The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 17, 1900, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1900 CONGRESS MAY BE CONVENED TO DECLARE WAR' Cabinet Discusses the Situation; C and Decides to Send to China's All of the Troops That Can Possibly Be ASHINGTON, July 16.—The de- s still not at war with a. The big hi . coming on toy u t >- Peking chnically at pe should pot be accepted »ose on the nt to h 1 of swift m the Chi who th by re- one of chieve that pur officially : wh € ording to the over t fon shown wn nt that we could tion red about sbjection to > Chinese campaign thout some the duty of suggested 10 it EE8EE S S asaa LOST THEIR LIVES [N THE MASSACRE llowing is a list of the for- 1 attaches of the Peking: UNITED STATES. EDWIN ¥ Minister. = retary of Lega- E. BAINBRIDGE, Second Secre- -~ CHESHIRE, Interpreter. M. . WOODWARD and MISS WOOo of Mr. and GREAT BRITAIN. SIR CLAT MACDONALD, Min- ister. H. G. 0. BAX IRONSIDE, First Sec- of Legation. N. DERING, Second Secretary. COCKBURN, Chinese Secretary, H CLIVE BIG , Honorary Attache. G. F. B . Military Attache. LIEUT COLONEL DR. BUEHEL. GERMANY. BARON VON KETTELER, Minister. DR. VON PRITTWITZ and DR. VON FFRON. retaries of Legation, VON DER GOLTZ, Secretary Second Interpreter. , Chancellor. TSSIA. Minister. , Second Secretary. OW, First Interpreter. P. N. KOLESSOW, Second Interpreter. FRANCE. H. LEDUC, First Interpreter, —— VIDAL, Military Attacbe. JAPAN. BARON NISHIIL, Minister. ISHII KIKOUJIRO, First Secretary. SPAIN, B. J. DE COLOGAN, Minister. ITALY. MARQUIS SALVAGO RAGGY, Min- ister. AUSTRO-HUNGARY. BARON CZIKANN VON WAHL- BORN, Minister DR. A. VON ROSTHORN, Secretary of Legation. BELGIUM. BARON DE V! Minister, PORTUGAL. F. H. GALHARDO, Minister. FOREIGN GUARDS. orn- R I R e e I T e e B W o fonality— American British .. Totals European Peking, sbout . MISSTONARIES. The following is the revised list of - missionaries of the American board in North China at the be- &inning of ghe trouble, who are thought to have fled for refuge to Peking: Villtlam Ament, D. D.;: Rev, C. E. Ewlag, Miss Bessie G. Ewing, Miss Ada Haven, Miss Virginia C. Murdock, M. D.; Miss Frances B. Patterson, Miss M. Ru 1. Miss Elizabeth M. eld, Mrs. Mary L, Mateer, ® EEESEEE=EER uld | A Spared. | hastily at one of the capital | Berlin, Paris or Washington—to define the | part to be taken by each power and tne | quota of troops to be furnished and a range for the selection of a commandef | in chlef of the allied forc Increase of the Force. This suggestion did not meet a fav- | orabie reception. It was felt by the Ca | net- that the United States should ser what force it could dispose of to Chin: {as far as seemed ne ary, and should not make any agreement with other pow- as to th ¥ the in | destined for ficlals evaded any to the extent of this however, gathered ments would be limite v by the abil ity of the Government to spare trooj om those commands now in the Unl States and, Cuba. The estimates varied as to how many could be spared, but the general opinicn that somewhere between 4000 and from Cuba ton to the A statement neral Corbin total of . en route or under is, of course, in- ill-fated Ninth Infa be in condition for f: ral Wood's last re owing to the tranquility pre- Cuba it will be entirel the military force tk n This dec statement incre: It w the reinforce- ad. vs that there are now nd men in officers 2, order 1des the hi at i la | But even with these Cuban troops it will are by carri fllery ¢ About all e Uni a ich would be av 11 are , Seventh necessary, if the Cab! 1 out et’s plan: home pc of the t P st and Sixth and Eleventh complete; one bat- , Fifth, Se th, Tw ~third infantry regimen afes of the Twenty-fou force of antry hl cavalry bout 9000 men. would be sent, batieries K of t nd Third, fih and C and M of theSeve There are besides Compani D of the Engineers and four com- nies of the Signal Corps Estimates May Be Increased. Secretary Roc uctant to admit | that ity for a'at the cf far he had ements. F of the all standing arm; our insignificant force of f lery as compared with that of the great European powers and of our lack of terri- torial interest in China, the 10,000 men represented more than the United States® pro rata share of the international force which 1s to operate against Peking. The War Department, he sald, so far has re- sponded in full to every demand made upon it by the joint conference of foreign commanders in China. The situation ha changed so rapidly from day to day as alter the estimate of the foreign com- manders