The Washington herald., 1907-04-14

It becomes more and more horrible as
the days go by, ana It was not until the
morning Of the 18th Of august that the
besieged heard the Chinese shouting, ia
ping lai tao iiao"-the armies have ar
rived The writer Of these letters does
not attempt to settle the dispute as to who
among the allied troops got to the scene
first; the first troops he himself saw were
the Rajputs from India, yelling for
! ''Pawnee." and crying "chullo. chulio''
to each other The units Of the ained
forces were all In confusion. Cavalry
artillery. infantry were all mixed TO-
gether. but at any rate they had won
their way through thousands OF Chinese
Boxers. and had rescued the survivors IN
the British legation from impending and
almost certain death.
The man who writes these letters under
goes a reaction at once.
1T was so strange that II should De
so-that everything should have come 50
suddenly to an end. After all those eN-
/ periences. TO be lying on the ground ike
some tramp in Europe, without thing 10
ones name. was 70 be merely grotesque
and inc0ngruous. Yet Il was necessary
! to become accustomed Immediately TO the
/ idea that one belonged 20 the ordinary
world where one would not be distin-
! gulshed from ones fellow; where every
thing was quiet and orderly. And ! was
separated from this by such a mighty
/ gulf, knew so many things now. what.
/ Was 1 no longer TO experience that su-
preme delight of shooting and being shot
at-Of that unending eXcitementE On
was 1t really over2
Yes, it was over-the siege, but now
began the sack. and here, ruthlessiy
naked in its honesty IS told the true
story Of the disgraceful looting. Nor does
the narrator of what ne saw spare him
[ self; he. too, got the looting fever. and
/ he did his scientifically. using a gang
/ Of Chinese, and Communicating Chinese
carts IN which 10 carry the stuff away.
Also he was fortunate enough to come
I upon a house In which number OF Man
/ chu women had taken refuge, and they
Z asked him 70 protect them. so he took
/ up his quarters there and lived en-
/ prince until the end. the capacious rooms
/ proving fine places in which 10 store the
wealth. At first il was silver, and there
were tons OF it, those half-mOon sycees,
/ which soon became so common that peo-
/ pie would hardly stop to pick them up in
! the street. Then the rage came for gold
/ and precious stones, and there was
! enough Of both Of these in the imperial
/ palace. Valuable, almost priceless man
uscripts were burned, destroyed. thrown
1 into the streets.
| Dainty porcelains, decorated by the hand
of artists dead many centuries. were
Want0nIy smashed; marvellous silks, rare
/ fabrics Of every kind; it all became loot
/ Then after Il short while the looters tried
to loot each other. and the man who
writes these letters had to turn out al
midnight and IRE sayagely at Cossacks
who were trying to steal his carts. il
was an exciting game.
But for the time being there is little
/ else but quiet looting. Even some OF tax
ministers have made little fortunes from
so-calIed official seizures, and there IS
one curious case, which nobody quite IN,
derstands, of 5000 taels in silver shoes
being suddenly deposited in the Frencl
/ legatioa and as suddenly spirited away
I by some one else 10 another legation
while no one dares TO say openly who arr
the culprits, although their names ar,
known. Silver, however, is q drug OF
the market Everybody. without excep
tion. has piles Of it. Also. the japanese
I who are supposed 10 be on their good
{ conduct. have desp0ied the whole board
i OF revenue, and taken over a million
/ pounds sterling IN bullion They hay,
been most cunning. The only curreRcI
10 be had is the silver shoe. These shoes
can be bought at an enormous disc0un
for gold in any form, and even with sil
yer dollars you can make a pretty prOdt
The new troops, who arrived late, are do
ing their best 10 find some more OF thi
silver by digging up gardens and break
ing down houses. Machese p, of tn
Italians. who always pretends that b.
has been a mining engineer in some pre-
historic period OF his existence, calls
working over the tailings."
In consequence of this glut Of silve
and euTiosiues, a regular buying and sell
ing has set up. and all our armies ar
becoming armies Of traders. There ar
Official auctions now being organized
where you will be able TO buy legally, an,
after the approved methods. every kin'
Of loot The best things, however, ar
being disposed of privately. for it is III
rank and file who have managed 10 sc
cure the really priceless things. I bear'
to-day that an amateur who came VI
with one Of the columns bought from al
American soldier the Prussian Order o
the Black Eagle. set in magnificent dia
monds for the sum Of $50. II seems onll
the other day that Prince Henry was her
for the purpose of donating this mark o
the personal esteem Of the Kaiser afte
the KiaOchoW affair. Twenty dollars-i
, is an ingIorious end!
Then came the punitive expeditions
the return Of the court and with the re
establishment of something like order tn
/ legations got busy again and diplOmac
resumed its sway. and soon to this yOun
man, whose letters, so weIl written. S
full of stern human interest, have resultef
in a wonderfully impressionisuc pictur
Of a grewsome siege, gets tired of
all and rides away. Out through ia
great Ch'ien Men Gate he rides, and ther
he shakes hands with his friends, the In
dian cavalrymen who have accompanie
. him partly on his way. Then he turns hi
! back to the ruined Pehin. where he Ia
lived so much in so few months, wheF
knowledge of many things that one onl
learns through bloody conflict has com
to hin-that night he reaches the river
boats. It was over.
This book teaches many things. ]
teaches in the first place that no one ma
ton can sc0rn any other for the lootin
that was done in FekiH. All were tarre
with the same brush. 1t teaches tina
diplomacy In the far East requires tn
best and the strongest men, instead 0
the makeshifts and the weak The sieg
Of Pekin takes as important q place Il
history as the Indian mutiny, which i