The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-30
MAD CARNIVAL OF LOOT
Soldiers and Civilians Scramble
Wildly In Tien TSin.
RUSH OVER DEAD BODIES
SCENE OF DESoLATIoN IGNORED
IN CHASE FOR sPoILS.

Correspondence of the Associated Press)
Ten Tsin. China. July 1.-THE an
Gent STONE walls Of the Chinese CITY
Of Ten Tsin. surrounded on the davs
OF its occupation by the allied troops.
square mile of such filth. ruin and
death. such turmoil and pillage as his
tory could hardly duplicate. Under
normal conditions the place was no
better than a huge cesspooI, fostering
with the accumulated rubbish and slops
from a population of nearly 1,OOOO 1000,
packed into a labyrinth of novels
| around the palaces of viceroys and
petty Tao Tais, who absorbed their
wealth. and gave them not even sew
ers N return. Now it is the fncarne-
Ilon OF all the suffering, horrors aud
waste OF war.
The European soldiers. when they
| Lougnt their way un to the walls, saw
hoatlng IN the canals and bitches out
side dozens of Chinese slain by their
own people because they refused to
fight. The bodies were headless and
their hands were tied behind their
| backs. The heads were discovered
afterwards. Rows of them decorated
tails.
Five flags were flying from the high
pagodas on the city walls when the |
newspaper correspondents entered, the |
French, Japanese American, Russian |
and British.
1t was hard enough to get those flags
uD there" remarked a foreign officer |
but the real trouble will be to get |
them down.
Bodies on All Sides.
The suburbs of the city presented a !
fOretaSte Of what was inside. Shells |
had torn the houses and plowed the |
ground, while the dead men scattered |
about among dead horses, pigs and /
dogs, testified how thoroughly the bull |
lets had swept the region the day be- 7
fore.
The sights inside compelled respect |
for the fighting qualities of the Chi /
nese. Their dead were everywhere.
Dressed in the coarse blue coOlie blouse |
and trousers. decorated with charac-
tiers guaranteed to render them invul- !
nerable to foreign bullets, they were /
StreWn along the TOP of the wall |
wherever they had fallen. Walking a
quarter Of a mile along the embank-
ment, the bodies averaged one in ten
Feet and the wall was nearly ten miles
LONE
Throughout the city the demolished |
houses and hundreds of killed gave evil
dence of how vastly more effective had
been the foreign shell fire within the
walls of'the city than the Chinese bonn
bardment of the foreign settlement.
which, lasting for month, had killed
only dozen persons. The viceroy had
constructed in the palace yard two
comfortable and imoenetrable bomb
proofs, excavations guarded by sand
bags, but the common people were
less fortunate.
Chinese Trample on Bodies.
Many women and children were lying
dead in the streets torn terribly by
ShrapneL The living Dopulace were
utterly Indifferent to them. They would
not take the trouble to drag them out
OF the streets, or even cover them with
mating as a foreign soldier did after
wards, but trampled them under foot
without bOthering to turn them aside
Before the shooting in the streets
was finished, thousands of Chinese had
emerged from their burrows, carrying
white flags, or the flags of foreign ma
tons. principally the Japanese.
e Most remarkable of all the sights
was the looting of the city; the middle
Of the place was like an ant hill kicked
open. Chinese swarmed everywhere,
thousands and thousands Of them;
diving into the flames Of the burning
shops, getting under falling walls end
into choking clouds Of smoke. Most of
them were half naked, grimy with
smoke and sometimes dripping with
blood. They were piled upon one an
other The Chinese who would win
prize must fight his way; other Chinese
Will sDrin2 upon him and pluck his
piunder. They rolled among the cOrpses
mn fr1- 1y4~1
ing tramoled down, cried for help and
the mob poured right along over them.
Hob Rushes Into Shops.
The palaces. the mint, the pawn
shops, the stores of silks, fTrs and
jewelry were the first objects of attack.
Near the middle of the city was the
most prosperous pawn shop, an insti-
tuition that had probably existed for
centuries Wealthy Cinnamon were ac-
custOmed to store their winter clothing
there for safe keeping. When the doors
were battered down the mob flowed in
like tidal wave. There were British
officers. naval and military soldiers
and sailors with a good sprinkling of
sikhs, but principally Chinese In a
twinkling all was Dandemonium. The
Chinese knew where the best treasure
was TO be found and the soldiers fol-
lowed them. Two forces cOllided in the
gateway, a rush line of Chinese strug-
Cling to enter and another line fighting
to get out with great armfuls of loot,
while an occasional soldier went
through the crowd like one of the
Broadway squad. Tien Tsin expert
enced a sweeping redistribution of
wealth. but on the old. scheme of the
prizes to the strongest.
Chinese Are Held Up.
Looters flourished for three DAYS. On
the first day ii was entirely UnreStrain-
ed. Many white people accumulated
stacks Of goods by simply standing at
the city gates and holding up the best
laden Chinese from the endless pro-
cession that flowed out. Pack horses.
carts, rickshaWs, collies loaded with
trunks and sacks and piled with loose
silks, furs and bronzes, crowded all !
the roads leading down to the settle
ment. English officers rode with their
horses concealed under dry goods
boxes. and soldiers slung bundles on
their bayOnets.
On the second day a conference of
officers decided TO ADOPT
measures. The commanders,
except the French. empowered the
British, who were doing the provost !
duty, to sieze all loot. This order the
British attempted to execute by hold
ng up the looters as they entered the 5
and reported the names of claimants
for future inquiry. Naturally this step
grumbling, particularly !
Z