Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-12-13
EUROPEAN SOLDIERS UNSPEAK-
ABLY CRUEL TO CHINESE.
AMERICANS DARING DEEDS
George A burst of Baltimore in
Charge of Postal Station in China,
Writes of His Experiences and
Some Thoroughly Horrible RecitaIs
They Are Too.

=
in the mailing division of the Balti
more postoffice and now in S:arge OF
the sub-station at Tong-ku, China
writes an interesting letter describing
his experiences in the far east.
Mr.. burst is a son of Mr.. James G
burst, 80 Ostend street Baltimore, and
was appointed to the Chinese station
| in August. He served as a seaman on
! the auxiliary cruiser Dixie during the
war with Spain. He was selected for
| foreign postal service on account OF
his efficiency. Mr.. bursts letter is as
| follows:
Il arrived at Nagasaki, Japan, on
| August after a very pleasant voyage.
| Nagasaki is very pretty town, OF
about $4,000 inhabitants, situated at
| the base of the mountains five miles
inside of a bay. 1t is an excellent
town for ratification, and the Japan
csc have used their best ability to
prepare such defenses, as they think
it only matter OF time when they
will have war with Russia They will
not allow visitors to carry a camera.
Shortly after we arrived Sunday
morning) we went ashore in a sampan
(boaO, got a rickshau and went
through the town. A rickshau is a
small carriage pulled by Jap, who
will keep on dog trot all day, with
out even eating, for the munifce nt
sum of Is cents Mexican (that is the
w
or 81 Mexican $50 cents our money! a
day.
1.-THE Japanese men do all the work
about the house, as well as earn the
living for the family; all the women
do is to mind the babies and cook the
food. The women there are bought
and sold like slaves and are respected
about as much. AS a general rule
they are pretty, but very lazy. While
there l met and called on Mr. Har-
ris, the United States consul, and
found him a very clever gentleman. He
has been consul there for a long time.
Il visited the monument erected to
General Grant by the Japanese gov
eminent at the temple where the gen
raj and his wife each planted a tree
during their trip around the world. We
left Nagasaki on August IL on the
United States transport Indiana, and
after a pleasant voyage of three days
through the Korean strait, Yellow sea
and Gulf of Pechili we dropped anchor
by the largest fleet of vessels l ever
saw. There were 81 all told and every
nation Of any size was represented,
even the Chinese. Where the fleet was
lying seemed to be out in the open
sea, but that was because the land is
so low and the water so shallow that
the vessels have to anchor Is miles
from shore. Next morning we were
transferred from the Indiana to the
Foo Chow, and after a voyage of two
and one-half hours up the bay and a
serpentine river we were landed at
Tongku (Which means syrup.
China, the land OF flowers and
feas; poor China! we'll may you
weep to have to stand idly by and see
your towns devastated by the sword,
your women assaulted and then bay
oneted, your houses looted and your
children tossed from bayonet to bayo-
net like so much hay by the cruel
French, Germans and Russians, who
know no mercy, but are the first to
ask it,
Thank God the Americans are
here! They are the protectors of the
weak, and if. it was not for our glori-
Gus soldier boys and the English this
river would be literally damned up
with the dead bodies of innocent wo-
men and children.
''The trench, Germans and Russians
simply attack towns for the loot they
can get; they do not care whether
there are any Boxers or not, and they
show mercy to none.
But to continue. I left Tongku on
a train that cannot even be com
pared to a second-class American cat
tie train and was whirled on toward
Tientsin at the rapid rate of II miles
an hour Just think of it, 1t took
two and one-half hours to go the %
miles that lie between Tongku and
Tientsin.
And such sights that met my eyes
on the way! Dissolution everywhere
Towns of from 5000 to $4,000 inhabi-
tants few months ago are now out
Of existence, while the river is al
most choked with dead bodies. You
must know that every Chinese house
has dog, and when the people were
driven out they of course left the
dogs behind. The dogs are running at
large, living on dead bodies, and are
almost wild. Indeed, l fear in short
while they will make very dangerous
customers, as they bark and snap at
every living thing they see.
after this tortuous ride l reached
Tientsin, where the hardest fighting
took place. Everywhere as far as the
eye could reach was a solid mass of
ruins. AS for the inhabitants and
general plans of the city l cannot say
anything, ass was only there a few
days when l was put in charge Of the
sub-station at Tongku of the United
States Military Postal Station No. 1.
9Th" only places l visited in Tien-
tsin were Gordon Hall, named in
honor of Gen. Charles George
(Chinese) Gordon, the great British
general; the United States general
field hospital, which is the best euuip-
ped army hospital in China, and the
commissary department of the United
States Army which is also the bpct