Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1912-09-13

1nzzzz1 from an old friend and associate
u - whom be had believed to be
another example Of unaccountable disappearance
Frederick townsend Ward had gone to Mexic
more than two years before to sell some old orc
nance to the government Having accomplish
this in due season. he had suddenly dropped on
of ken. on the eve Of supposedly returning home
Fancy then the surprise which greeted these words
If any act Of so erratic person could amaze
81 have entered into the Chinese service, hav
very fine prospects at present and hope soon L
have a comfortable fortune. / have been trani
formed from Yankee into Chinaman in goo
style with a good establishment. l, few day
ago. took the second city of importance In the Vic
royalty from the rebels. l have made prett
good thing of it and hope in few weeks TO TAX
another city.
This communication veritable bolt fror
the blue A restless, almost penniless vagabon
of a man, whom his friends had given up as los
suddenly emerging in China as master OF men an
a conqueror of cities! Our own bloody slausnte
house had not yet opened its shamoies' Dut u
newspapers were so absorbed In an extraordlnar
political situation that they gave scarcely para
graph to such a curious piece of news when II wa
made known to them.
A few weeks later another similar letter reache
the staid merchant
sT was then referring to his first letter. about
starting up country, but l have since returneu
having been badly wounded while attempting 10
scale the walls Of Sing Poo City, and was com
PEELED to return to Shanghai for treatment
got several shot wounds. the worst one wen.
through the cheek and down through the roO'
of the mouth They that Is the missionaries
and some English and Dutch merchants 'aih
very badly about me and my measures, having
used both rather unceremoniously when iounu
having connections with the rebels; out' 1acA'
am independent of them all and consequently
do not care - for them
China is the country for man VINO Is
abe rioHo nd ia oil
mon sense. | have made more money In Few
weeks than l could at brokerage in New YORK III
twenty years"
Sixty years ago American pulpits and church
conventions rang with the glad udings that
Christian movement had sprung, spontaneously
as II were out of Chinese soil The future OF
missionary effort was thus assured, IL was hoped
in the poisoning of far-reaching native force
that would speedily win the heather to the BAN
ners of the cross These hopes, however. were
blasted as the rise Of the religious cult OF a
Makka schoolmaster developed into one OF the
most ruthless and devastating civil wars of his
tory, and the nature OF the outrageous travesty.
which had perverted a few Christian doctrines
into a grotesque blasphemy. came to be under
stood.
Hung Su Tsuen had sought in vain for that
recognition before the literary boards at Canton
which was the passport of official ambition. In
Canton he had absorbed some crude notion OF
Christian doctrine from a Methodist missionary,
and when he returned home, crazed by disap-
pointment, to live humble pedagogue. he
began to dream dreams and speak prophecies as
directly inspired from heaven. AS time
went on, his propagandism drew to its banner
hordes from the ranks of discomfort and crime.
and army Of ragged desperadoes began to
move from west to east In the early hfties to
establish the claim of the crazy fanatic (who
professed to be the younger brother OF Jesus
Christ and directly consecrated by the Holy
Ghost) to be the imperial head of the empire.
the annals Of Oriental barbarism. II was esti-
mated by conservative opinion that in ten years
this internal regime known the TAPPING rebel
lion had cost the empire some two and a half
billions of dollars and the destruction of several
millions Of lives by war. starvation and whole
sale massacres
Hung Su Tsuen, as Tien Wang or Heavenly
King" enthroned at Marking and he prac-
ticaly controlled the greet provinces of Kiang-
Su and Sheh-Kiang the heart of the richest
tea and silk production of China. His robber
bands indeed raided down to the very gates of
Shanghai and the foreign merchants there we're
sometimes hard put to 1t TO defend the city,
though nominaly amicable terms with the
Marking despot. on whom their trade so largely
depended.
One autumn morning at Shanghai in 1859 a
slight. dark-complexioned, Neutrality-suspicious.
man called at the office OF Tah-ke, a mandarin
Of the third button. banker and merchant well
regarded by the foreign residents
IL was FREDERICK townsend Ward, who had
just landed In Shanghai from San Francisco He
was rough and seedylooking. with a sailors roll
In his gait. but with glance of fire and solid.
squareset jawbone to redeem his face Tahke
was not encouraging when Ward spoke of his
desire to enter the Chinese service as a free
lance, and answered that he could get a belly
full of fighting by joining the Shanghai voun-
teers
Thank you for nothing" said Ward but I
can do that without your help. I didn't come
for that sort of advice. could make you help
me and help yourself at the same time. You
don't see 1t now, but you will"
Who. then was Ward? Born at Salem Mass
about thirtytwo years before his arrival IN
China. he came of a race Of deep-sea skippers
who had sailed on all oceans arctic and troui.
cal, and been noted for their handspike and be-
laying-pin discipline Daring and resolution ran
In his blood.
AT the age OF nineteen he had won his first