Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-11

| the shouts of the excited population. Oc-
easionally bullet dropped over into the
,fs . quarter. and one spent shell
compound of the American legation
guard. but fortunately no one was hurt,
though rifle ball struck the outer wall
OF the American legation within q foot
OF where the first secretary was stand
Watch Looting In District.
The temptation to find out what was
actually going on was. in many cases.
too strong to be reSisted. and a number
OF foreigners went out into the burning
district to watch the footing. The curious
thing was the good humor that charac-
terfzed the looting soldiers: they seemed
like crowd of unruly schoolboys out
Tor lark. There could be no doubt as
| to their determination to take what they
wanted and burn the rest, but they evil
IDENTIFY had no wish to do any more kill
ing than was absolutely necessary Most
OF the firing was into air. e4ther for the
sake OF simply making joyful noise or
keepers.
Nowhere was there any apparent de-
sire to interfere with foreigners In the
streets or to injure foreign property. To
marines who were bringing in some for
eign ladies and children the hooters Of
fered to shake hands with the foreign
soidiers: here and there the rascals in
foreigners, and on mere than one occa-
sion they offered to share their plumber
with residents Of the legation quarter
Riffraff Takes It's Share.
After the soldiers had started the ball
rolling the local riffrafr. Of course, be-
gan to take its share. and all through
the night the work Of devastation and
pillaSe kept up. The streets were
thronged with soldiers and coolies with
bundles on their backs. and a continuous
, stream OF rickshas laden with furs. bull
lion. rolls Of silk. curios and other loot
passed along on their way to the Chen
Men railway station. where later in the
night rnsi the mutineers Communicated
outside ths CHEN Gm w Man their booty
city, there was similar scene. There
were two big fires In the Chen Men
street. and from the tower on the wall
fne rascally work could clearly be seen.
here were the richest shops In Picking.
and they were all. with few exceptions,
completely rified of their contents Here
also. there was skirmish between the
iooters and a party Of loyal soldiers, but
1t came to nothing. Generally speaking.
no attempt was made to queIl the dis
turbance: the military commanders were
afraid to act.
Next Attack West Side.
The next morning the rioters turned
their attention to the west side of the
city. and 'all Peking' went out to visit
the scene Of the nights orgie. Whole
areas had been swept by the flames. In
some places the fire had not yet been ex-
tinguished; in others coolies were grub
| bling In the smoking ruins for what they
could find: and every now and then a
wall would fall with q crash and a cloud
OF Gust. through which could be seen the
neeing forms OF the treasure hunters.
Most OF the shops that had escaped the
flames were boarded up: in those that
remained open there was to be seen only
pare shelves and rubbish heaps The
whole district was q scene Of desolation
up from the east gate Of the imnsriai
| CITY. During the night an attempt had
| been made by the hooters to force this
gate; but the imperial guards mounted
m moet 1,s., guns ,s on the bridge over the
| In repulsing the invaders
The rfcting in the west city lasted all
DAY long and at nightfall they began to
b purn again. AS there was a stiff breeze
oioWine, the confagration Of the second
night was even greater than that of the
| first ~' W VIC
How One Bank Escaped.
The west city was well worth footing.
for in this section were situated the No.
tive banks. or cash shops" and hun.
dreds OF pawn shops. The losses of the
banks and pawn shops q one are said to
amount to nearly million sterling. Dis
daining everything in the banks but dol
lars and bullion. the soldiers threw the
smaller coins into the street. where thev
were greedily seized by the riffrafY thai
FOL owed In their wake. Some of these
| coins were picked up by foreign sight-
seers as souvenirs
| Few OF the banks escaped. There was
| one, however. that got of ye-v easi
1T was entered by eight soldiers. who at
once set to work In the usual Wav The
| proprietor, however. reasoned with them
and pointed out to them that II thew nm
dertook to loot the p ace they would soon
be Joined oy greedy horde with fI1e r.
| suit that each would get comparafiveIv
| little. He then promised them that -
| they would hold the place that night
| against al Corners he would give them q
thousand tAels apiece In the mo,ninr
The men assented to the Proposition and
kept their word. -'1
Thousands Are Beheaded.
As the forenoon of March wore ON. il
looked as II the situation was steadily
| growing worse. for IL was the ayowed
intention Of the mutinsers to sack the
private dwellings that night. But in the
afternoon Chang Kueit's '.biack tur-
bans were sent for. and the imper al