Evening star., 1924-11-28
EVERY RAIL RULE
BR0KENBY CHINESE
Armies Run Trains Regard
less of Precedents, But
No Accidents Occur.
of the Associated Press.

Correspondence OF the Associated Press.
PEKING, October 15.-China's gi-
gantic war panorama, developed on q
scale comparable to nothing that has
occurred in China since the Manchu
invasion of $50 years ago, has been
described by B. Lenox Simpson, pro-
prietor of the Far Eastern Times, as
he saw 1t from the Great Wall near
Shanhaikwan.
Mr.. Simpson has just returned to
Peking on the first train to get
through after the interruption Of
traffic September 13. mo ground Sc
lected by the most skilled producer Of
scenic effects" he writes, could be
better than this long, narrow plain.
which, skirting the sea, runs for a.
hundred miles north, for 1t was the
roadway into China during hundreds
OF years of warfare, and Is crowded
with the remains of medieval fortifi-
cations.
Old Fort Is Used.
Straight in front Of Shanhaikwan
city and the gateway which Is called
the first gateway in the world is an
enormous square mud redoubt, into
which, in the old days, thousands Of
bowmen and cavalry no doubt crowd
ed. Today their place has been taken
by the neatly equipped infantrymen
in gray, and over the mud parapets
which must have been the resting
places for the bowmen and their re-
serve stock of arrows now appear the
ugly muzzles of 3-inch guns.
High up on the hillsides, right to
the summit OF the mountains, run
stone and brick watch towers where
once signal beacons were lighted at
night, or smoke signals by day, to
give the alarm. Now from these
towers one sees after nightfall the
winking of signal lamps, the code
messages being picked up and re-
peated from tower to tower until they
reach the sea.
THE villages for miles around"
the relator continues, have been
combed for able-bodied men of the
peasant class for enforced service in
the digging of trenches between the,
mountains and the beach, a distandv
of 10 miles. AS the number of troops
increased, more and more villages
were taken over for billeting and the
luckless inhabitants driven out, re-
gardless of their future welfare
Gullies and hollows were crowded
with ponies and mules Of the trans
port service. the carts being drawn
up in squares much as the American
pioneers used to assemble, their wag
ons at night for protection against
the Indians.
Women Flee Disaster.
From the early morning, trudging
along the beach, the fleeing peasantry
passed from the war zone to what
safety was to be found far to the
west and south, women and children
mostly, mounted on diminutive dom
keys or dragging themselves along
in the last stages of exhaustion"
The mobilization accomplished in
Today period up to September % on
Il one-track railway, Mr.. Simpson de-
scribes a feat unparalleled in the
railway history of China" Although
the railway staffs were at first in de-
spair at the ''heresies" committed by
out crews and drawn revolvers TAX
ing the place of traffic regulations,
they accepted the situation as it de-
things moving.
Rolling stock from every railway
north of the Yangtsze River was
lnassed on the n-Shanhaikwan
line. Double crews of six men were
eventually placed on every locomo-
tive. The men worked in 12-hour
shifts and slept on the coal tenders
with two sentries standing over them
to see that they did not run away.
The average speed dropped to miles
an hour.
In spite of the fact that the worlds
railway practice had been torn into
shreds, these northern armies turn
ing trains into iron carts chained to-
sether and moving forward like an