Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-11-17
III Feeling Between American and
French Soldiers.
BOTH ARE BLAMEABLE.
Much Trouble over the Bridges Rad
Blood Is Continually Crop
ping out.

Tlen Tsin China, oct. 24-[Corres-
| pondence Of the Associated Press. 1.-THE
presence Of a large number Of troops
here, In contiguous camps and with
naturally existing national preiudices.
Is causing considerable friction and
several unpleasant incidents have oc-
Cured SO far, however, none OF them
has progressed beyond the stage OF In
cidents easily adjusted, and on all
sides there Is a very evident DISPOSE
ton 10 treat these occurrences as the
natural result OF military conditions.
one OF the chief causes Of friction has
been the number OF pontoon bridges
thrown across the river. There are
three Of these within the space OF a
! mile, and as the river Is simply crowd.
ed with junks and towboats some con.
flct has been the result. Most Of the
trouble has occurred at the French
bridge, and twice trouble has resulted
between the French guards and the
American sentries on the boats.
a few days ago a string Of twenty
junks coming down stream was held
mp at the French bridge for several
hours In spite Of the protests OF the
American guards on gOard. Finally
word reached the American headquar-
ters of the condition Of affairs and an
officer was sent up 10 the bridge. He
found a French sentinel on the for
ward boat and promptly ordered him
or There was a sharp interchange
between the American and French Of
fcers but the sentry was removed.
General Sumner then arrived and the
result was that the bridge was opened
and the boats allowed 10 pass. A day
on two ago there WAS another bit Of
friction. in which both sides rather
oVerstepped the limit and are fairly
Chargeable with some blame. The
bridge regulations require that only one
boat may go through at a time. A
fleet OF 1unks In charge OF a non COM
mlssioned American soldier came down
and an attempt was made 10 take three
Of them through the draw abreast In
coming through the junks jammed I'm
the draw and the American on the lead
Ing boat and the French bridge guards
FLASHED. The French attempted to ar
rest the American and q fist fight en-
sued in which one Frenchman went
overheard and several We're badly used
UP. The American was finally over
powered and put under guard. He
was soon released but according 20 his
statement, he waa struck while under
arrest by a French officer. The man
stated that two guards held their bay.
onets az his heart while an officer hlt
him In the face cutting q cash over
his eye. The matter IA now under In.
vestigatlOn.
The feeling between the French and
American soldiers apparently dates
from the killing Of Corporal Hughes.
Of the Third artillery, some weeks ago.
by French sentry whom he. with two
companions. attempted 10 rush In order
10 cross the bridge after dark.
The camps OF the Fifteenth infantry
the Third artillery aud a section OF tho
French force are very close and there
Is evidently considerable bad blood be.
tween the two. II cropped ont recently
when a French soldier cut the lead
team Of an American army wagon
across the head with a stick. The team
ster Jumped out OF the wagon and. ac-
cording 20 reports. gave the offender
and several % his companions Some
pretty rough handling.