Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-08-16

Hand.
WASHINGTON, August 15.-The
tension on the Chinese situation has
been intense throughout the day, for
it Is appreciated by officials that the
crisis has reached an acute stage
which cannot be continued many
hours without bringing word Of mo-
mentous import determining, either
for good or evil, the entire course OF
events. 1t has been day of EXTREMIST
anxiety, of watching and waiting, with
only meagre and fragmentary infor-
nation as to the military and diplo-
matte phases.
One of
The New Developments
to-day was the statement that mes
Sages are being received from Minister
Conger which are not transmitted
through any of our officials in China,
or through the Chinese minister here,
but directly at the State Department.
THESE messages come by the way OF
Tsli-Nan. Some of them cannot be
fully deciphered, and for this reason
the statement cannot be definitely
made that the dispatches sent by the
government to Minister Conger are
received by him. So far as the mess
ages have been deciphered, there is no
indication that Minister Conger re-
ceived any information or dispatches
from our State Department. Nothing
could be learned of the contents of the
dispatches received, although it was
stated there were quite a
Number From Minister Conger,
some coming from the consular Of
f1cers and Gen. Chaffee besides those
which came direct The message
transmitted through Minister WI was
entirely deciphered in the department.
During the course of a conversation
to-day between Secretary Root and
Baron Speck Won Sternburg, the Ger
man Charge d'Affaires, Mr.. Root
gained considerable information con-
corning the route which has yet to be
traversed by the allied armies. Baron
Sternburg told him that Tung-Chow
was a very strong place, and if the
Chinese army should make a stand at
this point the international forces
would find it quite difficult to over
come the forts and walls. While 1t is
not known what resistance may have
been, or will be made to the advance
at Tung-Chow, Secretary Root and
other officials would not be surprised
to learn of
Very Serious Battle
at that place.
1t is said that the German force now
on it's way to China will land in the
vicinity of Lin Yu, Which is directly
east of Pekin. The advantages of this
point are found in the fact that ice
will not interfere with the going and
coming of ships with supplies. 1t also
is said that the road from Lin Yu 10
Pekin is much better than that between
Tien-Tsin and Pekin, as the ground
is higher and the country more suit
able for military operations.
Gen. Chaffee is at Matow, about
twenty miles from Pekin. This was
reached Friday or Saturday, though
the dispatch from Gen. Chaffee, sent
through Admiral Remey, was not
sufficiently definite to locate the exact
time of reaching Matow. But in any
event three or four days have elapsed
since then, and there has been time
for still further advance toward the
imperial city.
The Feeling Among officials
was shown in the extreme circum-
spection thrown about all messages
relating to China and it was announc-
ed both at the State and War Depart
ments that any communications from
Minister Conger or the United States
consuls concerning affairs in China
would not be made public. 1t was ex-
planned that this was in no way due to
any desire to keep from the public in
formation of an important character,
but was based solely on the fact that
the crisis involved so many possibili-
ties of extreme hazard to the eight
hundred legationers in Pekin, that the
greatest caution must be observed
against disclosures which would fur
Their imperil those in danger
The actual developments of the day
consisted Of the Remey despatch here
tofore alluded to. and one from Con-
sui General Goodnow at Shanghai. The
State Department declined to make
known the contents of the Goodnow
despatch. This opened a wide field
for conjecture, the most generally ac-
eepted view being that Mr.. Goodnow
had
Advised Against the Plan
of delivering the legationers outside