The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-01
CHINESE COURT SEALS SOLD.
AMERICAN FINDS PURCHASER
ron THEM IN LONDON.
He Got Them From . Russian Lieutenant
Who Looted IN Pekin-They Bring
~. sss sale Made Subject Of inquiry
In Pariiament-Chinese Seals Not rare.

VIM I<OONC0 III Nv .'ssa
81. sss sale Made Subject Of Inauir,
In Pariiament-Chinese Seals Not rare
Special cssls psspaieh 10 THE sux.
LONDON, Jan. si.-The Chinese imperial
seals formerly owned by e. NJ. o'Brien OF
Chicago were sold at auction here to-day
for fsai. The purchaser was q Londoner
OF the name Of Robinson. O'Brien says
he purchased the seals from a Russian
Lieutenant who was In Pekin at the time
Of the relief Of the legations.
These seals were advertised for sale In
the London papers and in the HOUSE OF
Commons yesterday Mr.. John Dillon ques-
toned the Government about them. Mr..
Richie, the Home Secretary. replied that
inquiries had been made about the seals
and that II had been ascertained that they
were the property Of a person not a sub
ject Of Great Britain and that therefore the
Government could take no action.
Mr.. O'Brien, was, II Is understood.
a Quartermaster's agent at Manila. 1t 10
stated that he Joined the American eIpedi-
ton TO China In a private capacity and
that he there secured much loot from q
Russian Lieutenant. Mr.. o'Brfen carried
CT 200 worth OF II TO Japan and thence to
Shanghai He there discovered that he
was In possession Of the imperial seals.
Great native excitement ensued In conse-
quence OF his having them. Mandarins
and high officers Frustrated themselves
and uplifted their hands In horror when
O'Brien profanely dangled the sacred seals.
inquiring how much they would give for
them.
Tho Vlan~1, - NnNLtn ~ Grot AHoroA
TO buy, He explained that he thought
the Dowager Empress would be pleased
at the return Of the imperial seals. but as
they had been profaned by the touch OF a
foreigner he did not believe that sho would
accept them. His principal reason, how
for drawing back was that the ELL
nuchs at court were his enemies I'M that
they would twist his present OF the seals
into an accusation Of having stolen them.
o'Brien saw Ii Hung Chang at Pekin
and there Earl Ii said to him:
Il admire your nerve in trying TO sell
the seals TO the Chinese. After they had
been stolen the seals were useless. as 1t
was impossible to tell how many impress
OF them had been made by looters.'
Agents for the Rrupp gun and other
companies offered 5000 Mexican for the
seals and a quantity Of stolen jade, which
they wanted to present to the Dowager
Empress. They hoped In this way TO secure
an imperial audience which might lead to
concessions for their companies.
WAsHIE1roN, Jan 3I.-There is not any
in the minds OF officials here who are
with Chinese affairs that the Chinese
seals sold In London to-day by
NJ, O'Brien OF Chicago are all that he
them to he. Men in Washin gton
who have boon in China and who know a
great deal about matters in Pekin. say
hat there are scores. perhaps hundreds.
81 these seals, which have been taken out
81 the Flowery Kingdom. Two Of them
were sold recently 20 a Baltimore man. and
he sent impressions of them to Washing
TO have the inscriptions translated.
The impression In London that O'Brien
tho only Official seals Of the Kwsng-su
corresponding 10 the great seal
81 the United States. 10 q mista ken one.
lccording 10 men who saw service for this
Government In China Recently. 0ne Of
hem said to-day that everybody connected
viii the royal house Of China has dozens Of
1nicial seals. There is a separate seal for
almost everything to which Official at
estation il necessary. The Emperor and
he Empress Dowager. the Emperoris
every member % the oficial fam
ly and all the Chinese fu%nctionaries are
we'll supplied with them.
The Chinese plenipotentiAries who signed
he peace protocol with the Powers each
iad his own particular Official seal When
court d~ignitary goes On al Inspection
through the imperial palace he leaves All
IMPRESSION Of o. u hIs own seals IN every
Dom 10 show that he has been there Such
seAl would bear characters reading some
hing like this 4 have been through this
'oOm and u s all r,ght' Whenever a
treat man dies his seals are retained BY
ne family ~ mementO-s, OF are sold
Plenty ~ them ST. into th" ouro market.
Chiuese Official dOes not Use the seals
Il has predecessor. be- g-ts now ones made
he can use ANY d-slgn Le pleay.s The
.mI-HfoT has had m0re srsis than De- UaU
emsnbsr, ard sonir Of tis.s have pfuta
ily l.sn gwen 10 frlsDds Tho tllnTrs
laius very higliy as ~nYcnsntuss ul" r,a.s
Il tho imI~T,al family bat u,s llrsy pc
ss-1u have nsi alwayf retained tgam
Nobody lror rhu las iz-u i~-sntll m
hins ln1ps ~ hIi-u but o. - a"t duubird
lia srais be- sold ser ssnui.r
..... ...Ft ll.a.uattaf f.f Ill. ll..