The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 28, 1900, Page 1

» VOLUME LXXXVIII-NO, 28, The SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1900, Tall. PRICE FIVE CENTS. AD MIRAL SEYMOUR’S BESIEGED - EXPEDITION HAS BEEN RESCUED CHEFU, June 27, Via Shanghai, Noon.-—-Admiral Seymour’s expedition has been relieved, having failed to connect with Peking. There is no news from Peking. Russian Colonel Schetelle, commanding the combined forces of 10,000 men, is supposed to be proceeding to Pe- king. Admiral Seymour’s expedition Chinese troops are now before Peking. - P B A RN SECAT AR wvessel has gone from Shanghai to the scene. Chinkiang is situated in the province of Kiang Su, on the south Gr: cansal It is sixty-two miles below Nankin and one hundred and D i e009 0D 000000000 D 0506000 0062000000 0h0 PUPAPIP AP AP PP AP S HARD FIGHTING TO AID SEYMOUR The Latest News From Tientsin Stated That the Relief Column Started Monday—China’s Act| in Asking Diplomats to Leave Equal to Declaration of W ar.| The compo » brigade of 2300 men who raised help Admiral Sevmour, has s not yet réached Chefu, the nearest hefu from Taku brought this on tc ef force had decided ne d in view of s rest for the troops was until to-day. Meanwhils n was desperate and that he dawn to-day (Monday).” allied forces opened with sev- num achine guns adily, the Chinese handled and put the guns of one, the Ch retreéating about There was tatives of the varfous natlons as to which wo enter T 1 first and the Americans and British went in neck and neck. The Russians stormed K losses. Several thousand Japanese have left Taku for Tientsin and altogether 13,000 Japanese have Japan 1s prep ordered to go P The T 0ps now aggregate nearly 20,000 and ish, American and other troops d the foreign ) drilled troops engineers at Chefu estimate the at Lu Tal, 25,000 at Shan off from Tients Peking. h received by the Forelgn Office stating that the foreign lega- tions were req leave Peking within a specified time is interpreted in some unofficial quarters as tantamount to giving the Ministers their passports and to a declaration of war; but as China does nothing like other countries the official opinion is that there is no £ to do but to await the course of events and to see what the Mipisters themselves say when they are rescued. All the students at the forelgn hospitals in Canton are leaving. Women missionaries are returning from the West River ports. There was a slight dis- turbance at Wochou Tuesday while the women were embarking. The crowd shouted, “Kill the foreign dev According to advices fro the southern Vic : Shanghai the Chinese officials, direction of and other coast citfes.” E not safl or anchor near the hips now; that their crews shall foreigners be left to the Chinese ghai to be virtually an ulti- The nsuls de- ack up their refusal to comply orce now there consists of 99 men ave 6000 men with six guns in the forts modern rifles and machine guns. an i making suggests provision sion of the present disturbances in additional transports and now has thirty-five e with itude the arrangem ingencies other than the sup chartered nineteex STDR]ES OF SLAUGHTER :Il?\'e adherent of the church of England ias also been killed, but the names of AND PILLAGE AT PEKING ™ of these victims are yet to hand ex- cept that of Mme. Astier. Messrs. Os- sent and Cadu are reported as among the foreign victims of ating their station locations. Brigadier General Yang, who was am- $ushed and murdered by Boxers at Lai- shul, near Pao Ting Fu, while en route to investigate a case of reported | of Christians, is to be cashiered | of his death, the charge | ing disobedience of orders in that he had | been ondered to “investigate” and not come to blows with the mogA —_— FLOCKING FROM THE INTERIOR. HONGKONG, June 2—Large numbers of Chinese converts and missionaries are arriving here from the interjor. VANCO ing to June 27.—Accord- | rs received by the steamer Empress of China to-day the first legation guards to enter Peking was the American contingent from the U. 8. 