several times. It is possible that Chinese service will be again increased 1f 50, the United States will respond. By scouring this country and denuding it of all regular troops except a very few in the heavy artillery in charge of valuable seacoa guns and by making still fur- ther demands upon the forces in Cuba and Porto Rico, we might possibly gather between 3000 and 4009 additional troop: This, however, would be the limit unles the War Department disregarded a rec- ommendati®h of General MacArthur and drew still further on the available troops in the Philippines. This was a future contingency which would not have to be met until it arose. Secretary Root ex- pressed the hope that the first reports of the disastrous battie of the 13th at Tien- tsin might prove to be exaggerated, but the War Department, it was stated, had no official information beyond that trans- mitted in Admiral Remey's cablegram of this morning. 5 General Miles’ View. General Miles was called upon by Sec- retary Root during the afternoon to coun- sel with him as to the projected troop movements. He favors the prompt dis- patch of a large force to China. A good deal of annoyance has been caused here by the complete misunder- standing that has been conveyed to the European nations as to the attitude of the United States Government regarding the settlement of the Chinese troubles. This Government, it can be stated author- itatively, never has thought of com- of indemnity. Indeed, the subject of bhas been thought of or mentioned by the Government of the United States. The Government will insist on justice and re ribution, according to the highest author- ities. The War Department officials were un- able to say who commands the Ninth In- fantry since the death of Colonel Liscum. The impression prevalls that the lleuten- ant colonel of the regiment is ill at Ma- nila and that the regiment, or what is left of it, will find its senior and conse- quently commanding officer in one of the captains. Incidentally it may be men- tioned that through Colonel Liscum’s death Captain McCalla of the Newark, if ashore, is the ranking American officer. ARIZONA CHINESE ARE IN NO DANGER PHOENIX, Ariz., July 16.—In an inter- view anent the likelihood of annoyance of Chinese residents in case of confirma- tion of the news of the massacre at Pe | king, Acting Governor Akers said he an- ticipated no trouble in Arizona. Nearly all of the Celestials in the Territory are members of the Chinese reform party, which Is against the Boxer movement and in favor of a modern form of Govern- ment there should be trouble, Governor Akers says, the only available are PS in two days’ time. — PREFERRED SUICIDE TO BERLIN, July 16.—The correspondent here of the Associated Press has that a private letter was recelved from Lady. Claude Macdonald the legation had supplied themseives with poison ) safe to | re quite borders 1. ments intact; one mnd, of the Fourth, th more ose the estimate of troops needed for | promising for money or any other form | money indemnity or any apology never | at Fort Huachuca, on the San Carlos reservation., aithough more could come from New Mexican g‘arrllons| CAPTURE BY CHINESE re- ceived private information from London | there | vard. ify L fitich Entbassadior st Bekingy Wit | yout. ten when the situation ' was @growing Squires, $2630; threatening, saying that all the ladies of | Bainbridge $1 (995 0-0-©- 0090000200 9-0-0-6-00090690906 ALL HEADQUARTERS, WELLINGTON HOTEL, WASHINGTON, July 16.— President McKinley on his return to Washington from Canton will give personal at- tention to many questions arising out of the condition of affairs in China. tion was thoroughly discussed at the Cabinet conference held at the State Department this morning. The general opinion was that the news of the next few days would determine e ‘. whether Congress ought to 1 for laration of war agains declaration. 666690 INTER ESTIN be called. If it should be found t was in no way involved in the outrages against foreigners there will be no necessity for a declaration of war against China, and the President could send additional troops for the pro- tection of American lives and property and for the restoration of order by the same author- ity that he had sent those already on Chinese soil. Should it be found that the Chinese Government is responsible and that the allied ce in Chind is really fighting the Chinese Government, it may be necessary China, and Congress alone has the constitutional power to make such O...