Los Angeles herald., 1906-03-12
CHINESE EMPRESS
MAY Be POISONED
AUTHORITY ON 0RIENTALISM
REVIEWS SITUATION
ImperIous Dowager Has Made Many
Enemies, Who Would Delight
In Chance to Put
Her Away

Chinese navy and well versed in oriental
affairs, now visiting in Los Angeles, is
of opinion that the empress dowager
of China is being slowly poisoned.
In expressing his views on the SUBJ
ject yesterday, Captain Best said:
",The question as to whether or not
this imperious old lady is dead or alive
seems not to have been cleared up so
far as information on this side is con-
cerned. 1t is quite possible that she is
still alive, but not at all unlikely that
she Is dead.
"The rumor of her death would nat
urally arise among the Chinese on the
grounds Of the degradation and i'm
prisonment of her favorite paramour,
the alleged chief eunuch. The persist
ence of the rumor would point to its
accuracy.
"Since the publication Of the report
of her death and without confirmation
or contradiction of that report, fur
ther report of the serious illness of the
emperor has been received from China.
1t would appear, therefore, that the
method Of removing him by slow poison-
ing is again being resorted to.
'It may not be clear why he should
be removed in this particular manner,
as 1t would seem much simpler to as
sassinate him outright. Here, again, as
at every turn in Chinese matters, a
knowledge of Chinese character and
Chinese ways is necessary. A full tx
PLANTATION would be too voluminous.
Suffice it to say that those responsible
for his assassination would have little
hope of obtaining the appointment or
his successor, or, if taking forcible pos
session of the throne and government,
would they have much chance of re-
tanning control; hence resort to slow
poison, as poisoning cannot be proved
by Chinese who know nothing of post
mortem examination; nor would their
customs permit it. If poisoning is sur
missed it is still open to question who
is the guilty party; a fact relied on by
those responsible for the poisoning. A
sudden death after eating or drinking
would be accepted as evidence of poi
soning, so any ordinary method of poi
soning would not suit the purpose of
those desiring to remove him.
Empress a Posoner
"It was commonly understood that
the empress dowager was herself re-
sponsible for the previous attempt to
remove the emperor and little more of
the slow poisoning method was then
necessary to finally extinguish his life
A strong hint from the British gov
ernment that the operation had better
cease, as the death of the emperor
would be visited on the parties re-
sponsible for removing him sufficed
then to stop the cOnsummation of the
deed.
N"That was just about year, or less
than a year, prior to the Boxer out
break and it will be news to all for
eigners in this country and in China
that the stoppage of the poisoning of
the emperor was the cause and origin
of the Boxer outbreak of 1900, with
the determined effort to wipe out the
foreign legations as a first step to a
general massacre of all the foreigners in
the empire.
Prince Tuan was associated with the
empress in the previous attempt on the
life of the emperor and he would, had
it succeeded, have become virtually
the emperor, his son, as stated in a
previous issue of The Herald, being a
minor.
1.-The empress reason for desiring the
removal Of the emperor was that he
having come of an age to be able to
act for himself-he was an infant when
placed on the throne through the
agency of the empress-and having i'm
bibed reform views from his Cantonese
teacher (now the reform leader Kang-
Yu Web was beginning to assert him
self. This nearly sealed his doom, and
he was at once marked for removal,
rs his predecessor had been removed
by the same old lady, who had not hesi-
tated to have her own son poisoned
when he had attempted, on coming of
capable age, to take up the reins of
government.
Many Put to Death
"The wicked, yet able old empress
has had hundreds, if not thousands, of
her enemies and those who obstructed
her plans put to death in various ways
some tortured, some poisoned, some
beaten to death, and her fall from
power would be the signal for great
numbers of the relatives of these peo-
pie, many belonging to some of the
most influential families, and thousands
of her other enemies, to clamor for her
death. 1t would appear to me, however
as far as one can judge from the little
news available here, that Prince Tuan's
party has imprisoned the empress
paramour, fearing his influence with
officials whom he has been the means
of placing in office and keeping there
placed the empress in confinement, il
they have not poisoned her, and arr
biding their time till their plans foi
the defiance of the foreign powers are
perfected, before declaring Prince
Tuan's son emperor. The removal OF
the present emperor would, as ex.
planned above, be necessary before con-
summating their plans. An attack or
all foreigners would follow should, as
they anticipate, the foreign powers at.
tempt to have say in the appointment
of the new emperor and object tC
Prince Tuan's son.
''All this is, of course, merely a sur.
mise based on the uncertain news an{
facts available. If in China 1 could
readily get accurate facts to work on
and discard all rumors, which are tn,
only basis for judging at this distance,
--D-so
EMPEROR ATTENDS THEATEF