The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-08-18
ACRE SOME SIGHT
ENSIGN RALPH MARBLE DESCRIBES
TRIP TO TIEN TSIN.
Wen Known Duluth Roy Writes En-
tertainingly of the Difficulty
Which Allied Forces Are En-
B conntering In Subduin& and Over
Almost lmpreenable.

Almost lmpreenable.
Mr.. and Mrs. r. N. Marble, of 5l5
East Second street have just received
a letter from their son, Ensign
Ralph Marble, who went through the
Spanish-American war on the cruiser
Brooklyn, and who is now in emma
with the Newark. The letter is dated
July 8, and bears the postmark OF
Shanghai. He says in part:
II have just had a most interesting
little trip. The captain called me in
early the morning of July 4 and told
me to go to Tien Tsin and bring all OF
our wounded men back to the ship. we
still had five men there and they were
all pretty bad off. 1t was the chance
l was looking for, SO I proceeded to
make the most of it. I had five min
utes in which to get ready but made
it all right. I had the cutter take me
to TOngku where got a boat to go up
the river. The ride into TOnku is about
Is miles. 1t is eight miles from here to
the entrance to the river and six or
seven miles from there to our destina-
ton. The trip into the river entrance
is over shallow water and the steam
launch can go in only at high tide. We
got in all right and in about four hours
were in Tongku.
AT the entrance of the river are the
forts where the fight took place and
where the village of Taku is situated.
together with a number of hospitals.
The first thing I said when / saw the
forts was, 'how could any fleet ever
take them?" They seem to be almost
impregnable. There are all sorts Of
forts, forts within forts, with big, high
turrets arranged in the center. They
contain a variety of modern guns in
them and I cannot understand how it
would be possible under ordinary con-
ditions to silence them. On the right
of the entrance where the deep water is
there are three forts, one inside of the
other. The inside one is high and per-
fectly round. They are all built up of
sand. On the left the batteries extend
down the coast for fully mile. The
bOmbardment did not seem to have
hurt them at all, except to ruffle up a
| few places in the sand. The explosives
did not do much damage either.
From Taku to TOngku is a distance
of one mile in a direct line but by the
river it is six miles. There were about
dozen gunboats in the river between
Taku and Tongku. I reported to Cap
tain Wise of the Monocacy, an old
ferry boat which has been converted
into gunboat, as soon as I arrived.
He told me that it was impossible to
get up to Tien Tsin that day. The
boat I was to use had broken down on
account of leaky tubes in her boiler
It was title twin screw boat, a man.
darin's yacht, which we had taken for
our use from the Chinese. I put in the
afternoon looking about Tongku but
did not find much of interest. That
night had my first experience with
China. The whole town is infested
i with heas and they nearly ate me up
i They are much worse than mosquitoes
! Twas up the greater part Of the night
looking after two Of our wounded mer
who had been brought down on ar
English tug. They were put in a Rus.
sian hospital temporarily. It was i'm
possible to get them to our hospital a
Taku that night. There are grewsomt
sights on the river bank on the tril
to Tien Tsin. Along the banks wer,
strewn the dead bodies Of Cinnamon
one about every Is yards, would say
II arrived at Tien Tsin all right will
the aid of a Chinese pilot. I reported
to Major Waller, who has charge o
our marines there. and made arrange
ments to take back the rest Of ou
wounded. You have probably read il
the newspapers long before this of tn
k41r AZ
in this part of the country. All tn
time I was here the big guns wer
going and shells whistling overhead
They were all flying high, however.
started back early in the afternoon 81
did not see much, but the city seemed
to be deserted except for the troops.
"The Chinese have one large gun tina
is doing all the damage but it is wei
hidden and nobody has been able t.
silence it yet. There are about 1900
allied troops in Tien Tsin and more ar
coming here every day. The Chimes
have over $4,000 troops and have rein
forcements on the way. They are sur
to have an army twice as large as tina
of the allies. The Chinese are intrench
ing themselves in the old city an
every day that the attack is put off tn
more difficult will it be to rout them.
"Our marines are the pride of tn
whole force. They can give them al
pointers on how to fight. Next to then
the English and Germans are the bes
fighters, although the Japs have a goo
organization. They are naturally nea
and put up a fair appearance.
II got back to the ship with tn
wounded, not as soon as was expected
but as soon as I could. When re
turned I found the Logan here wit
the Ninth regiment, 1000 men. TIL
Brooklyn has Just arrived"
! Chance to Save a ssV"
Postmaster Salter said to repre-