Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-01
Tien Tsin's Treasure Trove and Its
New Owners.
OFFICIAL PLUMBER AND OTHERWISE
An Orgie Of Robbery and Crime in
Homes and Shops.
MEN TU RNED DE M 0 Ms
Copyright, 1907

Copyright. 1901
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
TEN T'SIN, July II, 1900
This is the tale of how the yellow people
of Ten Tsin parted with their property. II
is not 10 ne understood. of course, that they
gave IL up willingly, but 1t Is gone. just the
same In some cases the divorce from
property may prove only temporary. In
most instances. however. the transfer Of
title will doubtless prove to be permanent
The captured walled city has been given
over 10 footing. There has been a carnival
Of H. Chinese who were wealthy a few
days ago-wealthy. that Is. from the Chi
nese standpont-are paupers today. They
are tearing their hair and saying worse
things about the foreign devils than ever
the Boxers said. And all because simply
colossal fortune, collectively. has found new
owners, 1t seems absurd, Of course. but
the Chinese have a foolish notion against
parting with their goods and chattels unless
some sort OF compensation is offered.
The military headquarters have been
thronged with vofuble complainants- A few
of the Chinese put or bold front when
they enter the presence of the potentates
Of bayonets. Most of them, though, come
in dismay and trembling al first, for they
fear that they will be shot on sight for
da ring to complain. Once they get in the
presence OF military COMMANDERS and find
that their lives are not in imminent danger
merely because of their woes they pluck up
heart and begin to fire brpadsides of indig-
alton. They arraign the thieving fore gn
devils voluby in Chinese, talk for some
minutes uninterrupted ard then are talked
back at in English. German. Japanese,
Italian. Austrian, French or Russian
A visitor at the English headquarters lis
tered to the jargOn for few moments, then
turned To "A British officer and inquired:
What's the prevailing language in this
town."
''Volapuk' was the answer
No sooner had the last shot been fired in
the walled city of Tien Tsin, and the for
eign troops were in possession, than the
riot OF loot began. Even before the allies
entered. many of the Chinese merchants
and bankers had escaped with such valu-
abes as they could carry. Those whose
goods We're more ponderable, or who were
afraid to venture into the tumultuous out
side world. remained behind. barricading
their heavy wooden doors for the most
part.
The trouble probably began by some of
the troops of the allies finding public and
private houses open They entered out of
curiosity. found articles of more less
value and then became keen for a sys-
tematic money-making hunt. The greatest
OF the hooters. however. were the Chinese
themselves. Bare-legged coolies Of the low
est class were found in houses which not
two centuries of their toll would have pur-
chased They boldly proclaimed themselves
the owners and claimed all in sight for
themselves. In many cases these pseudo
owners were unceremoniouSly hustled out
and their self-clamed goods taken in
charge of by uniformed foreigners. The
streets were full of Chinese carrying off
thirgs which II was morally certain they
could not AFFORD to own. The mud novels of
the poorer classes are known to be full of
stolen property that will make them rich
hy-and-hy. il they are allowed to keep their
offerings.
II was Sunday. and Christian troops who
were sent here for the presumable purpose