Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-12
BROKE PROMISE
FRENCH TROOPS WERE RUSHED
INTO PAC TING Flu.
WERE TO WAIT FOR OTHERS.
Story Of the Desperate March, The
Capture, and Execution of
Chinese Malcontents.

Tien TSln. November o.--Ine lntefna-
tional expedition to Pao Ting Flu. by
some deemed to be a necessary tactical
movement, in quest of the unfortunate
Green family, after repeated postpone
ments. has at last become a part of the
history of the yellow terror" Of 1900.
Lack of transport facilities on the part
of the Germans delayed the move until
October IL, when from Pekin and Tien
Tsin there started simultaneously three
columns to accomplish what should have
been done a month previously. had the
commander at Tien Tsin been allowed to
move when ready to do so. The lien
Tsin columns were commanded by Gen.
Batlond. of the French army, and Major
Gen. Lorne Campbell. the former taking
a direct route TO the north of the water
way to Pao Ting Flu and the latter a
more ~circuitous route to tine south OF
the same. Gen. Ballond owed his COM
mand to somewhat peculiar circumstan-
ces. News had been received that a
French column vas already moving to
Pao Ting Flu Independently and alone.
To Illustrate this action the command of
the Tien Tsin columns was offered TO
Gen. Ballond and accepted on the dis
tinct understanding that the French col
umn alluded to be halted until the arriv-
al of the allies. who. on reaching their
destination. would be commanded by
Gen. Sir Alfred Gaselee, commanding the
column from Pekin. German and 1tal-
ian troops and British India troops with
a battery of Royal Horse artillery. a
small number of the Australian contin-
gent and a battery of two pompom guns.
Accompanying ~CampbelIs command
the route lay southwest through Tu Lui.
destroyed by the roops 4 month previ-
ously. to the walled city Of Wen An Sien.
in the vicinity of which it was claimed
the Chinese imperial troops had dis
persei the Boxers some five days before
our arrival, intlicting heavy losses. At
Ma Chou, a small walled CITY. on the
18th of October, Gen. Campbell received
a letter from Gen. Ballond, stating that
the French had occupied Pao Ting Flu
on the 18th inst, without opposition,
having anticipated the actions of the al
lies. and brok the premise that they
would await other commands. On the
18th, Wen An Sien was occupied. On
the 10th, the rear guard OF the column,
while leaving the city, having been de-
laEed by baggage transport, was treat
ed to a somewhat hostile demonstration,
some hundreds of the 'tc~wnspeople gath
cred about them. one man endeavoring
to incite he crowd to action. This
Would-be leader was somewhat severely
handled and the guard moved out with
out further annoyance. After a most
d~isa Sreeable march on the 2Uti, through
a dust storm of unWonted severity. end
ing in a blizzard of rain and sleet. rem
defing the going heavy and dangerous,
Fac Ting Flu was reached on the 21st of
October, after a march of 100 miles
through a country which but FOR an ex-
ceptionally dry season, Would have been
absolutely impossible, many miles of the
route being described or the Chinese ard
foreign maps as lakes and marshes. Upon
arrival we found the Pekin colunln
camped on a plain at the noCHWest cor
ner of the city, outside the walls and
on the END We camped alongside Gen.
Gaselee's column. Though Pao Ting Flu
mad been occupied without opposition. it
was plainly apparent to the most casual
observer that the Chinese were in a very
disturbed state. Europeans going
through the city We're received with inso-
lent and insulting remarks ana on sever
al occasions were the object Of splitting,
a ~faycrite form of insult.
The Tan Fl, or chief provincial treas
ury official, the Manchu commander of
the forces and the chief magistrate of
Tien Tsin. We're found within the city
and an international court Of inquiry
was Instituted to determine their guilt
in regard to the murders at Pao Ting
Flu during the first week of July.
This court sat behind closed doors and
no correspondents were allowed to be
present or even to be in the vicinity of
the building in which the ribunal sat
a course of procedure which is certainly
foreign TO British ideas.
The result of this inquiry became
known on the 18th inst, when the three
officials We're condemned to be hung for
their actions in regard to the Europeans
at Pao Ting Flu inc Tien Tsin, the sem
fences being referred to Field Marshal
vonWaldersee for his approval. The Fan
III was degraded on that date by being
compelled to walk through the streets of
the city under escort to the place of his
confinement. On the same day Is known
participants in the Pao Ting Flu atroci-
ties We're publicly shot. While this was
going on, patrols were securing the
west and south, and while en-
gagged in this way on the 23rd inst, a
patrol of the Sixteenth Bengal lancers,
was fired upon from a fortified village,
Ku Sha WI, some % miles northwest of
Pao Ting F'u, and three of the men were
wounded, one severely. On the oath of
October a small force of some go men
with one pompom under command of
Lieut.. Col. Phayre, 3rd Bombay cavalry,
left Pao Ting Flu to take and destroy
ed the village. Reaching Ehu Cheng the
Same evening on the 25th, an early start
was made and the pompom commenced
Smelling the town about s a. m, the de-
tachment of the Goth Punjaub infantry
entering and the 3rd Bombay cavalry
executing a flank movement to the
right and left. A few shots were fired
from the town at the pompom and some
firing took place on a small hill behind
the town, and in the valley beyond a
large Jingal fired upon the cavalry. The
losses to the Chinese must have been