The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-11-10

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 worked for him was master of his
 goods, and ransacked and robbed at his
 will. Then the stronger fighting mar
 impartially and without toll robbed the
 coolie
 The cross of St. George flying above
 the north gate threw a shadow over the
 street of the silk merchants and the
 bowling, struggling, fighting mob. In- side the gate half a dozen buildings on fire sent up masses of black smoke spotted with fame The smoke clouds | had obscured the sun and turned sthe
 day a dull gray, the color of the city, Bundles and bales of silks torn open in
 the incessant street squabbles added
 their bright hues to the gorgeous colors
 of the rich clothing strewn about by
 those whose first greed had been satis- | fled, and now were captious in choos-
 ing. Whole bolts of brilliant red or
 deep blue brocades, stiff and heavy and rustling, were strung about where they
 had been unrolled for the casual in-
 spection of a passing coolie.
 Into the midst of this scramble came
 the jack tars of Her Gracious Majesty
 the Queen of England, rifles In the
 elings over their shoulders, both hands | free, straw hats on the back of the | head, eyes of amazement and grins of | pure delight. Silk in rolls was new to | them, but the first torn bundle was the
 clew. Instantly the Chinese recognized
 the new element, the advent of the
 master spirit. Coolie after coolle, hur-
 rying to his hutch as fast aa he could, no tr., so,,@x L. T
 the first white man he met. The sailor men filled their arms and piled 1t up about their feet, calling to their fellows
 to get cart or bring some of their
 mates to help carry the stuff away.
 They chose 1t without regard to color or
 quality or condition. A green roll of silk was as good as yellow coat and
 white fou or black made no difference to them This was the street of the silk merchants on the afternoon of the day that Tien-Tsin was taken
 Everywhere throughout the city it was the same-the Chinese were the first to find the loot; they knew the way. Then came the soldiers and took
 1t from them. Not all; that was im- possible. There were not men enough in the allied forces to do that, but here and there a little, a selection of this and a sample of that, and of 1t all great pile, but only the fraction of It, tie part of the whole. Hundreds of Chinese who had been slaves all their lives got plunder enough to make them independent, and their families after them. The foreigners only nibbled at the edge of the pie; the natives gobbled it all and licked up the last crumb.
 Among the foreigners there was little difference in method at the start. All seemed more or less diffident, mindful that footing is not recognized in the modern articles of war If there had been men enough to establish guards all about the city it is probable that the Chinese would not have had such a riot of robbery. But it was a Chinese city after all; and when the Chinese were footing 1t themselves, why should not the men who had fought to take it have a chance? Tommy probably did not think it out for himself along such lines. He merely saw mob of coolies running off with stuff he would like, and he took it, simply and directly, be- | cause he wanted 1t and could get it. From this general rule there were only two exceptions, the British and the Japanese. The British footed officially, and the Japanese hardly at all. Every | where through the city yesterday after noon and this morning, where plunder | was to be had, British officers ,wan- | dered about with stretcher parties of | their men, gathering up what goods they could find. The Japanese looked | on but held aloof; only now and then would man be seen with loot, and even then rarely of any value.
 It was in the afternoon of yesterday that it got into the blood of the sol- tiers The civilians from the settle ments, who had been hiding in their cellars while the fighting was going on, now came out boldly enough and sought to "recompense ourselves for our losses" They knew the city as we'll as the Chinese, and the soldiers soon learned to follow them. Gun putt, hammer nose and axe head were he working tools and not doors nor ocks withstood the assault. Little by title, by this squeeze and that few ash here, a few cents there, a few dol lars in some other place, the Chinese had won their store mostly from the foreigners. Now at one swoop the for signers were getting it back. At the and official treasures the off ,ial guards were posted. In due time official accounting will be made for the reasure thus taken. and it will help to pay the expenses of the taking. It was he individual among the takers who vas paying his individual expenses low.
 To-day the British have shown all he rest of the world what it is to loot The roads from the city 0 the settlement have been traversed Il day by men bringing in their loot. fangs of impressed coolies, with rick haws, carts, wheelbarrows, every kind f carrying contrivance known to man r Chinese, have been coming into the British honcession with treasure heaps f all the city held.
 In the footing of Tien-Tsin the Japa- ese were the best behaved of the eight ations represented. One of our own fficers said to me:
 Tt is pretty tough for the represen- ative of a Christian nation to have to tand as I did to-day, and hear Jap-