Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-06-18
Latest Atrocities of Boxers Un-
known to Outside World.
Rumored Killing of German Minister
as Yet Unconfrmed.
Prkin In State Of Anarchy y-Intefnai.onil Re-
lief Column in Dangerous Situation.

| Knows Will mas Deen tTdHTIliHlS III
| Pckin for five days, or in Tien Tsin for
three days Nor is there any that
knows with what difficulties the small
and inadequately equipped internation-
al column is contending between these
| cities.
| The German foreign office, upon
| learning Of the report Of the murder
| Of Baron Won ketteler, the German
minister at Pekin, sent tclegrahic in
| quiry to St Petersburg, the Russian
! government, because Of its wires to
Manchuria, being supposedly in a bet
| ter position than the other govern
mrnts to obtain dircect news In re-
| ply tn" German foreign office was in
! formed that nothing whatever was
| known on the subject, as Communica
ton with Pekin was Interrupted. The
| report spread world wide from Shang
| hai that the legations had been at
! tackled and that one minister. probably
| the German. had been murdered, has
! been traced u the TaO-Tai-S -Sheng, who
! for few days. as the Empress DoWa-
! gers agent. has been censOring tele-
| grams at Shanghai. The Shanghai
| correspond mt Of the Daily Express
IS y: "Sheng. as head Of the telegraph
| administration, pretended that the line
I connecting Shanghai with Pekin had
! been down since June 9. and that the
! wires to Ticn Tsin were cut on June
! Il. Nevertheless. it is notorious that
| constant cpmmunicat tions have been
| passing from Shanghai to Pekin over
! the northern and western routes. al
! though Cheng has refused both minis
| torS and cOnsuls the privilege of using
! the lines. 1t is known that last Fri
day. Shong received a message from
Pekin or Tien Tsin"
! This dispatch said that Gen. Tung
1 Fuh SilnG's troops aided the Boxers
| in an organized attack On the foreign
| legations ana that III the cOusc Of the
! attack some Of tho legation buildings
We're reduced to ruins ana one foreign
| minister Was IA Ching that is sliced
I tn pieces"
Why in the cables it should have
/ been added that the murdered minis
trl was Baron Won Kcttclor is not cx-
I planned.
According to another telegram from
Shanghai, dated June II. ut 7.25 +. NJ.
! ShrEg has fled. feming that the for
rien authorities We're about t0 arrest
him bccduse Of his stoppage Of tel,-
grams. A third cablcgram asserts that
/ the report Of the murder Of the Ger
! man minister cmanating from London
are quite uncanirmcd and are discred-
, itcd ar Shanghai.
III" German minister has been cap
! tur,d." is the announcement to the
/ Morning Post from Pekin in 4 dis
patch dated June Is. p. NJ. via Tien
! Tsin. June Il. This is the latest press
message known to have left Pcllin. 1t
continues as follows: a crowd of
| Boxers occupies legation street, cut
| ting off communication between the
buildings. \ few Boxers are parldinE
in the city. Their sup, rStition in re-
gard to foreign armies is ptable The
Boxers hold the officials of Tung Chau
for redemption Anarchy Teigns ut
that place. The Americans in the in
terror of the two neighboring provinces
have been advised To leave. but sever
al have no means Of doing 50.
Unless relief force is sent there is
danger Of a massacre Of native Chris
tians A large Chinese army is ready
to oppose the relief column on the
way here. The Chinese government
cannot decide whether to adopt the
policy Of rigidly suprcssinG the Boxers
or that Of defying the world. The dc-
cision rests with the DuWager En-
press
During the isolation Of Pckin and
Ticn Tsin, Shanghai is supplying a be
wildering bunch Of reports and COnjec
lures, most OF them picturesque ana
threatening. Here is one. "Miscel-
laneous armed crowds have been in
progress north, for some weeks, and
the hprdes around Pekin are being
constantly swelled by these arrivals.
Well informed Chinese here who are
not unfrienlly toward foreigners de-
clare that there must now be upwards
Of 1SG,000 men outside the city gates. |
all of them armed in more or less
crude fashion.
The probability is that there are not |
more than 10000 Chinese troops among !
th"m. all told
Information from Pekin brought |
hither by refugees. says that the city |
is in a state of panic. Incendiary fires |
are of nightly occurrence, and scores |
Of outrages are reported.
Women and children from Ticn Tsin |
are pouring into Shanghai. The chief II
danger here is the fact that the native II
town, behind the European settlement,
is fun of bad characters. whose atti-
tude is becoming. every day. more in
soent and menacing.
The latest news TO hand is that 1000
Russians, with u machine guns and II
field guns are marching from Tien Tsin
to Pekin. Last week. the foreign min
isters warned the Tsung Ii Yamen
that in the event Of an attack upon the
legations, or Of injury to any Of the
ministers or members Of the staffs Of
the legations. the powers in combina-
tion would declare war upon China.
To this ultimatum the Tsung Ii va
men. as usual. returned no direct re-
ply. The answer Of the Empress Dow
ager is, no doubt, the attack on the
legations by the Boxers and the troops /
under Gen. Tung Fuh Slang. II has
transpirnd that few days ago the II
viceroys Of the southern provinces re-
ceived orders from Pekin 10 cooperate
CONTINUED on page 81 !!