Evening star., 1932-12-27
BYCAPT. JOHN w. THOMSON. JR

BY Y-CAPT. JOHN w. THOMSON, JR.
| Author Of Fix Bayonets' and Red Pants"
China (N.A.N.A).-They
u killed Big Chang not long ago at
TSinanfuin. Shantung He was
| 4 the Marshal Chang Tsung chang.
warlord of Chilhi and Shantung
and former Tupan of Shantung Prov
| ince, one Of the tallest Cinnamon alive,
and certainly as grand a rascal as this
romantic land ever bred. He had lived
/ so years, and the wonder is, even among
this patient people, that he lived so
long.
He died violently as he lived. pistoled
when he went aboard the Peiping ex-
press, by the nephews OF forgotten
cavalry general he had executed six
years before. There are two versions OF
the affair, both on excellent authority.
One is that as the ex-Tupan made his
ceremonial goodbyes to the provincial
officials, the military commander and
the other Tsinan dignitaries assembled
at the station to see him of, two young
men pushed close to him in the crowd,
began to empty automatics into him.
and that he ran for his life down the
platform, bowling supplications, until
slug found vital place in his huge
body and brought him down.
Other Version Different.
The other version is that his killer
| followed him into his carriage and
opened fire, and that Chang rose up
roaring, in the bull voice he had, and
chased the young man out-that one
backing and shooting as well as he
could-across the platform and over the
| next tracks, and finally fell with four
bullets through him. With him died
his two aides, and there was some in
jury to the inevitable innocent by
stander.
The assassins then surrendered to the
police, the one who had killed Big
Chang addressing the crowd at length
on the purity Of his personal motives
and the depravity Of his victim; and
the next day the young mans face,
smiling broadly, appeared in all the
public prints. Since then, from Shang-
hal, from Nanking. from Hupeh, from
Kiangsi and from Shantung-especially
from Shantung-and from other places
that knew Big Chang. the responsible
authorities have been assailed with pc
titionS for pardon to his slayers.
Quite aside from the right or the
wrong Of his removal there passed from
the China scene, with Big Chang. the
most picturesque of the warlords. None
Of those left are nearly SO amusing.
Correspondents last Winter discovered
the famous Gen. Ma directing his Nonni
River fighting in plus fours Of a checked
pattern. The commander of the 10Th
Route Army-a fair soldier, I thinks
young and quiet and simple. The old
marshal, Chang Tso-lin, former bandit
and stout fellow that he was. might
have been merchant from Bead street.
Feng Seems Unreal.
WI Pei-fu now extinct, or nearly SO,
is a frail esthete. Feng, the Christian
general, with his coolie coat, on his
mountain, seems not quite real. The
said to be most polite and Of singular
charm. But to find the like Of Chang
Tsung-chang you must 60 to the annals
Of those mighty eaters and drinkers and
lechers of North Europe, the robber
barons of the Middle Ages.
Chinese who's Who" dates him from
1881, and he claimed the village Of
Yi-hsien as his birthplace: but while
he spent his life talking loudly about
many things he said very little about
his origins, and the gossips whisper
that his ancestral tombs at Yi-hSien In
Shantung, If indeed they exist. are the
coolies in the fields.
In all things he was the Shantung
I, carrier of weights and drawer Of bur-
dens. as direct in his appetites as any
animal, with a roaring bass voice. Your
Chinese gentleman, or rising man. puts
of rudeness. His ideal is the small
boned, womanish body, with slender
hands fit to ply the brush, and to raise
the wine cup, and for nothing else; and
the correct voice is high treble, deli
cately pitched to the four tones.
Over Six Feet Tall.
and was so broad and heavy of bone
that, although fat came to him with
rich living. he looked a giant. well
nourished-never a fat man. His hands
and feet were huge in proportion, and
! only his head was small-a little pear
shaped head, the sharp end uppermo5t,
always shaven and polished.
His face was broad, coolie-face,
! narrowing toward the top, with cold
| bright eyes, and a sort of wolfish geni-
ality. Because he had to lean down to
speak to most men Of his race, he came
to have stopping. peering expression
that reminded one Of a swapping turtle.
i Early in life he went to Manchuria,
in those days still the preserve OF the
Manchu dynasty, with japan pushing
into it from the east and Russia from
the north. It was a good place for
fishers in troubled waters: there has
always been much deviltry in Manchuria,
as there Is now.
Served with Russians.
When the Russo Japanese War
| hroke he served with the irregular
CORDS raised by the Russians to operate
| on the fringes Of the armies, and there
is a legend that he was attached to the
! suuadrons Of the Cossack general
Budenitch. If that Is so he had an
able master in the art OF war, Tor
Budenitch Is one of the great cavalry
men of history. and was the only RUS
sian leader who drew any reputation
| from that sorry business.
Troubles multiplied upon the Manchu
dynasty, and in the year OF the revo-
] luton, 1911, Chang Tsung-C Chang Or
ganized a force Of Manchurian insur-
rectos and led them within the wall.
He became Gen. Chang OF the Re-
| public, and it was he who was dis.
patched South to seize the imperial
arsenal in Shanghai. :,
He showed such talent that he did
| uOC ldCk SIuplOyu1OAt, d4A0 oASAA NAoSSHAA
ment that, when the second revolu-
tion came, he stood with the right
people and was presently directed to
Hsuchow to suppress his late comrades,
now designated as bandits. He sup.
pressed them by the simple process OF
determination, and thereafter went on
from strength to strength. Adjutant
to the president, superintendent OF
military instruction, commander IN the
! field against counter-revolutionari in
Hupeh and Kiangsi, each step took
him higher.
| Expert at Betrayal.
There was not much fighting en-
tailed; the Chinese soldiers hardly ever
fight. But to the requisite bribery, in
trigue and betrayal he brought q
coolies cunning, and to the looting and
extortion which held his armies loyal
and his senior officers affectionate, the
i