The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-08-16
THE CRISIS GROWNACUTE
Heavy Fighting is Expected at Tung
Chow, Near Pekin.
SEVERAL MESSAGES FROM CoNaER
Their Contents Kept Secret, It is Explained, Be-
cause to Make Ttem Public Might Still
Further lmper Those Now
Shut Up in Pekin.
(By the Associated Press.)


Washington, August 15.-The tension
of the Chinese situation has been in
tense throughout the day, for it is ap-
preciated by officials that the crisis has
reached an acute stage which cannot be
continued many hours without bringing
word of momentous import determining,
either for good or evil, the entire course
of events. 1t has been a day of extreme
anxiety, of watching and waiting, with
only meagre and fragmentary infornna-
tion as to the military and diplomatic
phases. One of the new developments
today was the statement tina. messages
were being received from Minister Con-
ger, which are not transmitted through
any of our officials in China, or through
the Chinese Minister here, but directly
to the State Department. These messages
come by the way of Isl Nea. Some Of
them cannot be fully deciphered, and for
this reason the statement cannot be def-
nitely made that the dispatches sent by
the Government to Minister Couger are
received by him. So far as the messages
have been deciphered, there is no indica-
tion that Minister Conger received any in
formation or dispatches from our State
Department. Nothing could be learned
OF the contents of the dispatches re-
ceiyed, although it was stated that there
were quite a number from Minister Con-
ger, some coming from the Consular Of
fcers and General Chaffee, beside those
which come direct. The message trans
mitted through Minister WI was entirely
deciphered in the department.
During the course of a conversation
today between Secretary Root and Baron
Speck Won Sternberg, the German Charge
d'Affaires, Mr. Root gained considerable
information concerning the route which
has yet to be traversed by the allied
armies. Baron Sternberg told him that
Tung Chow was very strong place ane
if the Chinese army should make stand
at this point, the international forces
would find it quite difficult to overcome
the forts and walls. While it is not
known what resistance may have been, or
will be made to the advance. to Tung
Chow, Secretary Root and other officials
would not be surprised to- learn of
very serious battle at this place.
1t is expected that the German force
now on its way TO China will land in
the vicinitysof Lin Yu,s which is directly
east of Pekin. The advantages of this
4 ndtinterfere with the going and coming
= offsliips with supplies. 1t is{also said that
) the road from Lin Yu tolPekin. is much
better than that between Tien Tsin and
Pekin, tas ethe ground is higher and the
country more suitable for military opera
tions. ~
Word came early in the day to the Navy
Department that General Chaffee !, had
reached Matow, about 20 miles from Pc
kin. Ysye
This occurred Friday or Saturday
though the. dispatch from General fChaffee
. sent through Admiral Reney was not suf-
ficiently definite to locate the exact time
of reaching Matow But in any event.
three or four days have elapsed since then
and there has been time for still further
advance toward the imperial city. The
feeling among officials was shown in the
extreme circumspection thrown about all
messages relating to China, and it was
announced both at the State and War De-
partments that any communications from
Minister Conger or the United States
Consuls concerning affairs in China
would not be made public. 1t was ex-
planned that this was in no way due to
any desire to keep from the public infor-
nation of an important character, but
was based solely on the fact that the
crisis involved SO many possibilities of ex-
treme hazard to the 500 Legationers in
Pekin, that the greatest caution must be
observed against disclosures which would
further imperil those in danger.
The actual developments of the day
consisted of the Remey dispatch hereto
fore alluded to- and one from Consul
General Goodnow at Shanghai The State
Department declined to make known the
contents of the Goodnow dispatch. This
opened wide field for conjecture, the
most generally accepted view being that
Mr. Goodnow had advised against the
plan of delivering the Legationers out
side the city of Pekin
The cipher experts were busy with a
dispatch from Consul Fowler, at Che Foo,
which was so unintelligible that it had
to be returned to the telegraph company
to be repeated. So far as it could be de-
ciphered, it appears to repeat a message
sent by Minister Conger to Fowler, telling
the latter that the situation was becom-
ing more critical at Pekin, and that the
Chinese authorities were seeking to COM
pei the Legationers to leave the city un-
der Chinese escort. 1t is possible that
the message which is quite long will con-
vey additional information when its COM
plicationS are unravelled.
With the army at Matow, it is felt that