8. Newark. Dispatches to Yokohama from Peking on June 13 state that the slaughter and pillaging of the native converts was be- ing continued with increased violence. In one station of the American Methodists ten Christians were killed, most of them being women and children. A station of the American Board Mission has been de- stroyed and every one there killed. A na- in spite ainst him be- CHINKIANG, ON THE YANGTSE RIVER, WHERE AN OUTBREAK IS X The f:vre%,f:n concession is shown on the left or west side of the picture and the Chinese town back on the right. second large building from the left is the United Statas Consulate, where the Consul, Mr. Martin, has his office and resides with his family. Chinkiang is the station of United States Consul Martin, who some days ago asked for the immediate presence of a war vessel on account of the threatening attitude of the Chinese. Since then the situation has become more acute and a British war network of natural and artificial waterways, and is besides the converging point of several very important trade routes. In 1842 B T T e O e O e e SIS =Y the Boxers, without murder | will operate. | possession of the bureau has been placed | which was reported to have left Niu- is returning to Tientsin. His force has suffered greatly. Boxers from all sections are swarming there. The bank of the Yangtse-Kiang, at its junction with the fifty from Shanghai, with which it is connected by a BANISHMENT OF | ' THE FOREIGNERS From Shanghai Comes a Report | That Legationers Have Been| | Sent Froem Peking to a Chinese| «“St. Helena,” Five Hundred Miles From the Capital ONDON, June 27.—The latest Shanghai report says Prince Tuan| [ (the head of the Chinese Foreign Office and father of the heir| ; apparent) has sent the legationers to Sian-Fu under escort, and| ladds that Sian-Fu will be the new capital in the event of Peking being |occupied by the international forces. . If the foregoing statement be true it means long captivity for the members of the foreign legations and their families lately at Peking, and indicates the purpose cf the Chinese Government to make a long and hard fight befora yielding to the combined forces of the civilized world. Sian-Fu, or Singan-Fu, as it is more generally called, is situated in the southern part of the province of Shensi, 500 miles in a direct line southwest from Peking. It lies on the north of the Sinling Moun- tains, near the confluence of the Wei-ho and King-ho, about sixty miles west of where the former empties into the Hoang- ho 2t the “great berd.” | According to information given by a gentleman of this city long resident in and very familiar with the topography | of China, it is one of the most inaccessible places in the whole country from the sea coast. Ichang, on the Yangtse, some 250 miles ahove Hankow, is the nearest point of approach by navigable water, but the great Kianlong Mountain barrier, with the Shling Range,’stands in the way. The sole pass over the latter has an altitude of 4100 feet, while there is none over the former except far to the east or west. The great highway between Western and Eastern China passes through Singan-fu, following the Wei-ho, through the famous Tung-kwan gate to the Hoangho at the southwestern point of the “great bend,” and there diverging one route goes across Shansi and Chill to Peking, and the other along the valley of the Hoang- ho to Honan, Kalfong and the coast cities. On account of its peculiar situation and the fertile country around it Singan has for thousands of vears been a com- mercial city of the first class. Its population is varfously estimated at from 750,000 to 1,500,000 souls. Each of its square walls, facing the cardinal points of the compass, is over six miles long, and is plerced in the center by a monumental gate with lofty pavilions. Singan-fu, or Slan-fu, is identifled as the Chan-gan of Marco Polo, and is probably the Thinai of Ptolemy. It was founded in the twelfth century, B. C., and was for over 2000 years the capital of Eastern China (1122, B. C, to 1280, A. D.) Under the Tsin dynasty it was the capital of the Middle Kingdom from 906 to 1280, A. D. The province of Shensi, of which it is the capital, has an area of 67,000 square miiles, and a population of about 12,000,000 With the ecapital estab- lished at Singan, years may elapse before the Chinese Government is brought to terms, or the unfortunate Europeans and Americans who have been sent there set free. | CHAFFEE DEPARTS hang for Peing, has reached tts des- | AMERICANS AND BRITONS i FOR SAN FRANCISCO THE FIRST TO RUSH IN. slans may be in the capital will make | Great Britain and Japan anxious to get their troops there, and it is the expecta- I WASHINGTON, June 27.—General Chaf- | tion that no time will be lost by the| LONDON, June 27.