The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-12
WAR RUMORS IN gHEFOO
Wild Tales From the Front Keep
the Town Stirred Up.
A New Crop Springs Up Every Time
"A ship Is siGhted-The Hotels and
Private Houses Crowded With
RefuEees-Strong Position of the
CITY Forts-Thc American consul.

RefuEees-Strong Position Of the
CITY Forts-Thc American >onsuI
CHEFOO. June 26.-Naturally this town
Is full of excitement Rumors are born,
run their full course. ana die faster than
large staff can run them down. 1t is
curious how it all happens. \ ship sighted
from the north is almost certain TO be the
bearer of news. Before she can reach her
anchorage the first accounts of what she
has to tell are lodging about the streets
and over the stone walls from compound 10
compound. Ii you question the man who
gays Have you heard the latest news?''
he replies with ready tongue that it was
signaIed from the ship to the statioE on
the bluff before the ship anchored After
a while part of the news the ship actually
brings comes ashore by way of the board
ing officer of the customs and port offices.
That starts a new crop of rumors, based
on the rumors about Taku when she sailed.
BY and by the agent gets another batch,
which Immediately multiplies into a
myriad Finally the official dispatches
come along to one consulate or the other
there are nine here-and in the course of
a few minutes, or hours, as the case may
be. bulletin is posted with what the Con-
sui thinks advisable to make public. That
starts on what very quickly becomes a
devious course. Most of the consulates-
all those which get information from the
front-are on the bluff. By the time the
official report gets down into form its au-
thor in Taku would have difficulty in recog'
MIXING il. This is natural enough. espe-
cialiy when one considers the mistakes
that the official bulletin makers in Taku
make themselves. This mornings occur
renee is a sample japanese torpedo boat
got in from Taku about . O'Clock. She
brought dispatches, of course, from all the
admirals in the big fleet at Taku- They
went to the Japanese Consul for distribu-
ton With them the Consul sent a letter
to each OF the other Ccnsuls. The letter
to Mr.. Fowler the American Consul, con-
tained the information that Admiral Sey-
mour's party was surrounded about ten
miles from Pehin. This accompanied de-
spateh from Admiral Kempff to MIR Fowler
saying that Admiral Seymour was sur
rounded about ten miles from Tientsin,
ard that force of British and Americans
had marched 10 his relief.
Correspondents of All sorts
Chefoo is full of newspaper men. pro-
fessional and otherwise. Five of us came
up from Shanghai on a steamer which got
in yesterday morning The three Amer
leans are professionals, the Englishman is
clerk in the Hongkong and Shanghai
bank at Hongkong who gets furlough be-
cause OF the slack times due TO the dis
turbances and comes up TO represent that
great British public institution, the Lon
don Times" The Australian is a rowing
racing man. who does bit OF correspond
ence" for a London agency now and then
between race meets along the coast or
when anything big enough happens to offer
better certainty than the tickle fortune
Of the track. The Times" man was edu-
Gated in London for his billet in Hong
kong and talked wisely on the trip up
from Shanghai about the situation and its
antecedents. Chinese names dropped as
nfmbly from his tongue as acrobats from
a circus springboard. He knew the great
coup d'etat by heart and why it was made
And that is all right for TO anyone who
understands the mazes and intricacies of
the great labyrinth of exchange, whose
centre is the Hongkong and Shanghai
Bank, there should be no puzzle in the
pames OF Governors, Viceroys and Taotais
and their interdependent relations. The
Englishman was a bit apprehensive as TO
his success, deprecatingly referring 10 his
status as an amateur; but he had cheer
full reliance on the fact that he was for
the Times, which speedily showed itself
TO be well founded. The Australian knew
everybody worth knowing along the whole
coast. and all about everybody and every
thing else. He had a kit bag such as the
bushmen in his native heath use. and he
understood all kinds Of hiking. The Aus
trian count. who was educated at oxford
and happened to be out this way on a
globe-trotting expedition, came along to
join the chaps from the Austrian cruiser
Zenta and see what fun he could.
Crowds of Refugees.
We got into Chefoo in the morning and
found the Japanese steamer sagam. Maru
with the peter to the fore. She is on the
Tientsin line and We made a lively scram-
bic to find if she were bound there The
gunboat Yorktown was the sole defender
of Chefoo. Commander Taussig had been
having a lively time of it. The Zenta had
come in from Taku the afternoon before
and the British despatch boat Humber
had brought refugees down from Pc tai
no. There is no room for anyone in Che
foo; hotels, boarding houses. and private
places are full, and lot of missionaries
are sleeping in one of the big godos. So
thc went Ou 10 Nel-udi-
The Zenta started back for Taku. and
then came the German and British Coasus
to Commander Taussig and told him Chefoo
was TO be attacked by the Chinese imperial
troops and Boxers that night. The in
formation came through missionaries
whose sources were infalIible. Commander
Taussig made preparations TO do what he
could. Seventy men were got ready to
land under command of Lieutenant Com
mander Bowyer, executive officer of the
Yorktown. Boats were armed. hayersacks
and canteens flied, everything got ready
for business at the shortest notice. Am
munition was served TO the Yorktown
guns, and the men slept at their stations.
But there was no attack. Commander
Taussig had seen the Taotai and had told
him very plainly that if there was an at
tack on the foreign settlement Chinese
Chefoo would be destroyed utterly and
some foreign power would annex the
country about II certainly. The Taotai
said he was for peace and hoped there
would be no trouble. There had been
golngs-on at the forts for several days and
nights which greatly excited the foreigners
especially the missionaries. Reports were
coming in constantly that more and more