Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-04-18

tdee lteI because tney rear them.
After years of residence in China l
have come to the conclusion that 1t
has been a mistake of the powers to
insert In their treaties provisions maxi
ing the preaching of Christianity q
treaty right, In spite of Chinese objec-
ton Nearly all of the riots In China
| nave come from attempts to force the
chinese officials to stamp deeds con-
veSing property to missionaries for
residence or chapels. The animosity
incurred In forcing q missionary estab-
llshMent upon an interior city, town or
village is not obiterated In a lifetime
1T may be barely tolerated In time of
peace, only to be demolished when the
country is disturbed.
w men III became an assured fact that
| 1he empress sanctioned the Boxers the
ranks We're rapidly filled, because re-
wards and prefcrment were held out
as Inducements to serve, and the ma
| Joflty of China'S populat ton being pow
ertN-stricken in the extreme would Join
amy movement thyt promised an In
creased income. The Boxer headquar-
lers was the palace of Prince Tuan In
' feklng. From this place enlissaries
4 We're sent with instructions first into
Snantung and afterward throughout
| Chlhll to cooperate with the already
eNlstlns secret societies as we'll as to
organize new companies. Every city,
town and village was visited, the head
men consulted and the young men and
| boys enrolled
Their gymnastic exercises, from
"hlch they derive their name. We're
Taught them and they were promised
.,iitt When they had attained perfection
enes would be given service und.r the
empress with good pay and rapid pro-
regularly go through the ceremonies
1 prescribed every day, i'm from three to
SIN months they would acquire indom-
! liable courage and would be inyulner-
able to bullets and sword cuts and that
.he youngest child would be a match
10y grown man of the uninitiated.
mat thousands believed this nonsense
, ,.eIe ~ no doubt, and thousands of
mute boys from 10 years of age up
ward eagerly enrolled. The exercise
consisted of bowling low to the ground,
s.rlhlhs the forehead into the earth
three times each toward the east then
south, then throwing themselves upon
their backs and lying motionless for
seNS'al minutes, after which they
would throw themselves from side to
siae number of times, and finally
ilslhs 20 through number Of postum
liss. as though warding off blows and
making passes at an enemy. AS a mil
torm they We're given red turban a
req sash to cross the chest and rcd
tae tZlo, OF wide tape, to tie In the
1 trousers at the ankle. The time SIT for
thelr uprising was fixed for the Chi
tese elght-moon seventeenth day. be-
ing Two days after the annual ..har-
Nest lestlVal or pa yueh chieh. The
pe' mature explosion of the movement
was not anticipated by those VINO orig
mated IT, but 1t is largely due to its
J going off at half-cock, so to speak. that
apied the powers so readily to COM
pat 1t after they We're aware of tts
| existence as real government agency
Douptless the government intended he
i lofe mat time to give arms and ann
muhitlon to all the grown men, but
". ". VIC HrSt place they were to arm
.,.Sii'se ,r, with swords and spears
only They We're told among other
lhlhgs that at the time of their upris-
ing myr1ads of regiments OF angelic
holdlers would descend from the skies
20 assist them in their righteous var
against foreigners. The empress har-
self believed this story as well as the
posslDlllty of their being invulnerable
20 foreign bullets. She is exceedingly
,upefstlllous and In the early part of
to read her destiny Two blind man
holding the instrument under q sill,
screen wrote in the prepared sand nm
aerheath the following message from
the spiritual world:
The millennium is at hand:
/ BLOOD Will flow like a deluee
1W,i iIi this boz bones everywhere
MoreoNer. the iron horse
Mill move from east to west
Mho's right and who's wrong
VIII lhen be clearly established
me millennium is used by the Chi.
llese as y critical period in cycle OF
years. me iron horse is supposed to
mean war. The empress understood
TINS to mean that in the war which she
INTENDED TO commence 1T would be
clearly shown by her success that she
was right. The Boxers however. com.
pletely spoiled all her plans by thei,
eagerness to obtain loot. Being prom.
lsed the spoil of the foreigners afte,
the contemplated uprising in the
elshlh moon. they regarded the prop.
efty OF the Christians and their teach
ers as already mortgaged to them. and
fearful lest the government troops
would acquire some of it, they com.
menced the campaign themselves Ia.
fore the appointed time. How inc
government at first made feeble efforts
10 restrain them and afterward com.
pletely gave in and Joined with their
HOW ID IIlilleT. OIL history.
The monumental idiocy of the idea
that China could successfully defy the
whole civilized world was only posi-.
BILE to such brains as those possessed
by the densely Ignorant Manchus who
surrounded the empress as her cabinet
Several of the tsung li-yamen minis
tiers like Prince Ching and Liao Sho,
Heng, tried weakly to reason them out
Oh ~, ana We're promptly given bacl,
seats. VI the others remaining in the
tsung-li-yamen after their retiremen,
none dared say anything against the
movement for fear they also would nc
shelNed. But as they We're not STRONG
enough to please the empress I'm he1
final dealings with the foreigners. she
Il few days before the commencement
Of the siege, appointed Prince Tuan ms
head of the ya1nen in place of Prince
Ching and at the same time appointed
Two nre-eating foreign -haters, Chi
Shut and Ma 1rung, to seats in that
obstructive body. These men. with
Iung Flu lisiang and the cabinet. must
be held responsible for the murders
of Baron Won Ketteler, f. Hubert
James. David Oliphant, H WARREN
Ed Wagner and the other civilians and
guards killed during the siege, as We'll
as Tor many missionaries in the prov
nee that have doubtless persisted. but
ot whose fate we being besieged have
40 certain knowledge. That the pow
srs In the settlement of their crimes
will treat them as murderers as they
are, we can scarcely doubt, and we
nope none of them in any way impli-
Gated Will be allowed TO escape capital
punishment.
CHAPTER ".
The following transcription of my
diary gives the principal events in tho
situation up to the date OF the close nj