New-York tribune., 1900-08-11
THE PEKING EXPEDITION.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR CARE OF SICK
AND WOUNDED.
A LARGE AMOUNT OF SICKNESS EXPECTED
ON ACCOUNT OF THE CLIMATE
NEED OF REINFoRCEMENTS
Try TELEGRAPH TO rHh rRrBUNr.I

|
in North China that were made public had
| been received either at the War Department or
| the Navy Department at late hour tonight,
but the signs of military preparation and ac-
! tivity were as apparent as ever, and the heads
/ of the supply departments of the Army held
frequent conferences with the Secretary of War
! and the Adjutant- t-General 1t is desirable t.
| get the wounded and all who seriously sick
| among the troops away from the unhealthful
| climate of China a. practicable and into
a more favorable climate. where they can re-
| ceive more careful medical and surgical treat
ment. To this end the hospital transport Relief
! has been sent to Taku to receive the wounded
! and seriously sick at that place and at
| Tien-Tsin and Yang-Tsun and arrangements
are being made to transfer them TO Nagasaki
or Yokohama or some other place in Japan. If
the hospitals at the two places named are un-
able to furnish suitable and sufficient accommo-
| dations, buildings will probably be rented in
Japan by the Government and fitted up for that
purpose
No official report has yet been received of the
actual or probable number of sick and wounded
! for which such provision must be made, but II
| is expected to be unusually large, compared
with the total number of troops sent to China,
on account of the insaIubrity of the climate and
| the almost complete absence of good drinking
water Unofficial advices received from Tien-
Tsin are to the effect that a good many or the
men already unfit for duty on account Of the
poisonous nature of the water they are COM
PEELED to use. which has produced many cases
of dysentery and malaral fever of a Vlrulent
type. Field and general hospital outfits sur
fcient for three or four hundred cases have
already been landed at Taku together with large
supplies of hospital medical and surgical stores
and supplies and more than hundred medical
officers and Hospital Corps men. In view or
this provision it was somewhat surprising to
read this morning in a London dispatch the
statement made by a Tien-Tsin correspondent
of The Telegraph under date of August D.
that the Americans lack surgeons" AS the
same dispatch says that the Americans also lack
"a signal corps and the first news of the
capture of Yang-Tsun was flashed over an
army telegraph wire within hour after the
fight ended, which wire laid by detach-
ment of the United States Signal Corps it may
be that the correspondent was no better in
formed as to the surgeons than he to the
Signal Corps.
RUMORS OF ADVANCE FROM NORTH.
According to Yokohama press dispatches, pub
lished in London to-day, "a Russo-Japanese
column is moving Pekng from the north"
The officials of the War Department do not ap
pear to take much interest in the frequent
ports that a column is advancing on Peking
I from the north. First it was a Japanese col
umn, next a Russian column then again
| Japanese column and now these mysterious col
umns having apparently united, appear as the
Russo Ja Japanese column in the dispatches The
authorities in Washington will be highly graf
flied if this column ever appears under the walls
of Picking OF anywhere else except in press dis
I patches from the Orient for they all say that
they have other information concerning it's
movements The distance from Shan Hal Kwan
by the military road, which runs some dis
tance inside the Great Wall, to Pekng is
about two hundred and twenty five miles, and
the road is said to be a good one by persons
| familiar with the region il traVerses. Some of
the Japanese officers are acquainted with the
route.
According to a London press dispatch pub
! lished here this afternoon, the Chinese troops
| at Yang-Tsun were 10000 strong and were
under the command of the Chinese general Ii
Ping Heng. the former Governor of Shan-Tung.
This is the same man who, according TO Chinese
reports few days ago, was responsible for the
! beheading Of two members of the Tsung-li-
Yamen who friendly to the foreigners If
| he is outside the walls of Peh-ng and the i'm
perial authorities are acting in good faith. they
can and will keep him outside and allow the in
ternational forces to deal with him.
REINFORCEMENTS PROBABLY NEEDED
An officer of the War Department who should
! know said, response to a question to-day
that the Department had no official information
as to the present effective strength of the in
! ternational force at Taku, Tien-Tsn and be-
yOnd. He intimated that it would probably
| have TO be reinforced, even if it should not
! have any fighting to do, If it was TO be
! employed as an escort to protect the Ministers
| and other foreigners on journey from Pekng
| to the coast, and that good deal of additional
| transportation would have be provided unless
! the railroad could soon be repaired and put in
! running order. More wagon trains have already
been ordered from Manila, and It is hoped that
! additional reinfOrcements Of troOps-amOrs
! them battalion of the 18th Infantry will ar
! rive at Taku within the coming week
1T. 1t is s, not to be Be. forgotten thot the Journey
any circumstances unless the railroad is in
| operation, and that in the OF the Ministers
! difficult and tedious one. There eight hun
! dred of the foreigners two hundred of whom
! and children besides three thousand
native Christians. The foreigner. ere exhausted
: ny the priVatiCns incident to state of siege
/ which has lasted nearly two months and many
: Il then. wounded or sick and must be ten
derry cared fo" throughout the journey. Proba-
: bly, the native Christians are In a better cOndi-
! tiOn ply siCay than the foreigners and they
! may be able to shift for themselves until the
end of the journey is reached. The losses of the
| American marines-twenty-thre out Of fifty
six, or Al per cent-shoW that the siege has been
severe, and indicate that the total number or
| sick and wounded to be transported may exceed
one hundred.
| INSURANCE WAR RISK CONTINGENCIES.
American life insurance companies that do
ing business in China are contemplating assuming
risk contingencies. 1t is recognized that
Cinnamon already insured could compel the COM
panes additional risk upon payment OF
the increased premium. But just what the in
crease would be Of the companies yet
prepared to say. That Is matter be deter
mined by the actuares. but yet they have not
ton. While the life insurance business in China
is considerable, it has been for the part re-
ness Of the companies To risk much in that haz-
ardous country The people of no other nation
] charged so much for Insurance as the Chinese
-s--