Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-04-11
THE SIEGE IN PEKIN.

THE SIEGE
possible! They are too Ill to be moved,
and on this cold day would surely take
cold and die Have them well
wrapped and brought quickly" said
Hu, without paying any attention to
the interruption, "for 1t is getting late
and although have ordered the city
gates not to close until our return to
Picking, I am anxious to avoid keeping
them open any later than necessary"
30 General Chang strobe across the
room to the door opening Into the
court, and where upwards of 300 Of his
men were standing packed like sar-
dimes listening to everything we had
been saying, as Chinese custom is, and
shouted out, Bring the two wounded
men In here" Now all of the men had
seen Governor HUI snubbed and heard
Colonel Chao revile him and his rail-
roads, and had heard their general say
the men would die if brought out in the
cold, so supposing they We're to act in
similar way, they, upon receiving this
order, held confab, and very noisy
confab. among themselves for few
minutes before replying, and as
watched Governor Hu's face grow pale
as the commotion increased, felt that
we were in real danger right in the
midst of the officers, and that my pre-
vious view that could insure my own
safety by threatening Hus life would
avail nothing, as they hated him as
much If not more than myself. / could
plainly see that must change my man
and make the general my target If the
necessity arose.
Then voice shouted out from the
soldiers almost the exact words of the
general. They cannot be brought
here; the exposure would kill them"
Chang looked at HUI to see what eff
feet this had upon him. but HUI was.
no coward and calmly replied, They
must be brought IL it kills them; by
her majesty's commission. demand
It," The general was but blutfing and
sullenly gave In. Bring those men at
once, dead or alive, you scoundrels,'
he shouted stentoriously, land in
hurry, tool" AYE, aye" responded a
hundred threats. and a number of men
left the court yard at once The camp
for 1t was over half an hour and near
ly candle-lighting time before the two
men, each carried on a litter on the
shoulders of six men, We're brought In.
The first man was covered all up in
blankets and pretended to be uncon-
SciOus, but proved to have no fever.
slow pulse, absolutely no wound but
a scratch at the lower end of his right
shoulder blade, Which might have been
made by finger nail or possibly by a
pistol ball grazing the skin. The hypo-
critic Chang bent over me as was ex-
amining and asked in a voice of pre-
tended sympathy: us he badly hurt?
he be ill?" to which I replied: Not
badly hurt; will recover; will guar
antee he is all right day after tomor-
row If you will send him at once to
my railroad hospital at Fengtai." I
said this thinking the British minister
in Picking, Sir Claude Macdonald,
might be glad to get hold of these men
they We're In the hospital at Fengtai
they could easily be obtained, other
wise would have ordered this man
to be dismissed at once as shamming.
The second man also pretended to be
much worse off than he really was, but
he really did have small bullet
wound in his shoulder, from which I
extracted with forceps a fragment of
blue cotton cloth, and then. sent him
also to the hospital, guaranteeing his
recovery within ten days. General
Chang thanked me for my interest and
promised to reward me for my services
when the men recovered, then .nodding
staff marched out of the inn and left
US and allowed subordinate to es-
cort us to the special train that
brought us down, Which was as great
lack of courtesy anu positive insult
as he could give to the empress dow
ayers high commissioner.
Our return journey was without in
cident. The city gates We're open
awaiting us and We're closed immedi-
ately upon our entrance. Governor
HUI Immediately memorialized the
throne. stating the result of his in
quiries, reported the impudence OF
Colonel Chao and requested that he be
turned over to the board of punish
ments for q penalty. The empress ac-
knowledged the memorial and herself
decided to deprive Colonel Chao OF one
step in rank, degrading him to ma
jor. This appeared in an edict at once
at the same time she commended Hu
for his promptness and general abil-
ity.
But, alas. for Governor HUI! Genera
Tung Flu Hsiang, the man who was to
prove the curse of China, was unac-
quainted with all these circumstances
and had yet to be heard from. This
man had obtained his reputation first
as a br!gand and afterward as lead
err of her majesty's army in putting
down a rather formidable rebellion ol
the Mohammedans in his own province
of Kansu. Bold, cruel and unscrupu
lous, he had murdered his own provin,
Gals, who We're but poorly armed ane
without discipline, in most ruthles:
manner, and had not only suppressed
the uprising, but nearly eXterminatet
the rebels His fame spread far ant
wide as wonderful general, SO tina
when the empress again assumed pow
er by forcibly selling the throne from
the weak but good intentioned kuant
Hsu, she decided at once to bring thi
man Tung and his Kansu ruflians t.
Picking to assist her in maintaining
her authority against all Corners.
was en- route to Picking that his ad
vance corps. under General Chang. hat
the adventure at Lukouchaio. AS sool
as Tung Flu Hsiang learned of Colone
Chaos degradation he was wild Will
rage, taking the view that the insul
was not only upon Chao but upon him
self.
Knowing the empress was in a pre-
carious condition without troops sh
could depend upon, this courageous ad
venturer, at his first audience, upol
his arrival in Picking, promptly told tn
empress that unless Chao We're restore
to his rank Immediately and Governo
HUI We're removed from his offices a
governor of Peking and director gen
eral of railways, as we'll as prevente
from taking his seat in the tsung
yamen, or foreign Office, to Which h
had JUS been appointed, he, Tung
would disband his army and return t
Kansu at once. The empress remon
strated with him in vain, alleging tina
HUI had only done his duty, and tina
with his knowledge of foreigners h
would be valuable official in the tsun
II yamen. But Tung remained obdurat
and the empress reluctantly yielde
and dismissed HUI. to private life