—..I The &itua- hat the Chinese Government to have a dec- EIFE RIS ITOURY | O MINISTER CONGER Boxers in H 30.—TF ki DKOHAMA, June 30.—The Pe correspondent of the China Mail writing on May 31, says: The promises of the Tsung-li Ya- men are made to be broken. Em- bassadors trot to and from that idiotic body and letters and dispatches are manufactured by the gross. Meanwhile the Boxer wizardry goes on Wwith ltte i any abatement. Foreigners are insulted, ‘Began as a Struggling Lawyer, Was Roman- tically Marrie d, Served in the War With Honor and Gained High Places by Merit. e » - . R S e i SR 2 [ 1 A gn o S e e e | . O 6000040000000+ MOINES, Towa, July 16.—“We ve been worrying about the Pe- i king situation for weeks,” said | Mrs. Ida H. Conger, widow of the | brother of Minister E. H. Conger; “even longer than the people generally have. This v ount of the letters we received from our relatives in Peking. The Minister repeatedly cautioned his family from giving to the public informa- | tion conveyed in his letters, especially of a political character, and the people have | not known how much we have worried | aver the situation which did not appear to | them grave until about three weeks ago. In a letter which we recently received | Minister Conger told us about being alarmed, and the facts in the official mes- sage which was given out at Washington have been known, to some extent, to us| for a long tim I have hoped against | reason. Almost all the news of rumors— | which is all we have had for a month—| was capable of being construed as gooa | news. [The remainder of the Des Moines relatives of the Minister and his family | are more sanguine than I am. Dead Minister’s Relatives. The Des Moines relatives are: Mrs. Ida H. Conger, Miss Anna Conger, | daughter of Mrs. Ida Conger; Edwin C. Williams, nephew of Minister Conger; | Mrs. L. A. Conger, aunt of the Minister; | Willard C. Pierce, Charles H. Pierce ana Loren Pierce, nephews of Minister Con. ger and brothers of Miss Mary Conger- | | Pierce, who has been a member of ths | Minister's party in Peking since last Feb- ruary; Miss Elizabeth Conger, Miss Hazel Conger, Miss Emma Conger, Dr. Alice C. | Hunter, Miss Irene Courtney, Miss Lillian | Courtney and Mrs., Will Nelson, cousins of | Minister Conger. Mrs. Conger, wife of the Minister, and her daughter Laura visited Des Moines friends last winter. While here Mrs. Con- | ger exhibited a ring with which she had | been presented by the Empress of China. | She was delighted with the Peking life. ‘When she returned to China she took with her Minister Conger’s niece, Miss Mary Plerce, aged about 22 years, and whoss | three brothers are business men in Des Moines. Laura Conger, daughter of the Minister, and the only child, is about 28 years of age. She married eight years | ago a wealthy young man named George | Lendrum. He inherited his money n.nd{ | was unable to conserve it. Mrs. Lendrum | finally secured a divorce and resumed heri | maiden name. Lendrum enlisted in the | | war as a member of the Forty-ninth | Towa, got as far as Fiorida and dled witn- | in ten aays. | Those at Peking. In the Conger party at Peking there | were, when the last letters were recefvea | here, the following: Mipister Edwin H. Conger. Mrs. Conger, their daughter, Laura Conger; Minister Conger's niece, Miss Mary Pierce, all of | Des Moines; Mrs. Morgan S. Woodward | and daughter, Ione Woodward, of Evans- | ton, Tll., and who formerly were residents of Des Moines and next-door .neighbors of Minister and Mre. Conger. Second Sec- retary W. E. Bainbridge of the legation | was a resident of Council Bluffs. His| wife was with him. F. D. Chesshire, in-| terpreter. was a former resident of Towa, but for {wenty vears has resided in Pe- | king as interpreter for the American lega | tion. Miss Isabelle Paine of Chicago ac- | companied the Woodwards as French | | companion. Miss Mary Condit Smith, sis- ter-in-law of Governor General Wood ot ] Cuba, was a gueet of the Congers at Pe- | king. ' H. G. Squfres, first secretary of the legation, was a resident of New York. His wife and three children are with him. | Three of his children are attending school in this country, two daughters in New York City with relatives ard a son in Har- | Minister Conger's salary was $13.000 a that of the first sccretary, Mr. that of Second Secretary , and that of Interpreter Chesshire $2000. : Mrs. Conger was Miss Sarah J. Pike of | PP B D S R SICR S N V. S/ MINISTER E AND CONGER WIFE +oeg DIED AT PEKING. THE CONGER FAMILY AND THEIR GUESTS. From photographs sent on re- cently. g | | 5 e e