Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-07-13
Copyright. Associated Press.

CHE FOO, July 8.-An artillery duel
Is proceeding at Tien Tsin. The Chi
nese guns are so masked that the allies
find difficulty in locating them.
A homogeneous army of half the
strength of the allied forces could do
better work than is being done by
them The operations are dangerous
ly handicapped and the safety OF the
city is imperiled by lack OF organiza-
ton and the want of one commander
to control all the forces. The repre-
Bentatives of the several nations man
age their civil and military affairs
largely without cooperation. The
ranking officer of each nationality has
absolute jurisdiction over the opera
lions of his governments troops.
Questions of policy are discussed daily
at international conferences which
have not the power to enforce the
wishes of the majority
Admiral Seymour's method of COM
handing is to make requests which the
other commanders generally follow,
but there have been instances OF the
ranking officers holding aloof from
operations of which they disapproved.
There is a great need of more troops.
The present force of 10000 men is at
tempting to hold line fifteen miles
long around the city, There is also
great need of rebuilding the railroad
to Taku and getting artillery equal to
the guns with which the Chinese are
daily bombarding the allies positions.
The weeks work resulted in a SUBJ
stantial gain for the Chinese, as the
allies lost sixty men and succeeded in
accomplishing nothing. Yesterday
furnished new .a-t.iGe
Illustration of the Weakness
of the present methods A majority
of the commanders had agreed that it
was imperative to attack the native
city beyond the foreign settlements
and to destroy the artillery therein
which menaced the settlements The
but was postponed because the Rus
sian commander considered his men
unfit for the duty after their recent
work. 1t was again fixed for yesterday
morning but was postponed because
credible reports were in circulation
that 1000 regulars from the northwest
had reinforced the Chinese.
Meantime the Chinese had removed
two big guns on the fort near to the
native city and had planted four in the
open near the east arsenal, two miles
away. These shelled the city for four
hours, sending in more than 100 Shells
They got the range of the public build
ings and of the club houses used as
hospitals and dropped shells all about
them. Fortunately, most of the shells
were defective and failed to burst, and
the others had small radius of effec-
tiveness.
In the absence of a concerted plan
the Russians sent few companies of
Cossacks, with two field guns, and the
Japanese battery of six three-pound-
ers and two companies of infantry.
supporting the English 12-pounders
from H. NJ. S. Terrible to silence them.
The Terribles guns failed to get an
effective position and the Russians had
one gun dismounted and
Four Men Killed
early in the engagement The Japan
csc were confident that they silenced
the guns in the open, but it appeared
to the onlookers that these guns fired
the last shots as the Japenses were re-
firing. The Russians lost heavily and
tie Japanese had one killed and twelve
wounded ! The Chinese threw a few
shells into the Getty this morning TO
show that they were still alive.
A British officer described the stu
alton as chaos. He said: I'VE have
wasted many days in politeness, and it
is time to do something" There is
nc disagreement among the command
ers, but in the absence of a definite
head several of them are disposed to
follow their own methods, and they
simply abstain from operations con-
trary to these methods. The foreign
population is greatly aroused concern
dTg this apparent apathy While the
city is being bombarded they are like
~ to suffer heavily, and they cannot
understand the apparent negligence of
the governments to furnish relief and
why reinforcements are not coming on
faster. The Americans are particular
~ dissatisfied, because they have one
OF the smallest representations, their
interests being second to none. One
experienced officer said: ut is impos-
sible to realize at home that there has
been more real war here than in Cuba
or the Philippines.
The Germans have occupied and
raised their flag over the imperial uni
yersity of Tien Tsin. The officers of
the university are Americans. The
Vf(lr0v docdod tho rro,,o~t,, - 49,.