Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-25
GOING, TO WAR IN CHINA
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF PIcruR-
EsQUE SCENES IN THAT COUNTRY.
Present Use of the Venerable Mo-
nocacy-Hoy a Chinaman Looks
in siwhfte Mans Uniform.
Tien Tsin Correspondence Golfers Weekly.

Al - "nftc M"h . ohAhOH"'
Tien Tsin Correspondence Golfers Weekly.
| AS the yorktown, which brought me from
| Chefoo, steamed slowly through the fleet
| of twentyIeight- ships of the allies-big
| black Britishers, leaden-colored japanese
and white Russians, twenty-eight in all
| she was as a stranger in foreign land,
until the Newark came into view. Consid-
ering the Importance of our interests in the
east, we are very poorly represented, in
deed, by a small cruiser and a good-sized
gunbcat The newcomer joins with the
officers in wishing for the early arrival OIL
| the Brooklyn and the Oregon.
If numbers are small, our spirit has been
great. American marines were the first to
land to protect their legations. Captain
McCalla was going on to Pekin anyway,
whether anybody accompanied him or not.
1t was enough, he said, that the American
legation was in danger. Admiral seymour
would not see him go alone. The BRITISH
Joined the captain and the other powers
fell in with their forces as matter or
course. If numbers are small-there are
not enough men on the Newark to man
the guns-hosptality is accordingly great
among the few officers who remain on tne
| flagship. At the time of my ARRIVAL the
wardroOm of every man-o-War In the meet
was rejoicing. The news or the rescue Oh
Seymours party was definite. The gallant
force had been roughly handled, but that
any part of it was alive came almost as
surprise after waiting for news OF II lor
thirteen days.
The Famous Forts of Taku.
AS soon as the Yorktown approached the
fleet I began looking for those now famous
forts of Taku. and 1 was still looking when
she dropped anchor Though the day was
bright they were obscured in the haze
J, m, W. A n-O1
war of the first class cannot approach
nearer than nine miles Therefore her maj
estys Centurion or Barffeur was as heip-
less as an Indian canoe against the Chlnese
gunners when they anticipated the explry
of the uItimafum. The fighting fell to the
| lot of the gunboats, while the battle SHIPS
had not even the privilege of being spec
| tatorS.
| Launches can pass over the bar only at
| high tide twice day. An orderly called
me at 3 am. / hastily dressed. swallowed
| a piece of toast and went over the size WIN
my baggage into the NeWarks launcn'
| which was going ashore with dispatches
| Capt Taussig of the Yorktown, looking Tor
news of his son, who was with McIala;
| and DR.. Kennedy, who was going 10 a'.eiia
| the wounded of McCallas party, joined US
| from the Yorktown. The forts appeared
| with the sunlight. and they were quite dii-
! ferent from eXpectations-great mud "aiis
| with embrasures On either SIDE OF 'he
! muddy little river Pei-ho. AS my geogra-
! ply had it, Tien Tsin itself was only
| short distance from the sea. Ionghu'
where you take the train for I1en Isin'
| thirty miles distant. is three miles up the
| river from the mouth. British, Japanese
| and Russian sentries were patrolllng the
| parapets, with British. japanese and Rus,
! sian flags flying over them, and mere ana
! there a gun lying sdewise or with It's
| breech toward the sea. The gunboats
! which took a ifortitication that ought TO
! have held back twenty times their hummer
were in line in the river, bows upstream
| ~ tlnav,, how
| rode in launch might see. The name
sake of the German Hits, which was lost
| off Formqsa four years ago - statue
| erected by German merchants on the buha
| of Shanghai perpetuates the memory OF
| her crew who went down with cheer for
! their kaiser-suffered the worst. 6-inch
| shell exploded by contact with the frame
| work of the bridge and twisted and cut 1t
| as If IT were so much gingerbread work
| Her captain, his leg torn by fragment.
| stuck to his post until he had directed his
vessel out of the zone of fire.
The Bone. of the Monocacy.
| At the pier Of Tongku lies an old paddle
| wheel vessel floating the American flag
You still see her type on our American
| rivers. AS a gunboat she Is thirty-fve
years behind the times: '65 is the date on
her guns, which are of the earliest breech-
loading pattern. For years the Monocacy
has lain in the Yang-tse opposite Shang-
hal an example of the first ironclads as de-
veloped by our civil war, showing by con-
trast with other men-of-war how essen
TALLY modern the navieS Of today are. They
came and went but she remained in Shang-
hal as much of fixture the piers or
the Bund. Her captain was little dis
gruntled and Admiral Dewey quietly
amused that he should be, when the admiral
dismissed the idea of taking her to Ma
Mia bay, for her officers in duty bound
to find all kinds of good points about her.
They say that she could whip battle ship
W. Chinese sudden
at Pekin found us with our ships in dock
or else at Manila. which is four days fur
Their from Taku than Shanghai. The Navy
Department asked Captain Wise by cable
if he could navigate the Monocacy to Taku.
Sitting the insult which he felt that the
question implied. he replied that he could;
and, accordingly, the venerable lady, for
the first time in fifteen years, put to sea.
Arriving at Taku in good shape, undertake
ing an crrand of mercy at once. she was
just coming outside the bar with thirty
missionaries, women and children, when
the bombardment began. She got a shot
through her bow and one through one of
her boats, hut she saved her passengers and
now she Is a Steady, broad-decked inteIli-
gence bureau. launch and train dispatcher's
Office and post office combined. Could you
imagine gunbOat of the model of the last
ten years as suitable to such a position?
Her executive officer remains on board to
answer questions and feed the hungry
whether foreign officers or newspaper cor
respondents. while Captain Wise is COM
mandant (officially) and Grand Pooh Bah
tactually) of the town of Tongku and gen
eral manager of the railway. The old ship
distils water for all the troops within rail
connection, or which are discharged from
transports alongside the piers below the
Monocacy. He makes these same troops at
home, finds cars to carry them and sets
them on their way toward the rendezvous
| of the allied army at Tien Tsn.
COssacLs and Correspondents,
A gangplank runs ashore from tho Mo-
nccacy in much the same humble way as A
Yukon steamer puts board ashore to take
on wood. What you find when you cross 1t
is a railway yard and some piers which
might be in the Philippines, in India the
Straits Settlements. or in any oriental conn
try where the white man has placed the
stamp of the material side of ciyiliza tion.
Under the guard Of half dozen Russian
sentries some Russian soldiers were land
ing forage and a great number of fell
ovens and soup boilers. These as we'll as
the strapping Cossacks and the heavy gear
for their horses, gave an impression Of
solidity and suggested a unit of great
army organized for warfare on a vast and
systematic scale
Captain Wise with three correspondents
on his hands. pat two on board his morning
train at 10 90 clock, while the third was to
go to Tien TSin on the launch which he had