White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1928-10-26
FORTUNE in PEARLS
STOLEN FROM TOMBS
Burial Places of Imperial
Manchus Desecrated.

Peking.-At least 65 pounds OF large
pearls Of the finest luster were looted
from the imperial Manchu tombs ut
T.ung Ling, according to a report
which the Picking Chamber of Com
merce has made to the local military
authorities.
OF this total there are now 173 fine
pearls in possession of Picking curio
and jewel merchants, and these are
to be given to the Chamber of Com
merce president at once for safe keep
ing until the Marking. government de-
cides what is to be done with them.
They may be returned to the desc
Grated tombs or they may be sold for
the benefit Of the colony of $4,000
Manchus who live around the tombs
and who now are destitute.
The lowest estimate of the value
Of the loot from the tomb is ST., 00O,-
600, and from this minimum the esti-
mates run clear up to $5O,000,0OO.
AS yet no trace has been found Of
the two "jade melons" which were
buried in the coffin of the famous
Empress Dowager Of Boxer days, Tsu
Hsi. These "jade melons, were globu-
lar pieces Of the finest apple-green
jade, each about the size of an aver
age cantaloupe. They were both rich
ly encrusted with inlaid diamonds
and emeralds of great size, and they
rank among the most valuable pieces
of jewelry in the world.
Already myth and superstition are
playing their part In the tales told
about the violation of the Manchu
tombs by former northern troops who,
at the time Of the outrage, had "gone
over" to the Nationalist.
An Imperial Looter.
Many OF the ".old style" residents Of
Picking, the Chinese Of classical cul-
ture, assert that while death should
be meted out to the looters of the
tomb of the Empress Dowager, no
punishment should be inflicted upon
those who were concerned only in the
l0oting of the tomb of the Emperor
Chen Lung.
Chen Lung, who was the Louis XIV
of China and who enjoyed the longest
and most illustrious reign of any
Chinese emperor, is said to have looted
the tombs of the Mings, who preceded
the Manchus as imperial rulers. The
footing of Chen Lungs tomb is, there
fore, declared to be merely %"heavenly
justice" manifesting itself after the
lapse of more than a century and a
half.
History affords no proof of the,
charge that Chen Lung violated the
Ming tombs, nor does the present con
dition of these magnificent mausolea
support the story of his guilt, but for
many decades it has been rumored
that many of Chen Lungs treasures
and jewels were secretly taken from
the tombs of the dynasty which pre-.
coded his own.
The common people of Picking now
tell, with bated breath, how a mysteri-
GUS sign of heavenly %displeasure saved
from violation the tomb of Rang Hsi,
the emperor who ruled for nearly 60
years from the middle Of the Seven
teenth century to the early years Of
the Eighteenth.
Carried "credentials."
The tale goes that after looting the
tomb of the Empress Dowager and
that of Chen Lung the thieves started
to open the tomb of Kang Hsi and
were startled when a spring of muddy
water, "the color of imperial yellow"
gushed forth. Within a few minutes
the thieves found themselves ankle
deep in this mysterious flood, and then
they fled in terror.
MIR. Liu Jen-jui, the man appointed
by Marking to make an investigation
of the looted mausolea, reports that
the tombS underwent a second looting
by a man named Sung Yuming.
This person Sung. soon after the
news of the looting got abroad, ap-
peared at the Tung Ling tombs carry.
ing what looked like a letter of ap
pointment and credentials qualifying
him as custodian for the Marking
government of the Tung Ling tombs."
Sung's credentials were not ques
toned at first, and he FASTENED to re.
move from the tombs 242 bronze idols
and ten fine picture scrolls from the
brush of Emperor Chem Lung himself.
Most of the bronze idols have been
found by the Picking police, but the
invaluable scrolls have disappeared, as
has the much-sought Sung Yuming.