Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1900-08-30
ONE SQUARE MILE OF
FILTH, RUIN AND DEATH
Tien Tsin Is the Incarnation
of All Horrors of War.
TURMOIL AND PILLAGE
History Cannot Duplicate the Fright
full Scenes In the Ancient City-Chi-
nese Fight Among Dead For Plum
der-Rich Loot For the Soldiers.

der-Rich Loot For the Soldiers.
TEN TsIN, Aug. 29.-The ancient
stone walls of the Chinese city Of Tien
Tsin, surrounded on the days of it's oc-
cupation by the allied troops, are a
square mile of such filth, ruin and DEATH
such turmoil and pillage as history could
hardly duplicate. Under normal condi-
tons the place was no better than a
huge cesspool, fostering with aecumu-
lated rubbish and slops from a popula-
ton of nearly 1000, 900, packed into a
labyrinth of novels, around the palaces
of vicerOys and petty tao tais who alb
sorbed their wealth and gave them not
even sewers in return. Now it is the
incarnation of all the suffering, horrors
and waste Of war.
The European soldiers, when they
fought their way up to the walls, saw
floating in the canals and bitches out
side dozens of Chinese slain by their
own people because they refused to
fight. The bodies were headless and
their hands were tied behind them. The
heads were discovered as follows:
Rows of them decorated the outer
walls hung by their pig tails. Five flags
were flying from the high pagodas on
the city walls when the newspaper cor
respondents entered-French, japanese,
American and British.
cit was hard enough to get those
flags up there, remarked foreign Off
Ger, ''but the real trouble will be to get
them down"
The suburbs of the city presented
Of Gha1lc
had torn the huts and plowed the
ground, while dead men, scattered about
among dead horses, pigs and dogs, tes-
titled how thoroughly the bullets had
swept the region the day before.
Walls Strewn With Bodies.
The sights inside compelled respect
for the fighting qualities of the Chinese.
Their dead were everywhere. Dressed
in the coarse blue cooie blouse and
trousers, decorated with characters guar
anteed to render them invulnerable to
foreign bullets, they were strewn all
along the top of the wall wherever they
had fallen. Walking a quarter of a
mile along the embankment the bodies
averaged one in 10 feet and the wall was
10 miles long.
Throughout the city the demolished
dence of how vastly more effective had
been the foreign shell fire within the
walls of the city than the Chinese bonn
bardment of the foreign settlement
which, lasting for month, had killed
only q dozen people.
The viceroy had constructed in the
palace yard two comfortable and impen
etrable bomb proof excavations guarded
by sandbags, but the common people
were less fortunate. Many women and
children were lying dead in the streets,
torn terribly by shrapnel.
The living populace were utterly in
different to their dead They would not
take the trouble to drag them out of the
streets or even cover them with mating,
as foreign soldier said, but trampled
them under foot without bothering to
turn aside. Before the shooting in the
streets was finished thousands of Chi
nese had emerged from their burrows,
carrying white flags or the flags of for
eign nations, principally the japanese.
Looting of the City.
Most remarkable of all the sights was
the looting of the city. The middle of
the palace was like an ant hill kicked
open. Chinese swarmed everywhere,
into the flames of the burning shops,
getting under falling walls and into
choking clouds Of smoke. Most of them
were half naked, grimy with smoke and
sometime dripping with blood. They
preyed upon one another.
A Chinese appearing with prize had
to fight his way, other Chinese sprang
upon him and clutched his plumber.
They rolled among the corpses, pulling
and tearing. Children, trampled down,
cried for help, but the mob poured along
over them.
The looting f1ourished for three days
On the first day it was entirely unre-
strained. Many white people accumu-
lated stocks of goods by simply standing
at the city gates and holding up the best
laden Chinese from the endless process
sion that flowed out.
On the second day a conference of
commanding officers decided to adopt
repressive measures. The commanders,
excepting the French, empowered the
British, who were doing provost duty,
to seize all loot.
On the third day of the occupation
more effective method was followed by
compelling looters to give up their loads
at the city gate. Even this measure did
not prevent the loss of much gold and
silver. Civilians from the concession
made a general raid on the silver COM
missioners' treasure and many succeeded
in smuggling loads Of silver bars through
to the settlement The Americans have
seized nearly 100000 taels' worth of
precious metals, which is piled up in
the marine barracks.
Today the walled city looks as though
a tornado had struck it. Enough valu-
able property has been destroyed to
stock a big city and enough has been
seized to give every soldier a consider
able sum if the distribution is honestly
administered.