Beleaguered in Pekin 2

Beleaguered in Pekin 2

At this juncture a military official of low rank appeared on the track,

and Campbell appealed to him to quiet the men, and to allow them to

inspect the bridge. This officer replied that the men were not of his

company and he had no power over them; but Campbell, knowing well

the Chinese nature, at once told him that they should consider him

responsible for any trouble, whether he was their particular officer or

not.

 

Upon this the officer ordered the men to open a passage for the

foreigners, which they promptly did, and the party of four crossed the

bridge. The officer, after they had entered the bridge, left the men

and disappeared. They remained a quarter of an hour on the farther

side of the bridge and then returned.

 

As they again neared the eastern side, they saw the same gang of

ruffians awaiting them, with stones in their hands, and, upon their

arriving within range, were saluted with a volley of stones, many of

which took effect. They valiantly charged upon the men, and Cox, being

rather severely hit, and spying out the man who had struck him, chased

him right into the crowd and knocked him down with a terrific blow.

As Cox stands six feet four, and is a remarkably muscular man, this

fellow’s punishment was severe.

 

The mob, however, turned upon Cox, who was separated from his

companions some thirty odd feet, and, surrounding him, bore him by

sheer weight and number to the ground, not, however, before he had

placed several of them _hors du combat_.

 

At this moment Captain Norregaard received a severe stone cut just

above his eyes, which severed a small artery and covered his face

with blood. Not knowing how dangerously he was wounded, and believing

Mr. Cox to be in danger of his life, Norregaard drew his revolver and

fired two shots into the mob. The effect was instantaneous. The brutal

cowards dropped Cox at once, and ran away like sheep toward their

encampment, half a mile distant.

 

After tying a handkerchief around his head, and assisting Cox to get

up, the party hastily ran to the residence of Norregaard and brought

Mrs. Norregaard and her eight-year-old son to the trolley, upon which

the whole party returned to Fengtai.

 

Cox then sent a command out by wire for all the engineers working

on the Lu Han railway to give up their posts and retire with him to

Tientsin to await the settlement of the riot by the Chinese officials,

as well as to obtain some guaranty of future good conduct on the part

of the government troops, who were yet to arrive from the southwest.

 

After dressing the wounds of these two gentlemen they took the train

for Tientsin, and the writer returned to Peking.

 

The next day, or two days after the riot, I received a message from

Hu Chih-fen, the governor of Peking, requesting me to call upon him

at Imbeck’s hotel at once. I found the old gentleman with twenty

retainers awaiting me. He stated that he had been appointed a special

commissioner by the Empress Dowager to proceed to Lukouch’iao and

investigate the circumstances connected with the riot two days

previously, as well as to inquire minutely into the condition of two

wounded soldiers reported by their officers to have been wantonly shot

and dangerously hurt by Captain Norregaard. He desired me to accompany

him into the camp, and examine the wounds as an expert, so that he

could make a proper report to the Empress.

 

I confess I did not much care to go alone into the camp of the famous

Kansu, haters of foreign, but I was under many obligations to Governor

Hu, and wanted to oblige him. Besides, there was a spice of adventure

about the undertaking that was pleasant to a correspondent. I preferred

to go armed, however, as, although knowing a revolver would be of

no use in a hostile camp for offensive warfare, yet if Governor Hu

remained with me, I reasoned, I could by placing a revolver to his head

and holding him hostage prevent any harm to myself—believing as I did

that the Empress’ special commissioner’s person would be sacred in the

eyes of her generals. The sequel proved how false this belief was, and

that before many hours.

 

So I requested permission to return home for a moment to obtain a small

instrument I might need, as well as to inform my wife of my leaving the

city, that she might not be anxious if I did not return until after

dark.

 

[Illustration: MAIN STREET OF PEKING FROM THE CITY WALL

 

This shows the main street of Peking—its “Market Street,” as

Philadelphians might say, or its “Strand,” from the English point of

view. Although a main street it is scarcely better than a country

road, and busy trading seems to be going on in the foreground in the

open air. Here and there a sign indicates that business is conducted

within, and that unavoidable feature of a Chinese city, the open pool

of stagnant water, is in evidence.]

 

Governor Hu replied that I could get whatever instrument I needed at

the railway hospital at Fengtai, and that he would send one of his

retainers with a message to my wife. I insisted, however, that a return

home was imperative, and that I would rejoin him in half an hour.

Whereupon he decided to order tiffin in the meantime, and told me to

hurry back, take tiffin with him at the hotel, and we would then

proceed to Machiapu, where a special train would be waiting for us.

 

I hastened home, obtained my Smith & Wesson six-shooter, and, after a

good tiffin with Governor Hu, rode in a springless cart to Machiapu,

entrained, and was speedily at the station at Lukouch’iao.

