The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-08-07
THE GONGER CIPHER DISPATCH
Onsul Fowler secures the Original
1t Was Dated July 18th.

Washington, August 3.-The state
department to-day issued the follow
ing:
THE state department has received
a dispatch from Mr.. Fowler, dated at
night on the End of August, stating
that when he learned from the Shang-
hal papers that doubts were enter
tanned of the g~enuineness of the Con-
ger cipher telegram he wired on the
9th to the governor Of Shan Iung to
e him the original by courier. The
governor at once complied with his re-
quest, sending a special postman who.
by travelling night and day for five
days, made the journey which in Ordi-
nary times would have required twelve
days. He delivered to Mr.. Fowler the
original of the Conger cipher dispatch.
1t is signed by Mr.. Conger and dated
h 18th of July. 1t is precisely the
same as the message received at the
state department with several words
prefixed which came in an ~unintelligi-
BILE form to the Chinese legation here
The dispatch in its complete form says
that the members of the American le-
CATION had been besieged for q
month in the British legation. Mr..
Fowler has no doubt Of the genuine
ness Of h dispatch
Some interesting facts connected
with the original cipher message have
been brought to light by Mr.. Fowler's
report 1t appears that when Minister
WI received the cipher message about
h 21st instant he found that it con-
tanned a cipher within a cipher. The
governor of Shan Tung, Yuan, ans
mitted with h Message a message
from the Tsung Ii Yamen, which in
tut transmitted Mr.. Conger's mes
sage. The latter waS in the state de-
partment cipher; the formr in the
Chinese official cipher. When Mr.. WI
in deciphering h message reached
the end of the Tsung Lii Yamen's mes
sage of transmittal he was Of
the fact and thought that the several
groups of figures following were a
portion of the Tsung Lii Yamen's
message. AS a matter of fact,
they were the initial words of
Mr.. Conger's message and, therefore,
were undecipherable by Mr.. WI be-
cause they We're in state department.
cipher. Instead of beginning: In the
message really began I'VE have been
for a month in the British legation,
etc"
Another fact developed is that the
message was signed "E. H. Conger,
July 17th." Many persons had supposed
that, while the message was genuine,
it was one written by Conger long be-
fore and that it had been f~raudulently
dated by the Chinese officials. Now it
appears that the Tsung Ii Yamen, or
Yuan, did date it the 18th. 1t is
thought that this date was accurate
and that while Mr.. Conger actually
wrote his dispatch on the 18th and put
in cipher for transmission at the first
opportunity, the message did not
leave Pekin until the following day.
MINISTER'S TO BE KILLED IN
CASE OF ADVANCE.
Shanghai August 2.-Liu Kun vi,
viceroy of Nan King and Sheng, ad-
Illustrator of telegraph and railways,
and. Tao Tai of Shanghai, AVE both
declared officially that the foreign
ministers are held 10y ' Chinese gov
ernment as hostages ID that If the
allies march to Pekin they will be kill
ed.
London, August 3.-The Parliament
airy secretary for the foreign Office,
Mr.. Brodrick said to-day in the house
of that the had
no fresh information from China 1t
was not true, he said, that operations
by the allies were delayed by h Brit
iSh contingent. On h contrary, the
last information from General GaSelee
was to the effect that his troops We're
| ready would shortly advance, n
that he anticipated the cooperation
of the allies.