D>e e @0 e0 000000 eiede@ Galesburg, TIl. She and the Minister were married June 21, 1868. Mr. Conger was then a struggling lawyer, a graduate of Ibany Law School and Lombard Univer- sity, a veteran of the war, into which ne went in 1862 as a private and from which he came a major five years afterward at the age of 25. Soon after his marriage he bought land in Madison County, Iowa. Conger’s Early Life. Conger farmed for five years; then he went into the banking business in Dex. ter. He was successful. He took in a partner named G. G. Plerce, who was the father of the young girl with the Congers in.Peking. He also established a bank at tuart. His first step in politics was in 1878. His success was phenomenal. He *was firse elected Treasurer of Madison County. He was then elected State Treasurer. He served as State Treasurer between 188 and 18%5. He was elected as Congressman from the Seventh District in 188 and hela this office three terms. President Harri. son made him Minister to Brazil and he served in this capacity at Rio de Janeiro until he was removed by President Cleve- land, but as soon as McKinley was elected he was selected by the latter to take the Peking mission, leaving Tom C. Dawson, first secretary of the Brazilian legation, in charge of our relations with Brazil un. til Conger’s place could be filled there, This transfer was made about three years ago. Minister Conger has visited Des Moines but onc® since his appointment. If Minister Conger is dead, Edwin An- keny Conger of Los Angeles, Cal, is the oldest male Conger living, and to him will descend the family traditions and honor. There will be no wealth: In his business and officeholding Mr. Conger Is generally reputed to have gathered about $100,000 at one time. This has been dissipated to the four winds. Not by dissipation, for Minister Conger was always an abstainer, but by unfortunate investment. The Cali- fornia Conger is a nephew of Minister Conger, whose brother married the daugh- ter of General R. V. Ankeny of Des Moines. General Ankeny claims to have started Conger in his political career by setting the pins which elected him County | Supervisor in Madison County before he was elected Treasurer of the county. Gen- eral Ankeny's daughter is dead, but the father of Edwin Ankeny Conger, John Conger of Los Angeles, is living. His Romantic Marriage. The marriage of Mr. Conger and Miss Pike was romantic. The friendship, at- tachment and love had its origin in col- lege life. Both attended Lombard Uni- versity, were classmates and sweethearts in college. The war took tWe young man away, but the attachment then formed was not broken and marriage followed. A son and daughter were bern to this couple. The son, Lorentus, died. The daughter. {s a remarkably brilliant young woman of a mathematical turn of mind, =) D S . = SR S | Baaa e e s o e ol i o e e e Y ] being one of the most expert accountants in the West. She came home with her mother in November, spent the winter here, and returned to China with her cousin, Miss Plerce, and her mother in February. Minister Conger was a member of the Masonic Lodge. He joined it while a soldier. - The incidents that led up to this step were convincing to him of the good of the order. He was taken si€k with typhoid while his regiment was under | light marching orders during the first year of his army service. It hecame nec- essary to leave him bebind and a com- rade volunteered to remain with him. Food became a problem and the comrade visited the nearest town to obtain pro- visions. There he managed to secure $50 in gold from the richest mercMant in the place, despite h!s blue uniform. upon prov- ing himself a Masen. Conger there and | then vowed he would join the order, and after being sent to a hospital and recov- ering by special dispensation took the | three degrees to make him a Master Ma- son in one night. He has been a loyal | Mason during the thirty-eight years that | | threatened, sometimes pelted and | ally kept on the hop. Chure | Feng | gener- hes continue to be attacked and occasionally looted. while native Christians, Catholic and Protestant, are terrorized, beaten, robbed, hunted from their homes and all are in danger of their lives. On May % a gang of Boxers went to the houses of Christians at Shan Lai Ying and burned them down. One aged woman is supposed to have perished in the flames. The other inmates escaped. Some of Ehe men were able to fly to Peking. The women and children were received and hidden by neighbors. On the following day the Boxers reassembled and forced