The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-19
CHINESE FORTS AT TAKU FREE
ON FOREIGN wARSHIPS.
FORTS THEN SURRENDERED
ORDER FOR THE ATTACK EMANA
TED FROM PExIN.

tions at Pekin Said to Have Been
Burned.
London, June 49, $3.50 a. m.-China de-
ciared war against the world when the
Taku forts opened fire upon the interna-
tionsl feet.
The accounts of what took place, are
still unsatisfactory. The best semi-off1cial
information being the dispatch received
at Berlin from Che Foo.
The German consul at Che Foo tele-
graphs 10 Berlin that a Japanese torpedo
boat from Taku has brought the following:
1.-The Chinese laid torpedoes In the
Taku river and collected troops from
Shan Hei Kwan. The foreign command
ers assembled on the Russian flagship
and addressed an ultimatum to the COM
manders of the Taku forts, summoning
them 10 withdraw their troops before 2
O'clock. June II.
cat ! a. M, June II, the guns of the
forts opened fire, to which the Russian,
British, French and Japanese warships
replied. The bombardment lasted seven
hours. Two British ships in the river
between the forts are reported to have
been sunk.
The telegraph line and railroad be-
tween Tien Tsin and Taku were destroy
ed. Communication by water is also
threatened"
Later a semi-official dispatch from Che
Foo announced that the Taku forts had
been captured after a combined attack
by the foreign warships. Three men on
the German warship Iltis were killed and
seven were wounded
The dispatch adds that the foreign set
Elements az Tien Tsin were being fred
into by the Chinese.
When the dispatch left nothing had
been heard from the German detachment
sent to Pekin or from the German lega-
tion there
Americans Took Part.
Tho unofficial narratives. coming by way
of Shanghai vary widely and bear inter-
Hat evidence of supplementing the main
facts with guess work. One dispatch says
that the yorktown participated in the
bombardment. Another asserts that
American marines formed part of the
storning force of 1000.
An Associated Press dispatch from Che
Foo. dated yesterday afternoon, says:
THE forts on both sides of the Taku
are now occupied. The Chinese opened fire
Unexpectedly. The casualties to the mix
ed forces were as follows:
KILLED. British one; German three;
Russian sixteen. and French one.
wounded. British four; German seven.
Russian forty-five and French one.
sdTHhA Chinese
sd"
The Shanghai correspondent of the
Daily Mail, telegrsphing yesterday. says:
The forts began firing in obedience to
orders from Pekin, conveyed in a per-
sonal edict of the Empress Dowager, by
advice of Kang vi (presdent of the min
istry of war;. Several warships were
struck by shells from the 12-inch guns of
the forts.
1.-THE heavy Russian losses were due to
the blowing up of the magazine at Mands-
hurt.
-Four hundred Chinese are reported to
have been killed. The Chinese when re-
treating. fell into the hands of the Rus
sian force
The Daily News has the following from
Che Foo:
Two of the forts were blown up. The
thirty-two warships at Taku aggregated
two hundred thousand tons, and carried
more than three hundred guns"
Peril of the Legations.
The failure of Admiral Seymour's col
umn and retreat to Tien Tsin increase,
It is presumed. the peril of the legations
In, rhiC te al oil
Shanghai forwards Chinese rumors that
the legations were attacked by mobs who
were moved down by machine guns, and
also, that the members of the legations
were massacred.
The situation at Niu Chwang is report
ed critical The British consul at Kiu
Kiang has ordered all foreigners to leave
Ku Ling and Nau King Chang.
The Powers are taking prompt action
-Four thousand German troops have been
ordered to China; 10000 French troops
are Waiting to embark at Saigon. capi-
tai Of French Cochin China; and 5000 to
5000 more Russians have been ordered
from Port Arthur to Taku
Russia Sends More Troops.
More Russians have been ordered from
fOrt arthur 10 laku. InlS reinforcement
says the st. Petersburg correspondent OF
the Daily Telegraph, is announced in the
st. Petersburg Gazette, the government
pointing out that Russia is sending many
troops solely for the sake Of peace and
humanity.
The Brussels correspondent of the
Standard, in dispatch dated yesterday,
says:
Russia has massed 10000 men, with
seven batteries, at Kiachta, with orders
60 proceed 90 Maimatichin, a Chinese
town contiguous to Kiachta, and thence
TO advance along the telegraph route 10
the Mongol town of Urga, 200 miles south
OF Kiachta. and $50 miles northwest of
Pekin."
An Account of the Fight.
The Shanghai CORES spondent Of the
Times under yesterdays date, gives the
following description, said to be taken
from official sources, OF the action al Ia
ku:
ION the afternoon Of June 1s I'm view
OF the large bodies of Chinese troops as
sembling at the forts. and of the facts
that torpedoes had been laid in the river,
and that ail communications were inter-
rupted, the naval commanders held a
council and decided to send an ultimstum.
calling for the disbandment Of the troops.
and announcing that II this demand was