Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-01

49, Ioi~, SoiltdluGu llG lOiloW-
ing striking paragraph:
Mysterious Death of the Taotars
Deputy ut the Wellington Hotel.
Our readers will he sorry to hear Of the sud
den death last evening OF Mr.. 10 Ting Choo,
the popular deputy of His Exceiency Chang.
taO-tai OF Shanghai. He was attending din
ner given by the directors of the new Mutual
Spinning Company, at the wellington Hotel
the Bnnd. and was taken suddenly i'll at the
close of the meal.
: lie was carried to an adjoining apartment
and DIR. Iiall.Clayon. surgeon to the British
consulate was Immediately summoned. hut all
his efforts to rrsuscltate the unfortunate gen
teman proved unavaling and lie died shortly
before midnight.
Mr.. 10 was of the most promising OF
the younger generation OF Chinese oficialdom
and had always shown himself most courteous
and obiging in his relations with European
residents. His dccease is Il great loss to this
community and leaves vacancy Which his ca
cellency will find hard to fill.
The usual retcence displayed by the attend
ing physicians in commenting upon the ease.
and the refusal of the health officer to give any
details to the press. have thrown an air Of
mystery about the occurrence. which, we hope.
In time will be satisfactorily explained, but
which we must all very much regret.
a week had passed after the above
notice and the reading public of
Shanghai had begun to forget the in
ClueHl, WHcH Illlie group VI ihSh
sitting on the porch of the Municipal
Club. We're Joined in the evening by
three others They were the Chev-
alier Brouchard, consul general for
France; DIR. IIall-Clayton formerly
surgeon of the 9th Punjab Artillery,
and James Mactayish, esq, director
general of the new Mutual Spinning
Company, one of the most prominent
commercial enterprises in all the far
east. 1t was aiiot and moist July
night and every breath of air blow
ing up the river channel was wei
come to make life endurable.
We'll" said the consul, as he re-
placed his glass of aerated water and
lighted his Manila cheroot, "have
that case OF the tao-tai's deputy?
He turned an inqurins look toward
the surgeon.
"Mysterious as ever was the reply.
Inspector Sharpley and I have been
closeted two hours this afternoon
with Detective Morehead-awfully
clever chap. by, the way. that Moore
head; could have given sherlock
Holmes any number OF points and
beaten him at the game-but we
"Was he in good health at the
time?"
perfect, as far as we doctors
know
something must have, been wrong,
then. with the food. Chinese cooks
are awfully careless in this sickly
season and one never knows what
they may serve up to you. A little
piece of tainted fish or some over
ripe fruit may cost the unwary Eu-
ropean his very IRE ,ns YOU ,la sn9 not in
Chinatown or in private house; 1T
was in the wellington and every par
ticle of food served there is under
constant and most careful lnspectlon;
The proprietor and chef are both OLD
eastern hands and know these risks
as we'll as we do.
.Then," said the consul, after a
moments pause, 1.-The only thing is
poison. You never can tell what these
Cd grudge against another. | tell you.
they'll stop at nothing. Couldn't one
OF the assistant cooks have smuggied
it into special dish or the table boy
have dropped it into the wine"'
mot likely" replied the surgeon.
1--WE have gone into all that most
carefully and we are positive that ne
neither ate nor drank ANYTHING that
was not shared by all alike. and not
another soul felt any bad eifecas
iess2a and here he slowly rose and
walked to the railing overlooking the
sluggish river just below that seemed
to conceal oriental mysteries from
Ijuropean minds-"unless it be some
deadly drug that no modern medical
man has ever heard of, and, you
know, we haven't been working and
studying and practicing in these
wretched lands for over fifty years
for nothing"
He touched the bell and the waiting
celestial instantly responded. hoy,
go catchee my 'ma-foo' and speakee
he my wantchee trap just now go
homeside."
The vision departe :. and having
duly summoned the waiting horse
boy from the eate-house and his. pipe.
announced: "Tlap all leady now, sir
and the busy doctor bade the little
company good night.
"That only shows said Mr.. Mac
lavish, chow little you can know
about them, no matter how many
years you may live among them.
They'll outwit you every time. Won
der what the next problem viii be
that we will have to deal WITH
well" said the. consul, your COM
pany needn't worry. You got the prop
erty for your mill all right that you
have been haggling for this last half
year. He affixed the tao-tai's seal to
the release. didn't he, before he was
taken ill?'
Yes, he scaled it just before he
swooned away, and that is the other
strange and mysterious performance:
for the release. as we all supposed