the protectors of the Christians to give them up. As soon as the Boxers got hold of them they hacked them to pleces and threw them into the Ta Ching River. Thus eight innocent women and children weré barbarously murdered in cold blood by the savages, ded by the Empress Dow- ager and her favored advisers ic volunteers. The other Christians are missing. Shan Lai Ying is five miles from Pa Chow and Pa Chow is sixty miles from this sacred capital. Burned by Boxers. On Monday, May 2. the Boxers attacked i and burned it. Ma Chiapu was threatened, but possibly owing to the sud- den activity of the official troops was not destroyed. g Sing Tien was attacked c on Tuesday and burned, but the foreign- ers all escaped. Feng:al is six miles from the gate of Peking. Ma Chiapu is about one mile. Chang Sing Tien is ten miles distant. When the mania got So near to the sacred capital there was a good deal At Chang Sing Tien a lad of about 1§ was killed by a shot fired by foreigners to keep back the mob. Said fhe informant, s, “But he was not a Box- ked, “Then why was he “Well, he replied, “when a gun is fired who under heaven can tell where the bullet will go? I mention this as the average Chinese opinion of the marksmansifip of their own soldiers and to some of us here it is a comforting reflection. Many families have moved comparative safety of Pekir tain danger of the country. from the to the cer- z Lu, went by > alions. solutely looked at the b places, ed round and found a safe place to meditate on the perils of modern life. He never tried to find or arrest or shoot one of the despicable wretches who burned Peng Tai. Neither did the other brave commanders. There- fore the fanatical Boxers are epty to pursue their diabolical work. The following dispatch has been re- ceived from Shangkal, dated June 21: Captain Laws of the Iltes has died from the injuries he received on the occasion of the bombardment of Taku. Activity of Japan. Japan is meeting the situation in China with a vigor and promptitude which would be surprising were it not that this has long been looked upon as the land of surprise At a Cabinet meeting held on Monday last the sum of fifty million yens was appropriated -for the immediate ex- penses Involved in the instant dispatch of troops, ~ividly recalling the applica- tion of a like sum by the United States Congress at the inception of the trouble with Spain. This amount will supply the necessary sinews urtil the meeting of the Diet. The mobilization of the troops and the movements of the transport fleets and paval vessels continue, and the efficiency of the military machine of the empire is being demonstrated as clearly as in the late struggle with China, when it com- manded the admiration of force of foreign experts. The troops mobilized by the Govern- ment here will number nearly 30,000, and it is safe to assume that within two have intervened. Missionaries in the Field. Among the Iowa people in China in the v field are the following: Peking—Miss Ada Haven, Dr. Vir- At ginia C. Murdock, Mrs. Mary Porter Gam- well, all of Davenport; Rev. and Mrs. W. G. Langden, the latter being a niege of C. D. Miller of Des moines. At Tientsin—In addition to Consul J. W. Ragsdale, wife and child, who are credit- ed to California, but who are really | Iowans and have relatives in Des Molnes, among whom is R. G. Ragsdale, ex-State | printer, are the following: Miss Frances | O. Wilson of Corning, in charge of the | women’s training school there. | At Soochow—Miss Lydia A. Wilkinson of Diagoral, formerly of Jefferson; Miss Mabel Allen of Early, Mrs. Susan Tippett, a widow, of Siox City; Thomas Owen and Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Main. At Yangste—Miss Kate Osborn of Union Mills. At Nanking—-Rev. G. A. Stuart, a broth- er of Rev. T. McK. Stuart of Des Molnes: Mr. and Mrs. Frank O. Garrett and Dr. Hugh Whelpton, formerly students at Drake Universite in Des Moines. At Chunking—Miss Helen Gallaway of | Mount Ayr, Rev. and Mrs. W. E. Manly, the latter having been formerly connected with Cornell College at Mount Vernon, Towa. At Pangchung—Twin Wyeoff sisters. | Miss Mary Porter, Dr. Henry Porter, Dr. h | | | | | Miss Rowena Bird, sister of Lance of rth Des Moines. At Tungcho—Dr. Chauncey Goodrich of Des Moine: At Fen u Foo—Charles W. Price, whose fatber-in-law, Simon Keasley, lives in Des Moineas, LACK OF UNANIMITY AMONG COMMANDERS Special Cable to The Call and New York Her- ald. Copyright, 199, by the Herald Pub- lishing Company. CHEFU, July 13 (via Shanghai, July 16). —The allies