—A special dispatch | fee, who has been ordered to command | allies in taking up the march to Peking. |from Chefu says: “The fight of the allled | the American troops in China, left Wash- 2 g 3 AT forces against the combined Boxers and | ington at 10:40 o'clock to-day for San Y the Chinese soldiery barring the road to | Francisco, accompanied by Lieutenant INVENTDHY OF FIGHTI"G | Tlentsin \;‘r;ened at daybreak. One hun-| Harper, his aild. He is due at San Fran- | dred and fifty Americans were among the | clnce &t 5 o'clock Sunday morming and MEN IS BEING TAKEN | % international troops. The Chinese | salls for Nagasaki on the transport Grant broke under heavy shelling and then Lha‘ | with the Sixth Cavalry the same day. X arsenal was attacked and the guns were It 15 expected that the transport Grant| NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 21—Military | grqqually stlenced. The fight was prac- | with General Chaffee on board will arrive | Circles were stirred up in Nashville to- | gjeqlly over at noon. at Nagasakli about July 25, which would | Might over a telegram recelved by Adju-| “The keen friendly rivalry for the honor | insure his arrival at Taku by August 1. | tant General Lamb of the State Guard the city resulted in the from General Corbin, asking for an imme- dlate report as to the strength of the | Deck, with the General Chaffee has been in conference ritish _going in neck and | with Major Simpson as to the topography - A e others close up. | of the country in which, according to; Tennessee militia, regularly organized 2 - present expectations, the foreign troops _-;nd muinm g:;netmlt#m:a ;epu;;l that| BURNED w__"" REBELS. All the information in the | Tennessee nty-three infant com- < panies, elighty men each, eleven of which mbgtmm n le."Jdun;"flu.’dAly :‘"y’:'f‘?“ h;:: are now in the Fifth Regiment, nine In | 5. toctant mission at Weihsien was the Sixth and three unattached; also one burned down by rebels Monday night last. troop of cavalry unattached. 2 s jmong milltia officers who kow of the | RUROPEANS REPORTED SAFE. tel it has caused a t of - s war talk, as the men believe the inventory | “LONDON, June 2I.—The British Consul c::kfl:m.lnl :x::. in varfous States is being | at Amoy w this morning that the 'n, muc same as was done before m‘mm‘hu the declaration of war with Spain. E = | at his aisposal. e HURRYING TO PEKING. Spectal Dispatch to The Call, WASHINGTON, June 27.—Administra- tion officials are now speculating on whether the column of 4000 Russians, IMMINENT, AND WHERE A BRITISH WAR VESSEL HAS GONE. the English army on entering Chinkiang, after a victory, found it converted into a city of the dead, the inhabitants having slaughtered their women and children and then made way with themselves to avoid the hated rule of the ‘red-headed barba- rians.” In 1838 the city was taken by the Taipings, and four years later recaptured by Gordon and the Imperialists, when the inhabitants were massacred by order of the mandarins, sixty thousand being put to the sword on the ground now occupied by the foreign concession. Nothing remained except the ramparts and a few wretched survivors, crouching amid the ruins. The city rapidly built up again and soon numbered over two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. The river in front of the town is several 1hiles broad and over sixty feet deep, with a current of eleven knots per hour. The high island in the river is Silver Island and to its right is Golden Island. Within the city is a pagoda of cast iron, conjectured to be at least 1200 years old. It is estimated that from 40,000 to 60,000 D * 4099000000009 0000000000000000+0+0-+0 B S S S S DD DDA P S S X DIt Pt 000 G100 9+ 240 P 400000 0I0DII LI etTTIPIVISIITOIOIIDTITS > MINISTER WU IMPARTS NEWS Receives a Cable Message From Peking Dated June 19 Telling of the Departure From the Chinese Capital of Foreign Diplomats Under Guard. L ad ASHINGTON, June 27.—The Chinese Minister called this morning on the Secretary of State and communicated to him the contents of a dispatch which he had received from the Tsungsi Yamen at Peking, dated on the 15th Inst. The dispatch states that the foreign Ministers had before this date asked pegymission for the legagion guards to enter the city, which permission had been granted: that they subsequently asked that these guards be reinforced, which the Chinese Government was pot disposed to permit. The dispatch then goes on to state that the Consul Generil at Tlentsin— supposed to be the French Consul General-had telegraphed to the Vieer of Chill that the foreign admiral had demanded the surrender of the Taku forts and that the foreign Ministers were shortly to leave Peking for Tientsin with their guards. The developments of to-day respecting China were important and interesting. The Chinese Minister's report of the departure of the foreizn Ministers and their guards from Peking greatly relieved the officlals here, who took it as the first tangible evidence that the Imperial Chinese Government had a full realization of the enormity of permitting the Ministers to come to personal harm and were thus undertaking as far as lay in thelr power to observe the amenities of Inter- national iIntarcourse. 