Norwich bulletin., 1914-08-08

fold, and add several vessels to the in ternational fleet, for it has been recently announced that the twenty-hve-Inillion- taei loan, negotiated by the new repuD- lie with an American steel plant and ap- proved by the Chinese president will be devoted to the construction of small cru1s- CTS and large gurboats to rout out the pirates
 In the last two years many citizens of the United States have lost their lives through the pirates of the China water , ways and perhaps the case of Hicks, Hoffman and Sheldon is IS typical as any These three men were American clti- 1 zens and teachers in the Government Col Iege at Chengtu, toward which they were | travelling from Shanghai up the Yang tze river. The start of their journey had been safe enough In a large river steamer to Hankow and thence by smaller boat 1 to Ichang.
 l But there, at the entrance to the | Gorges, they were forced to take to small craft, which they propelled them selves by oars, and March %, 1912 upon their arrival at Wanshien, they made two fatal blunders. The hrst was that they anchored in a lonely little
 blight away from the usual smelly
 anchorage of the town The second was that they did not dig their arms out of their baggage
 i The river nirates fell upon them dur 1 ing the night. Hicks was murdered as he lay sleeping. Sheldon was manned TOT i life and Hoffman was danserousIy | wounded although he later recovered ! And the perpetrators of this outrage re- ! mained undetected, although the head | men of Wanshien village were held re- | sponsible-
 | JaDanese war an American war core : spondent was set upon near Ne"chahs' 1 Manchuria. and killed. and 1t Is frequent hers consular service who have been on emma ] station will tell you. for marines to pc sent to the interior of China up ine ' Yane-tze river. to bring out missionaries ; and nrevent them from being massacred 1 Nor are the river pirates the only | cause which the United States has TOT
 keeping light-draft vessels m Cnlnes5 s 7 waters for another ''Tampico incident. similar almost in every detail save ns
 ultimate outcome. was enacted near
 Hankow, China. July 2f. 1912 Al that time there were numerous reoel 1 forts along the river, and one or these forts went so far on that date as to flre upon a Standard Oil steamer nylng tne ! American flag. As soon as wora oi .ne Ine
 immediately taken up in ofncial circies' and the twenty-one guns, which Huerta two years later refused, were accoroeu to the flag by the rebel troops July oO-
 
 The old Monocacy and the Palos. for
 which the two new gunboats were chris tened. saw long and honorable service in the Chinese waters, against pirates ootn of China and Korea and the taking oi
 the Korean forts on the Salee river, In
 which such later celebrities as the late
 Admiral Winfield Scott Schley ana Ad-
 miral Pillsbury took part.
 |, Admiral Pillsbury besides taking a . prominent part in the fighting is also to be accredited with the remarkable achieve ment of taking "wet-plate" photographs of the fighting. notwithstanding that field . photography was in its infancy in 1871 In A tent dark room the photographs , were developed, and are among the mosl . highly prized records in the Navy De
 pertinent library today.
 , | The assault upon the Korean forts wa: , | occasioned by attack made by then | June l, 1871; upon the United States gun l boats exploring the river upon whiei | they were situated The forts were man ? ned by freebooting soldiery. and although , demand for reprisal was madS to tn,
 Korean government noa action was takel by them Therefore. after waiting ter days. Rear Admiral John Rodgers. com Fmanding the Asiatfc fleet. ordered an ad vance upon the forts
 In accordance with the orders tn 3 Monocacy, the Palos and four stsan