on Monday attacked the be- slegers of Tientsin, captured four guns and inflicted considerable loss. A letter from a leading civilian in Tientsin, dated Tuesday, says: “‘Shells and bullets are very plentiful. There has been a great deal of damasze to property, but through God's kind provi- dence not many lives have been lost, ex- cept among the brave fellows defending the settlements. The Chinese have a large number of Krupp guns and much ammunltion, in spite of the destruction of the two arsenals, and they pour in shells daily from behind their intrench- ments. Relnforcements are arriving and it is planned to take the offensive in a few days. “Lack of unanimity among the com- manders of the various nationalities makes concerted action difficult.” ) i { weeks at the latest, with the large forces of Russians and British on the way, the allies will have at their disposal an army of a hundred thousand men, which will be ample for the initial operations. Trouble in Korea Feared. From Korea there are indications of serious trouble arising from an anti- Christlan and anti-foreign movement similar to that of the Boxers. The mis- sionary element there, as in China, comes | in for a good share of the blame, and the | sentiment among the foreign population in the Orient is increasingly strong in favor of doing something to check this ever-recurrent menace to the peace. There are no means for estimating the | number of forelgners in Tientsin and Pe- | king except by approximation. Accord- ing to the latest Chinese directories is- sued by the Hongkong Press last year there were upon the Tientsin list some six hundred and seventy-five names of Euro- pean males. A conservative estimate of women «and children would make the to- tal foreign population about two thou- | sand. The normal estimate of Peking on the same basis would be about one-half of that number, but it is to be remem- bered that on the approach of the troubles the influx of missionaries and thelr families fleeing from the surround.- | ing districts must have largely increased the foreisn contingent. Of the number of Japanese in the two cities there are no means of making any intelligent estimate, Up to date the Japancse Gove: has charterel seventeen :(eamshlp:n(lg'g: used In transporting troors :o China. At GERMANY HOPES FOR EUROPEAN HARMONY BERLIN, July 16.—The Germany Con- sul at Chefu, having communicated to the Governor of Shantung Emperor Wil- liam’s offer of a reward of 1000 taels for the rescue of foreigners at Peking, has received the Governor’'s reply, which is dated July 13, to the effect that the shut- tigg up of foreigners in Peking has deeply touehed his heart, but attempts to relieve them have failed owing to the revolt in Chih Li, but the Governor adds that he | will do his best to effect their release. At the Foreign Office here there is no question as to the correctness of the news of the massacre of foreigners in Peking. Officials take the view that it is against s patriot- | the whole | world's | Barbarous Slaughter of Native Christians by the Fanatical the Vicinity of the Chinese Capital. Correspondence of the Associated Press pr powers’ se perfect harmon The Foreign ( further states th Dr. Mumm von Schwartzenstein, appo! ed Min to China in succession to the late Baron von Ketteler, will proceed to China, notwithstanding the latest velopments - Regarding the anomalous position of the Chinese Minister here, the reign Office said the M imittedly does n { know whence ration of June | emanated. He also admitted that he could not vouch for the correctness of all the Chinese dispatches he had received lately. | The Foreign Office pointed out to him until ation has become | clearer all the communications should no¢ be considered as emanating from the Chinese Government. The Foreign Office also, considering un= limifed telegraphic communication be- tween-Lu Hal Huan, the Chinese Minister to Germany, and China incompatible ju now with Germany’s interests, to-day sued orders inhibiting Chinese Legation dispatches. | REPORTED KILLING OF WOUNDE[{ DISCREDITED LONDON, July 16.