5 The keenest interest is shown by the officials to learn the conditions under which the Ministers left Peking. Minister Wu's dispatch was ominously silent on that point, and though the Minister himself maintains almost obstinagely his confidence in the non-existence of a state of war, it is generally admiftea that it will be difficult to accept his cénclusion if it shall transpire that the Pe- king Government itself has sent the Ministers away with their passports.or what may come to the same thing, with a guard as safe conduct. At the State Depart- ment it is said that should it be explained that the Imperial Government did this not with a purpose of rupturing diplomatic relations but simply to insure the safety of the Ministers, which they were unable to guarantee as long as they remained in Peking, then there is still ground for an understanding. It 1s, however, pointed out that in such case the self-confessed Inability of the Imperial Government to maintain peace and order at the capital would amount to an admission of its utter failure as a Government and would leave China in a state worse than that of actual war. In either event it now appears o the satisfaction of the officials that there was absolute justification for such intervention as we have offered in China. Notice has come to the Government that the cable companies have again re- opened communication telegraphically with Taku and Chefu. This arrangement has been made by means of the Russian telegraphic system connecting with the Stberfan Rallroad system. A BEuropean agent has managed to reopen the lines, though the means of communication between Chefu and Taku and Tientsin are tortuous and probably precarious. The War Department officials still insist that no orders have gona forth to send more troops to China than the Ninth Regiment now on its way from Ma- nila and the Sixth Cavalry, which will sail from San Franecisco next Sunday for Nagasaki and perhaps Taku. It is said that with these two organizations and the marines now on Chinese soil General Chaffee will have the full brigade to which his rank entitles him. Rumors of withdrawals of troops from Cuba are said to be the probable basis for the persistent statements that more soldlers have beem ordered to China. It is/admitted that two regiments will soon be ordered to China. It is ad- mitted that two regiments will soon be ordered to the United States from Cuba, the particular organizations being designated by General Wood, but they sim- ply will take the place in home garrisons of regulars which will go out to Manila to relleve volunteer organizations there. Major Simpson, chief of the bureau of information of the War Department, is engaged in the preparation of a map of China which will show with as great particularity as possible that part of the empire in which the present trouble is being experienced. Immense difficulties are being encountered in obtaiing accurate information with respect not only to the topography of the country, but also as to the telegraph and rallway lines. Detailed and up-to-date informa- tion is scarcely to be had, but in a short time a reasonably accurate map of the country will be ready for the use of the department officials and the troops which may find China a fleld of operations. Officials in the State and War departments to-day were interested in the dis- patch received by Minister Wu from Peking. not only because of its contents, but. especially because of the route by whigh it was transmitted. Wu said it reached him from Peking by way of Sinanfu. Sinan is the capital of the pro- vince of Shantung, southeast of Peking and northwest of Shanghai The word “fu,” following the name of a city, indicates that It is the capital of a ce. The city is near the Hoarigho, one of the two great rivers of China. communication between Peking and Sinan (or Tsinan, as it is showa on the German maps) is almost direc:; thence to Shanghal. the nearest cable station, the route {s roundabout. That Minister Wu's dispatch came from hal is almost the coast. as according to the best maps In the possession of Chinese certalin, t there are no cable stations north of Shanghal on the