 

Upon our alighting from the cars we were met by a sub-official from the

camps, and were accompanied by him, and about twenty Kansu soldiers,

to the entrance to the railroad bridge, the site of the riot two days

before.

 

Here Hu ordered the bridge watchmen to be brought before him, and

he interrogated them as to the occurrences described by Cox and

Norregaard. The two watchmen’s stories were the exact counterpart of

the two foreigners’; they agreed in every particular, and placed the

whole blame on the Kansu soldiers.

 

I was surprised at the fearless testimony of these two poor watchmen,

one of whom was afterward murdered by the soldiers for testifying

against them.

 

Hu now walked to an inn in the village of Lukou, and told the

sub-official to order the general and colonels of all the regiments

quartered near-by to appear before him at once, as he would hold an

investigation by order of the Empress. He and I drank tea until they

arrived.

 

The first, a General Chang, appeared in about fifteen minutes. We knew

some one of importance was coming by the hubbub in the courtyard, the

murmur of voices, and the sound of horses’ moving feet. Then a soldier

appeared in the doorway, and announced:

 

“General Chang, of the Kansu cavalry, has arrived.”

 

“Ch’ing,” replied Hu, and immediately there stood before us as

ferocious looking a ruffian as the world could well produce. A tall,

weather-beaten man, fifty years of age or more, with rather heavy (for

a Chinaman) yet black mustaches, and a more than ordinarily prominent

nose; dressed in a dark blue gown, satin high-top boots, official hat

with premier button and peacock feather, held at right angles from

the rear of his button by an expensive piece of jade. His eyes were

deep-set and small, and the whole __EXPRESSION__ of his face was ferocious

and cruel.

 

He only slightly inclined his head to Hu, took no notice of me, and,

ignoring Chinese ceremony, proceeded at once to the highest seat in the

little room, and seated himself in the intensely stiff attitude of the

god of war one usually sees in a Chinese temple. Hu seemed completely

taken aback at this insolence, and allowed the ruffian to remain in

the seat of honor throughout the interview.

 

Before Hu had become acquainted, by his polite questions, with the age,

rank, and province of his haughty guest, four other military officers

of the rank of colonel and lieutenant-colonel had arrived, namely,

Chao, Ma, Wang, and Hung.

 

Finding their general in the head seat, and noting his imperious

bearing, they took their cue from him and maintained throughout

the interview the most lofty manner, and treated Hu more like a

subordinate than a civil officer of the premier rank and a special high

commissioner of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.

 

After a few mouthfuls of tea, Hu informed them in most polite and bland

terms that as he was Director-General of imperial railways, as well

as Governor of the metropolitan prefecture of Shuntienfu, Her August

Majesty, the Empress Dowager, etc., etc., etc., had appointed him to

visit the general and officers of the Kansu regiments in camp at this

place, to inquire into the circumstances of the late riot.

 

He stated also that he came gladly because he felt that, by careful

inquiry into the circumstances, it could doubtless be proved that the

soldiers had acted in a rowdy manner without the knowledge and consent

of their officers, and that by a well-worded report the latter would

escape all blame, and the matter could be settled to the satisfaction

of all, especially as no lives had been lost, or imperial property

destroyed.

 

General Chang haughtily replied that it was entirely unnecessary

for Hu to come out at all; that Prince Ching had sent a messenger

to him in the morning, and the Empress was doubtless aware, through

this messenger, of the exact circumstances of the case already, and

consequently Hu might as well return and save himself any further

trouble.

 

His impudent manner indicated that, having given his own side of

the case to a trusty henchman of Prince Ching’s, and obtained that

influential prince’s partial testimony in his favor, he did not care

one way or the other for anything Hu might report later.

 

But Hu, although very quiet and apparently humble, was firm and

determined, and upon the conclusion of Chang’s defiant speech, replied:

 

“It is very well that Her Majesty should have as early a report as

possible, and I am glad you have informed her of the events; but as I

have been appointed to inquire officially, I should not return without

having done my duty, and I hope that none of the officers present will

refuse any testimony I require, and compel me to report a lack of

respect for Her Majesty’s commands.”

 

Chang bit his lips and pulled his mustaches fiercely at this, but said

nothing. But Colonel Chao took up the cudgels in a most unexpected

manner. Excitedly rising, he commenced a most venomous speech against

the introduction of railways into China. He denounced them as the

instrumentality of the foreigner to subjugate the country, declaring

they had taken away the employment of thousands of carters, boatmen,

and wheelbarrow coolies; that they had raised the price of rice and

other cereals; that they employed foreigners at high wages, who carried

all the money out of the country at the same time that they abused and

maltreated the natives under their control, and wound up his rather

long discourse by declaring that the abolishing of railways and driving

into the sea of every foreigner was the duty of every loyal soldier or subject of the empire.