—The Government dis- credits the report that in the retreat of the Peking column Admiral Seymour's wounded were killed by comrades in order that they might not be tortured by the Chinese. There has been nothing to ver- ify the report and the Government be- Heves it most improbable. The report re- ceives no credence elsewhere. The Tientsin dispatch announcing the repulse of the allies was the first news the Forelgn Office had received of the oc- feeling ce that henceforth the of interests will assume ter de- currence an oduced a akin to dism Willffm St. John Broderick, the Parliamentar: cretary of the Forelgn Office, left the cflice prepared to si he House of Commons a rather sgtisfactory account of the conditions at Tientsin. This n report of the Associated Press dispatch was imme 155 nt after him. Re: 1- ing the eventful solution of the ecrisis and the length of time troops will take to reach Peking. there is not a glimmer in the minds of British officials. “All we can d said one of the most responsible officials, “is to hope for the best and pray that Japan's troops may move quickly thing h: pas: 1 re- garfling the general situation of the pow- ers since we decided to ask Japan 1o the major portion of the work, g is likely to b to i proporticnate With reference te ng the respondent had been iss to take on bo all his instru they were unab | tions &g report PRESIDENT HURRIES BACK TO WASHINGTON CANTON Kinle Was! the regul Secretary companied him. ters in conne ation and i pects to return the Canton home will be ¢ persent, Mrs. McKinley remaining. It is expected that the Cabinet mem- bers will be =t the White House to-mor- row, and that a meeting will be held soon after the President's arrival. It can be stated with certainty that no extra sion of Congress has yet been dstermined pon, and that it has not been decided to issue a cali for troops for service in China. No effort was made to conceal the fact that the President was much ex- ercised over the reports which came to him during the day. To-day when he | filled an engagement made several days ago to take lunch with an old friend, J. W. McClymonds, in Massillon, he first made arrangements for direct connection with the executive officers in Washing- ton, and his social conversation was con- stantly Interrupted with long-distance | telephone conversation with the seat of ‘ government. BRAVERY OF AMERICAN AND JAPANESE TROOPS LO¥DON, July 16.—The Foreign Oftica to-day issued a dispatch from General Dor- dated Tientsin, July 11, which adds to the previous information. The Chinese, according to this dispatch, attacked the station on the morning of July 11 and wers | repulsed after four hours’ hard fighting, in which 500 of the enemy were killed. On July 15 General Dorward, command- ing a force of 250 Americans, %0 British and 40 Russians, and General Fushikima, commanding 500 Japanese, attacked the Chinese and captured their positions southeast of the city, killed ninety-five and captured four guns. The Japanese and American troops subsequently rushed and took the western arsenal. General Dorward adds that the day's honors rested with the American and Jap- anese. There were no casualties among the Americans or the Russians. - ROCKHILL MAY BE CONGER’S SUCCESSOR WASHINGTON, July 16—A rumor gained circulation at some of the foreign establishments to-day and was accepted with some degree of credit that W. W. Rockhill would be named as the United States representative to China. Inquiry failed to confirm the report and in any event it is probable the consideration of any such step would be deferred until the last vestige of doubt as to the fate of the | Ministers at Peking was dispelled. | _Mr. Rockhill is at present chief of the | Pan-American Bureau. When asked as to the report he said his name had not been considered so far as he knew, and that all his plans were made to go to South America on August 7. He is one of the few Americans able to speak Chinese flu- ently and as he has traveled through China he would be exceptionally well qualified for any service in the empire. g - Escaped to Shanghai. LOS ANGELES, July 16.—J. C, Drake of y that no inst Admiral Seymot v 16.—President M car nia train attac He on with the the course of a few day to Canton. | the interests of the Chinese to admit that | this city to-day received a cable from his there has been a massacre, and therefore brother. Dr. Noah Field Drake, dated the China advices on the subject are for | Shanghal. Dr. Drake, who was professcr once probably true. | of mining and geology at the Imperia} Regarding Tientsin, the Foreign Office’s | University at Tientsin, says that he. e -+ latest dispatch from Admiral Bendemann | caped to Shanzhai, accompanied by Pra declares that the situation has improved, fessor Hoover of the Imperial University. as reinforcements continue to arrive. | The whereabouts of the other three Amer- ‘The Foreign Office, while deeply deplor- : ican profe f~the ing the horrible events at Beking, ex- | not Know. = e o=