The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-09-21
STORIES OF Tsl-AN.
Caused Many Heads to Roll in the
Dust During Her Journey.

DuSt Db'i'lJ ''Cl SOblnSy'
dispatch from China says that the
Dowager Empress has left Pekin for
Kaifeng-fu in the province of Honan.
This city of over 100000 inhabitants
is the capital of Honan Province, and
the railroad between Peliin and Han
kow will pass through it. The north
ern part of the road is now far ad-
vanced, and the Empress Dowager has
probably utilized it, as she did the
completed portion when she fled to
Sian during the Boxer troubles.
Kaifeng is a large trading place and
has the only distinctively Jewish col
ony in China. These Jews are en-
gagged entirely in gold and silver
working and in money lending.
The city is on the right bank OF the
Hoang River. and has suffered terri
bly, from the inundations of that
treacherous stream. In 1541 most of
the inhabitants signed their own death
warrant by tearing down the embank-
ments in the attempt TO drown n
rebel army that was besieging them.
The rebels however, escaped while
nearly all the people Of the town
were drowned.
We are not informed as to the rea-
sons given to the Chinese public for
the departure of the Empre IS from the
capital. When she and the Emperor
took refuge in Sian the people were
not told that they had left Pekin be-
cause it was about to be occupied by
the allied forces. The journey was
due, it was said, to the fact that the
Emperor desired to travel through his
domnions, study the condition of the
people and worship in the temples.
The American Nichols, who travelled
to Sian, said that no one intimated
to him that the royal party had fed
from Pekin. The revered rulers Gre
ated the impression everywhere that
It was only their good pleasure to
travel to Sian and to this day the
farmers speak Of the imperial wander
ers as IL they had conveyed lasting
honor on the old land by travelling
through it.
If the Empress Dowager is making
her present progress by rail there will
be no opportunity for exciting incl
dents similar to those that marked
the land journey to Sian. At that time
she had made up her mind that the
Boxer movement was a sad failure;
and when, on the journey, a man in
Boxer regalia rushed into the road.
knelt beside her chair and began a
eulogistic address on her efforts to
exterminate the foreign devils" she
merely motioned to one of her body
guard, who quietly walked up behind
the Boxer, and with one stroke of his
sword cut off his Grafton and his head
at the same time, and she degraded
the mandarin who had permitted the
man to make this demonstration un-
der the mistaken impression that it
would be pleasing to the Empress.
When the lady was informed that a
Manchu of high rank in her party was
making a handsome squeeze in hiring
carts to carry the luggage, she at once
| caused his head to roll in the dust
| Of the road.
A considerable number of decapita-
| tions, in fact, relieved the journey of
monotony; and these incidents did not
tend to make the Empress Dowager
less popular with her subjects. For
eigners who have spent much time
among the common people of China
say that they almost wor hip her, and
| that her faults and cruelties are vir-
tues in their eyes and the more intelli.
gent classes have a great admiration
and respect for her character and un.
| bounded confidence in her ability.