Show 6 WALKED OVER CORPSES Living Populace of Tien Tsin I Indifferent to Dead I BODIES PILED IN STREETS All the Suffering Horror and Waste of War Experienced in the Chineso City the Day tho Allied Forces Entered En-tered Battered Walls of Tien Tsin Sutroundcd Square Milo oC I Such Filth Ruin and Death Such I Turmoil and Pillage as History I i Could Hardly Duplicate 1 I Correspondence Associated Press Tien Tsln China July lilhe ancient I an-cient atone walls of the Chinese city of Tien Tsln surrounded on the days of Its occupation by l the allied troops a square mile of such filth ruin and death such turmoil and pillage as history could hurdly duplicate Under normal conditions the place was no better than a huge cesspool festering with the accumulated rubbish and slops from a population of rturly a I million I I packed into 1 a labyrinth of hovels around the palaces of ViCIlo sand s-and petty Tao Tals who absorbed their wealth and gave them not even sewers In return Now It is the incarnation of all the suffering honors and waste I of war CHINESE SLAY CHINESE I The European uoldlers when they fought their way up to the walls raw I floating in the canals and ditches outside out-side dozens of Chinese slain by their I own people because they refused to fight The bodies were headless and their hands were tied behind their backs The heads were discovered afterward af-terward Rows of them decorated the outer walls hung by their pigtails SWEPT BY BULLETS from the high Five Hags were flying I pagodas on the city walls when the I newspaper correspondents entered the French Japanese American Russian and British It was hard enough to get those flags up there remarked a foreign offIcer but the real trouble will be to get them down The suburbs of the city presented a foretaste of what was Inside Shells had torn the hutti and ploughed the ground while the dead men scattered about among dead horses pigs and dogs testified how thoroughly the bullets had swept the region the day before FIGHTING QUALITIES CHINESE The sights Inside compelled respect I for the fighting qualities of the Chinese Chi-nese Their dead were everywhere I Dressed In the coarse blue coolie blouse and trousers decorated with charac turs guaranteed to render them invulnerable In-vulnerable to foreign bullets they were strewn along the top of the wall wherever they had fallen Walking at quarter of a mile along the embankment embank-ment the bodies averaged one In ten feet and the wall was nearly ten miles long EFFECT OF SHELL FIRE Throughout the city the demolished houses and hundreds of killed gave evidence evi-dence of how vastly more effective had been the foreign shell fire within the walls of the city than the Chinese bombardment of the foreign settlement which lasting for a month had killed only a dozen people Tho Viceroy had constructed l in the palace yard two comfortable and Impenetrable bomb proofs excavations guarded by sandbags sand-bags but the common people were less fortunate TORN BY SHRAPNEL Many women and children were lying dead In the streets torn terribly by shrapnel Tho living populace were utterly Indifferent to them They would not take the trouble to drag them out of the streets or even cover them with matting as a foreign soldier did afterward but trampled them under un-der foot without bothering lo turn them aside Before the shooting In the streets was finished thousands of Chinese Chi-nese had emerged from their burrows carrying white flags or the Hags of foreign nations principally the Japanese Japan-ese Most remarkable of all the sights was the looting of the city The middle of the place was like an ant hill kicked open Chinese swarmed everywhere every-where thousands and thousands of thorn diving Into the flames of the burning shops getting under falling walls and Inlo choking clouds of smoke Most of them were half naked grimy with smoke and sometimes dripping with blood They were piled upon one another The Chinese who would win a prize had to light his way as other Chinese would spring upon him and pluck his plunder They rolled among the corpses pulling and tearing while children being trample down cried for help and the mob poured right along over them themMOB MOB IN PALACES Tho palaces the mint the pawnshops the stores of silks furs and Jewelry I were the first objects of attack Near the middle of the city was the most I I prosperous pawnshop an Institution that had probably existed for cen I tunes Wealthy Chinese were accustomed accus-tomed to store their winter clothing here for safe keeping When the doors were ballercd down the mob flowed in like a tidal wave There were British olllccrs naval and military soldiers and sailors with a good sprinkling of sikhs but principally Chinese ALL WAS PANDEMONIUM In the twinkling all was pandemonium pandemon-ium The Chinese knew where the best treasure was to be found and tho soldiers followed them Two forces collided In the gateway a rush line of Chinese struggling to enter and an other line fighting to get out with great armfuls of loot while un occasional occa-sional soldier went through the crowd like one of the Broadway squad Tien Tsln experienced a sweeping redistribution redistribu-tion of wealth but an old scheme of prizes to the strongest HOLDING UP CHINAMEN Many white people accumulated stacks of goods by simply standing at the city gates and holding up the best laden l Chinese from the endless procession proces-sion that lowed out Packhorses carts rickshaws collies I loaded I with I trunks and sacks and plied with loose silks furs and bronzes crowded all the roads leading down to the settlement English olllccrs rode with their horses concealed under dry goods boxes and soldiers slung bundles on their bayonets bayo-nets REPRESSIVE MEASURES On the second day a conference of commanding officers decided to adopt repressive measures The commanders except the French empowered the British who were doing time provost duty lo seize all loot This order the British attempted to execultc by hold Ing up thc looters as they entered tho foreign town They took all bundeu I and reported the names of claimants for future Inquiry Naturally this 1 step provoked grumbling particularly among the soldiers of other nationali I I ties Capt Bailey the provost marshal mar-shal a blgbodlod bigvoiced Englishman t I English-man explained that the prohibition I was designed to restrain civilians from gelling the spoils which should go to the men who did the fighting An olll chit statement is that all seized loot will be sold the proceeds to be divided among the soldiers UB prizo money but soldiers wise through former campaigns I I cam-paigns comment skeptically AMERICANS HOLD AX ARSENAL The Japanese so far as casual ob 1 servatlon showed did the least looting because of the admirable discipline under un-der which their soldiers are held The Americans had all to themselves one large arsenal which they occupied on entering the city It contained not only cannon but a fine store of small arms swords of curious and rich pattern pat-tern rifles of various makes withstands with-stands of the long twoman guns which are simply giant rifles throwing a ball which from the report and whistle whis-tle the soldiers In the fight Judged to I be onepounders Munitions of war I were not the only contents of the arsenal ar-senal High officers had lived there and In flight had left stacks of clothing and other articles of great value All this stuff la to be sold or shipped to Washington as spoils of war LOSS OF TREASURE On the third day of the occupation a different method was followed by compelling com-pelling looters to give up their loads at the city gate Even this measure did not prevent the loss of much gold find silver CIvilIans from the concession conces-sion made a general raid on the commissioners com-missioners treasure and many succeeded suc-ceeded in smuggling loads of silver barn through to the settlement The Americans seized a million taels worth of preclous metals which Is piled up In the marine barracks I Today the walled city looks as i though a tornado had struck It Enough valuable property has been destroyed de-stroyed to stock a big city and enough has been seized to give every soldier a considerable sum if the distribution is honestly administered |