The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-12-16

~ ri
NUS, Such long muzzIa-I G-'Iu!LLu as tia
aS Oailei Boone used in hi rifles
Kentucky, and hundreds IN us hglt fo-
gun OF apparently pure sIhgals
IloH. Inns weapon is eight fs-.e lnyeu-
more, and shoots a. bali .ze' long 07
IN diameter. Most of m, oul an inch
muzzIe-loadeTs. but at Tie, e1I-sdls are
were good many new breaoL ~ there
Win nreech lock that cor,t.tI- oadsrS.
principles OF the Mauser rff,o'ied The
"a HiS suns IN service in orIr -1 Tie
III me HShung before Tier navy.
-. 49, al" avs talking ab,r. 'Ir
great number Of One-poundarso y, The
Chinese had, but after ~ that The
taken 1t turned out that rbs,- o-ly Vas
gingals. '''ey Were an
When the new eQuipnar+
purchased the rifles were iy.' was trs.
10 men IN the regular army - only
otner OF the provinces. who - one OF
foreign instruction. Some 80 Under
the fan OF Tien Tsin. bnyra me before
fine weapons were served 80 lhesa
Boxers IN great numbers In ~ 10 The
part Of the fight when Tfar the me MS,
taken, these rifles played am M m Vas
part, but the event showed ~. 'aat
Well-drilled men were the FRS "a lhe
away, for the last Of the GefarHSo run
made with the old guns and bTarE was was
der. '''a-A Pow
Two things seemed espeois11,-.
prise the soldiers of the allies. ~ ~ sur
nese stood their ground ~ -1 Ca.-
and they handled their guns 1lle,
ably We'll Their artillery prac+ic '--etA h.
amazingly good In the attarL, nm -'a'
Tsin the idea was largely me-. 1l-4
among the American soldiers 10 ,os Lt
they had to do was to go ar rba r-l On
neSe with the old veil and i'm tL. I'll
dash that had sent the FilirfTas s -.Ae
ming so often. and il would an he --'-
It was the common belief thai tn ,r ,l..
nese would fire high and wild ar4 '-.-
great damage would be done. n r-l y
the plan to have the flags Of the ais
hoisted over the city gates at II o'cio,
IN the morning. But the Chinese SIM,
to their work and shot low. with IT,
suit that all that day they repulsed tba
attack In the night, however r.
courage oOzed out and they Quit
Their work with the big Guns r.--
quite as good, in the judgment of me-
experts, as that of the allies. tn
gave one exhibition of accuracv. wiz
the 81 rifle on the morning OF Tur,
that was astonishing. After the rs.
ing Of the west arsenal that nor7i-r-
Admiral Seymour of the British ra,,
and General Fukushima. The TanaDs.s
commander in chief, stood talking ~
gether on top of the brick arch over
the road that leads through the mr5
wall to the city. With them were abo~-
twenty staff officers and uewsp7na-
men. From the pagoda that the Chi
nese used as a watch tower they Ua-a
easily visible. To the north of tb4
city, a mile and d half away. the chi
nese had a battery of 81 guns in q
fort. They opened fire on the little
group on top of the arch. The first shell
was a line shot about seyenty-fve yards
short. The next was almost q line
shot, but just above the arch AT thar
Seymour turned to Fukushima and
said;
They're shooting at US. We had bet
ter get down"
He gave his hand to the little Japan
csc general and started to help him
down. Just as he did so the third shell
exploded squarely on top Of the arch
and a piece of it hit Lieutenant Fair
the admiraTs flag secretary, in the
right arm That set the crowd sCramb-
ling down without waiting for further
ceremony. Just as they all got dow
the fourth shell burst on top Of tn,
arch. That was the last. The Chimes.
saw that their target had escaped ans
ceased firing.
1t was probably the Boxer who intro
duced the element of attack into Chi
nese tactics. Up to his time it was sal.
Of the Chinese, as it was of the Spanish
they never attack" The Boxer
changed al that They did not hest
tate to go I'D TO the very muZzles %
the guns. that is, they did not at frs,
AS long as they held to their idea o.
invulneTability they We're the braves
of the brave, and astOniShingly reck
less. In some of the fights of the Sey
mOUr expedition for the relief Of PeHI
they actually ran on to the bayOnets o
the foreigners. At Tien Tsin they at
tackled repeatedly and with determine
ton. On the night of July l a force es
timated at at least 1900 charged tn
railroad station desperately and va
not beaten off until the japanese mad
a brilliant counter charge.
At PeI1in there was not so much I'm
prOVement in the work Of the Chimes.
This is explained by the fact that Oh
drilled armies were at Tieu TsIn. BE
sides. there was such a confusion
authority at Pekin that no persisten
determined effort could be made Al
ter the relief of the city We found Nv
big warehouses stored with new moo
ern rifles and guns and great Quanuu6
OF ammunition. The whole episode ia
demonstrates what has been said be
fore. that the Chinese can be made
first-rate soldier, but he needs a lot
training of the most patient Sort an
he must have good officers.