The age-herald., 1900-08-02
GERMAN OFFICERS
 THRILLING STORY Lieut.. von Kroehn Tells His Ex- perience With Seymour. PRISONERS WERE KILLED In One Instance the Boxers Surround ed an Italian Officer and Literally
 Hacked Him to Pieces
 With Long Knives
PRISONERS WERE KILLED

Victoria, B. C., August 1.-Lieut. Won Kroehn German officer who arrived at Yokohama in company with 300 wounded and incapacitated Germans and others on the steamer Korn chartered by the German Government, in an interview given in To- kohama just before the Glenogle sailed, said of the experience with Admiral Sey- mour
 Everything went pretty well until the column reached Liung Fang, where the railroad was found destroyed. They then had to leave the cars and the wounded were placed on junks in the river and the march backward along the river begun Up to then they had only been opposed by Box CTS, but soon regulars, armed with the latest patent rifles, opposed them. On ac- count of the wounded they had to march along the river and storm every village in their path One day seven were taken the next day six, working and fighting from m. to p. m The Chinese used smoke less powder and their position could not be found. The villages were finally taken and burned down.
 Asked what the Chinese did with their women and old men, Lieut. Von Kroehn said they emgrated with all speed; but il this was not possible, as in the case of one village taken by the allies they cut off the heads of the women and children and threw them into the river. The allies went until they reached Sim Row arsenal for the others behind. They tried to par ley, but the Chinese fired big guns, fol- lowed by rapid fire. The gunners fought we'll many being wounded, among them Lieut.. Von Kroehn. Finally the order was gwen to storm the arsenal. The British tried to take 1t, but failed. Reinforced by the Germans, they charged again and took 1t. Immense numbers of guns and muni- tons of war were found. Sixty Chinese had held the forts
 Garrisoned the Forts
 The allies garrisoned the forts and pre- pared to make a stand there until relief arrived, but after stay of four days Ad- miral Seymour, having come to the con clusion that in case a larger force at- tackled the fort they would not be able to hold 1t, decided to destroy it and move on. Consequently, as they were unable to take any guns along, the engineers prepared an explosive charge, and the next day at 9 o'clock trey saw 1t burn and explode. Shortly afterward they were relieved by the forces from Tien Tsin.
 We did not take prisoners said Lieu 
 ture of prisoners Is concerned this is m impossibility, as the Chinese are not civil ized enough for that kind of warfare'
 Lieutenant Won Kroehn was asked about the statement of German that the Rus sians had dispatched the wounded with the butts of their rifles. The lieutenant said it was not quite so bad that, but under the circumstances of the present war in China they had been, and probably would be in the future, compelled to kill the wounded with the bayonet In the beginning they had even sent the wounded to the hospi- tals in Tien Tsin, but they soon found out that long a man was able to raise hand he would try to stab the foreigners, and as moreover, they found the prisoners very refI factory, and had all they could do to attend to themselves, they had been compelled to kill all wounded with bayo- nets, and generally speaking, accept no prisoners, but kill everybody who stood up against them Frequently they found Boxers who had taken their red badges and clothes off in the hope of trying the Amigo trick them, and while the trick worked for while, they gave orders ito kill every Chinaman who stood up, and the Chinese, in turn, decapitate and muti- late every foreigner who may be wounded or killed and who is unfortunate enough to fall into their hands.
 On one occasion a large number of Box CTS succeeded in encirclng Italian of ficer with eight men, and while four of the men cut their way through, the other four and the officer were simply overwhelmed by the numbers and literally hacked to pieces with long knives by the Boxers. When Won Kroehn afterward saw the body of the Italian officer the head was split into four pieces and the entire body cut up.