considered too sacred
for that sort of thing and cannot go out any
where without being accompanied by great
crowd of people who kick up so much dust that
he must be glad to get back TO his palace
About hundred years ago the King Of Corea
decided to see something OF the world on his
clothes and went out secretly and wandered
abou: all night enjoying as many curious ad-
ventures as did Haroun al Raschid This Is the
only king who has ever dared 10 try II. for II
he should be detected he would probably be Killed
by the man who recognized him. for that man
would suppose that the king would be angry and
have him killed the next day. and so In SELL
defence he would XII the king and run away
This sort cf imprisonment In ones own palace
might be endureble IF the officials would only
give the king correct Information as 10 the state
Of things outside and obey his commands: but
In this case nothing OF the kind was done. Some
months before the palace had been broken into
by a mob and the Queen had been murdered
The officials about the King were Immediately
che nged against his wishes and In their place a
Cabinet was forced upon him which was COM
posed OF men whom he not only did not like. but
who he believed pleased that the Queen
had been killed 1t cannot be supposed that
SUCH a state of things could he agreeable to hiin
To be sure ne was consulted in regard to the
different measures to be carried out. but ne had
no power to enforce his refusal. for the soldiers
were almost all under the influence OF the
Cabinet
In tho first place these men forced him IN make
a proclamation insulting the memory of tho dead
after she WIS dead deposng her from her rank
as Queen Then they forced him to have his hair
cut, This seems not to he OF much account. but
Il has disturbed the country more than the muir
der Of the Queen. This custom Of wearing knot
Of hair on the top Of the head Is seventeen or
eighteen hundred years old and has never been
broken but once before when the Mongols under
Gcnghis Khan ovcrran Corea and made the people
hat L. oblr Irl.
and when the Mongols vert back 10 China the
hair was again put UP In knot. Another thing
that endears the topknot TO the Corean IL that
although the Manchu conquerors forced tho whole
81 the Chinese nation 10 cut II of and wear the
queue lr token OF submission. the Coreans Were
not compelled to IL 1t. SO the costume and
couture OF the Corean to-day IS more Chinese
than that II the Chinese themselves.
The palace clique forced the King to cut on his
topknot. and an edlct went forth that every
body must do the same. II all right for the
officials for II is the custom here az everywhere T.
follow the lead Of the King in matters Of dress.
but the people were much dissatisfied. The police
men all over the city stopped people In the streets
and pulled their hats off to see II the opknot was
there. If it was its unfortunate possess1r had
to get down his knees while the officer pulled
out a knife or sword AM cut 1t Of. Some people
evaded the new rule adroitly by cutting a little
round spot on top of the head and winding the
rest Of the hair around the forehead and head
Just above the ears Then they put on the winter
CAP which covers everything. but has hole at
the top. When the policemen asked II their hair
was cut they simply bent the head down and let
the officer look in the hole at the top. AS he
could see only the spot that had been cut he took
1t for granted that the rest was cut and let the
sly fellows CO.
But soon the countrymen stopped bringing in
their oxloads of wood, straw. rice. beans salt and
other necessities. and 1t looked If Seoul was
TO be starved out. Nh gisrates In the country
who had parted with the :opknot were set upon
by the enragcd people and driven out or killed.
Soldiers were sent into the country to settle the
disturbance but the people overcame them and
took their weapons away and so became more
dangerous than ever The cry was ION to Seoul
where It was intended to Kill the officials In power
and all the foreigners into the bargain. for the
countrymcn believe that all their woes have come
In the train of the foreigner. An attempt was
made night by number Of soldiers and some
OF the common people 10 scale the palace wall
and liberate the King from his imprisonment
but they had not enough determination and were
driven back. Some of them were captured. of
whom few executed. others banished and
others cruelty whipped.
Such a state Of things could not last long. but
the solution came IN way that no one antici-
pated Here Is where the romance comes in.
The court ladies put their heads together ana
vowed they would arrange some plan TO get the
King out OF the tolls Of the Cabinet. At last 1t
was agreed that the bes, way would be to have
the King spirited away In lady's sedan chair.
These chairs closely covered and are dlstin-
pllished from mems Chairs by rows q red
shaped bangles on the front Fearing lest the
passage Of ladys chair might excite suspicion,
the conspirators had ladies' chairs brought In
and out OF the palace frequently for two or three
days before the day appointed for the escape.
Whether the King was let into the secret Mt this
point or not cannot be known. but probably he
knew what was In the wind. II arranged
that he should be carried straight 10 the Russian
Legation where he knew he had good friends.