The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-11-10
IN MORTAL TERROR
Chinese Situation in an En-
tirely New Light.
How the Natives Are Treated
by the Soldiers.
USED LIKE SLAVES.
When Services Are Needed
They Are Impressed.
Point of Bayonet Used to Make
Them Work.
PULLING A BOAT.
Topeka Soldier Tells How it Is
Drawn by "Chinks.
Graphic Description Ofthe Stu
alton in FloWery Kingdom.

Mr.. and Mrs. Michael Wall OF twenty
fifth and Adams street have received
several letters from their son, Peter
Wall, who is in the volunteer service in
China. The letters depict the situation
in China as it has not before been re-
vealed and two of the letters are here
with reproduced:
Tien Tsin, China, Sept. II, 1900
The night we left Nagasaki on the
Sumner and were out an hour the pipes
burst and filed the hold full of wa
ter The life boats were unlashed and
made ready, everybody woke up and
was brought on deck, then we turned
around and started back without
pilot and arrived safe in the harbor The
out to sea the captain called the crew
up and complimented them for their
bravery the night before.
The trip across the Yellow sea was un-
eVentful until the 18th, when we came
in sight of the allied fleet in the harbor
outside of Taku. There we saw all kinds
of battleships and torpedo boats; some
beautiful ones from almost every ma
ton.
The next day we went ashore and took
the train for Tien Tsin; the cars and en-
CINE are toys compared to ours. They
are all full of bullet holes. All along
the track on both sides as far we
could see there was nothing but graves.
The Chinese bury their dead by placing
the collins on top of the ground and pill
ing cOne-Shaped pile of dirt on top
of them. They are buried everywhere in
the yard and side streets. Out back of
our camp there are four cOffinS that
have been dug up and the bodies exposed.
They are being knocked around. Lying
on the ground are bones and clothes
from the dead bodies.
At Pekin they say after the fight they
could walk the river on the dead Chi
nese bodies they were piled SO thick, and
floating down the river.
lien TSin is mass Of ruins; every
thing knocked to pieces. There is the
walled city CTien Tsin proper; this is
where the arsenal and mint are. The
city is enclosed in a thirty-foOt wall,
centuries old and is falling down l was
out there the other day and went
through the arsenal There are piles and
piles OF arms and ammunition. With
the Cinnamon here and the arms they
have, they should have held the whole
world at bay
near the south gate) is where the Ninth
infantry went over the wall. They
climbed right up the side of the wall by
putting their hands and feet in the little
dents in the bricks. All the fighting was
done from the top of the wall The
Fourteenth infantry (colored) was the
first on the wall.
The guns in the arsenal are all wooden
except a few hundred ancient oneA
There are some there just like our old
muskets but are II feet long, weigh so
pounds, and it takes three men to shoot
The Cinnamon as afraid as death Of a
soldier. Some of the soldiers if they
see a Chink going along with anything
they want, stop him and take it away
right on the street.
A soldier does anything he wants to
here If there is any work to be done
they go out on the street, run a Chink
in, make him do the work tell him
''Vamouse'' and he is only too glad to
get away.
The government of the United States
pays them 20 cents Mexican or 10 cents
American a day Their usual wages
was equal to 712 cents American before
the war. The Coolies" as they are
called, are in gangs in charge of some
soldier The Russians all have sticks
and when it is hard to make a China
man understand they beat them worse
than we would a horse.
When a Chinaman goes down the road
with anything that does not belong to
him he carries the flag of the nation
which he is working for. He goes I'M
molested then.
They eat fried grasshoppers. They are
for sale on the market here. They are
fried in dog grease. They eat dogs and
as we would beef, but they have no
stands; just have a dish and sit down
on the roadside and sell it.
The streets are aWfully dirty-never
have been cleaned. Outside the wall in
the European or mission quarters. the
roads are macadam and inside the wall
are fat stone. Inside the wall they are
50 narrow that two rickashas can hardly
pass.
went to the walled city in a jenrick-
asha. They are a two-Wheeled affair
pulled by a "Chink." The price is 80
cents Mexican. a day. The "Chink'' runs
most all the time.
The walled city is a filthy place. All
the houses are one story and built jam
up against one another. Stops and ey-
erything are thrown out in the street
There is a stream running through the
town and it smells like a hog pen. There
are any number Of beggars here. I saw
one the other day eating the meat from
bone from which he had just driven
the dogs. Here's where the missionaries
ought to get in their work but of course
they can not see these cases. In a ser
mon here at one of the missions by a
missionary. he said, in speaking of his
flight from Pekin. that he had to go
three long days without his fresh eggs
and milk" That's a shamel
The dogs are as thick as flies. We
can hear them fighting over the dead
Cinnamon all night.
There are lots of HindOos from India.
both cavalry and infantry They have
fine horses. They are paid 3-5 Of an
English pound per month and their
clothing allowance is 3 Is pounds for
their enlistment, which is years
The United States army has no dis
ciplne compared to the German and
Russian army They have to stand at
tention and salute non-connissioned
officers, and walk the chalk line
The HindoOs, the boys who have seen
them say they are towards and that
they will not charge when they are or
dered.
There are some more English reei-
msnta here. The coolies Cdindoos) that