The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-10-28

lOD PHONE 1877. NEW 'PH0NE 52I.
ed off near the ground; everything wh!ch
had a foreign aspect; everything when
was in any way suggestive of foreigners
was included in the general ruin All
the numerous houses at the Western Hills,
Including the new ones just built at great
expense by the British Legation, were
reduced to wreck. The Race Course and
Grand Stand We're obliterated, and the
Foreign Cemetery desecrated past belief,
willows thirty years old being sawed
down and carried away, the enclosing
walls dug up and carried off down to the
bottom, the grave-stones and monuments
overthrown and pulveriZed as Tar as pos
sible Thirteen of the graves were dug
up the corpses taken out and burned, the
ground being still streWed with fragments
Of bones, cloth and buttons.
THE SIEGE BEGUN.
Before ali this was done the storm burst
in full upon the native church, which
seems to have been well-nigh extermina-
ted except the few hundreds taken into
the ark-of-safety with the foreigners. The
history of the terrible atrocities connected
with these murders it is too soon yet to
write. but they form an integral part of
our theme and should be mentioned. On
the 1IlOINliS OIL the -VlH Vi Jul!e, pdIoIi
Won Ketteler the German Minister, while
actually on his way to the Tsungl Va
men. was shot by a Manchu military Off
cial. wearing q button on his hat and
feather as well. 1t was an Official be-
ginning of a new stage in the great crime
which had already progressed so tar Most
of the foreigners had already taken shel-
ter within their respective Legations. Inc
rest were ordered in. and then began,
with the opening of fire from rifles on
the Legations. the eight weeks siege, on
" terminated by the arrival OF relief on
The 18th of August.
BOXERS BILLETED IN THE CITY.
These then. mentioned in imperfect out
line, are the Grimes Of Fekins. What has
been its punishment? When the Boxers
first arrived in practically linlitless nrm-
bers, they were distributed like soldiers
all over the city, and fed, as soldiers OF
ten (but not always), and al the expense
of the people. This would have been .
heavy tax. but ii was followed by much
worse The Imperial idea seemed &c be
10 supplement the natural deficiencies OF
The soldiers by the supernatural excel
lcncies of the RoHers.
THE KANSU AFTERNOONS.
Large detachments Of the troops of funs
LII C'ommander-:n-Chief of the Chill
Army. of those of Tuns Fu-hsanS "a
ruffian from INansu who arrived IN Pekln
TWO wears ago. and who has eXerted a sin
lister influence ever since) and also OF Ma
Yu-kun were detailed. to guard the I-eSa-
tions.@ which presently signitied to make
war on them. These soldiers were reia-
ted to the Boxers as scorpions to grass
noppers and reduced the city to an acute
pitch of misery. such as it has not known
since the arrival of foreigners. Many
families were eXtingIiShed. and n others
only one or two out of eight or ten mem
bars remain alive. Hundreds OF house
doors are walled up entirely. which often
means that there is no one left. Ihe saw
ages from Kansu, who followed General
TuIg. speak a strange dialect almost
,ln;nteilis:ble to the Pekingese. but they
have written their names in blood They
are to the Chinese here what the Ci:ftl-
deans from afar were to the ancient
Jews, "a hasty and Il bitter people.
SECONDARY DEVILS
Tie ruin Of all CHRISTIANS las been men
toned The followers of foreigners were
all called "Mao-tzu." Those who had
traded with them or aideu them in any
way were styled Erh Mao-ize or second
airy devils. and those who were related to
such. Or who helped them to escape were
called San Mao-tze, or tertiary devils. and
all of them were liable 70 be plunde:ed AT
Sight With a base-line of this Width ii
is easy to see what sweep IS Included.
During the week of burning, the compare
lively few foreign houses by no means suf-
feed to quench ,he unuuenChable thirst
for places TO loot and to destroy. Some
DAYS one could count six or eight dis
tinct fires in different quarters. the great
est of them all being the destructive con-
fagration outside the Ch'ien-nen. or
front gate of the Southern city. where
were situated the richest shops and the
most nou,ishn:s trade Of 'cking. The COM
pradore of the Hong Kong Bank taf-
forwards himself killed as an ''Erh Mao
tzu'') estimated thu loss in this fire alone
as five million pounds sterling. 1t is i'm
possible TO say how great an area has been
destroyed by fire, but the places are nu-
merous and some Of the tracts are large.
From the Russian and American Lesa-
tons west to Ch'ien-men. many hum
bred yards wide and perhaps quarter of
a mile long. there is now stretch with
out single building standing intact.
\ TERRIBLE SPECTACLE.
4 similar devastation is seen 20 the
north of the Northern gate of the I'M
perial city. and on a smaller scale in null
titudes of other localities as we'll. When
It was again possible for foreigners to
traverse the streets Of Picking, the desc
ation which meet the eye was appalling
Dead bodies of soldiers lay in heaps, or
singly. in some Instances covered with
a torn old mat but always a prey to the
now well=fed parish dogs. Indeed, dead
dogs and dead horses poisoned the air of
every region. The huge pools of stag
nant water were reeking with putrid corpses
of man and beast, lean cats staring wildly
at the passer-by from holes broken in the
fronts of shops boasting such signs as
Perpetual Abundance, Springs of Plen-
ty' ..Ten Thousand Prosperties, and the
oft-quoted maxim from the Great Learn
ing. there is a highway to the produc-
ton of wealth. One might see over the
door Of a. place thrice looted and lying
in utter ruin the cheerful motto: Peace
and Tranquility" For miles upon miles
of the busiest streets of the Northern aAd
Southern city, not a single shop was
open for business. and scarcely a group
of persons was anywhere to be seen.
= TRACTABLE NATIVES.
The Boxer movement was anti-foreign,
even foreign cloth. watches, and matches
being tabooed.' One of the permanent mot
toes everywhere displayed on their flags
was the words: Meth Sang-Exterminate
Foreigners But the Capital of the Chi
nese empire had no sooner been occu-
pied and its territory distributed for pur-
poses Of patrol among the several mill
to,.I