Show Written for this Ail P Pd COREAS COREA'S CAPITAL r br by Frank rr k G G Carpenter 1894 r WANT to give you some idea I J of Seoul the capital oi ot Corea It is the cen- cen center center center ter of the war 4 1 trouble between between between- China and Ja- Ja Japan Japan Ja y Jay pan A battle may be fought fought in it any day day- day and the firing firing y would wipe its I I If thatched hut h huts u t s from the face of the earth It lies liesa j a basi basin in the mountains and it is i perhaps the most capital apitaI on n the face of the globe It is six Oey twenty six miles from the sea and it is i connected with the port of CheI Che- Che I by a poor wagon road which climbs up the hills and over ovet the moun moun- mounta mount mountain ta II t tain to net get et to it The sluggish Han Hanter ter r flows Bows within three miles of it it and it was vas up this river that I ro rode le in a little m fit m n tug tuff to a landing place not far li om 1 the spot on which Kim Ok dead body was cut into six pieces a aI tb o or so ago B But t first take a look at C Coreas Corea's reas rea's chief s part is the place at which Seoul allots all its provisions It is now the e r ti- ti tia a TIL liveliest little city of Asia There are areso something so like two-score two gunboats in its and the Japanese have all allt allt t t twenty-eight twenty gunboats and trans trans- transport port there The harbor is large and andla la locked d-locked by islands The tide has hasma yet e 1 Dous rise and fall often as high thirty y-thirty thirty feet and boats which get close to the town are left on the mud when tile the tide fide goes out lies right righton on the tir edge of the sea with great hills behind it and it is on one of oftie tie e that still stands the house where viral iral I met the Corean com com- comers J I ODers ers in iD 1882 and made the treaty IIi I opened Corea Cores to the civilized Since then has grown t lit be quite a city and it looks more slice ali of Japan than Corea It has five five hundred hundred Japanese and thirty thirty- id died Corean population There are n a th thousand nd Chinese Chines tou s sa sixteen Germans and five u omen en in it it The only American firm in Corea is located in a and this is I think now d on account of the war It has bees beeD about decided to regard as neutral ground and this will prevent KB ft being fired upon by either party I Won were it otherwise a single gunboat Jd CO ld shell hell it out of existence as its is open and unprotected L J The fighting has been at Ya San is about fifty miles south of 4 pO It was at this point that the Chinese troops first landed and Came ame here at the instance of theto the r to aid him inputting in putting down thes the s They did nothing to help ever as incorrectly st stated ted the the papers They merely remained lVa SO N San Sm In the meantime the Japan Japan- 9 rf ese began sending lending troops to Corea Cores and by the 1St of July they had soldiers in Seoul and in This caused the Chinese to send more sol sol- soldiers soldiers sol soldiers diers but they landed all their troops at Y Ya a San ban an being for the time apparently apparently apparently paralyzed by the Japanese inva inva- invasion inva- inva invasion invasion sion I learn that there is is a decided difference between the equipment of tt tr e etwo etwo etwo two armies The Japs have nave landed their men with the best of everything and have their stores complete in every department They have cavalry and about 40 field guns including machine and mountain guns They have full stocks of provisions and are supplied with pontoon bridges telephone lines and all the materials of modern modem warfare On the other hand the Chinese are said to be calling on the to supply them with ponies ponies cattle and rice rice Corea is very poor The country is on the verge of starvation and the Chinese would not be abl able to carry on their war long by rations supplied in this way The Japanese have demanded of China that she give up all pretense of sovereignty sovereignty over Corea If China does this she will lose her reputation through through- throughout throughout out the far east and it may lead to the dismemberment of her government Her provinces are by no means closely tied together and the fight that she is mak mak- making making making ing may be for lor her existence as an em- em empire empire em empire pire as well as for a show of power in inthe inthe inthe the land of Gorea Corea orea In the meantime I the he danger of the other oher powers being in- in involved involved in iri the war war war-is is very great The Baltimore and the Monocacy our two gunboats are at The T ie French war Frenchman war man Inconstant the German gun gun- boat gunboat Iltis the English warship Archer and the Russian man war of-war are also inthis in this same harbor and the theother theother theother other ports of Corea Cores contain warships The British are very much afraid of the Russians There is said to be a man man- war man war of-war at Port Hamilton which is you know some distance below stock stock in ii Siberia It is put there to watch the Russian movements The Russians are said to sympathize with I the Japanese while while- England who sells tens upon tens of millions of dollars worth of good goods every year to China favors her If the the trans-Siberian trans railroad was completed there is little doubt but that the Russian troops would already be in Corea It may be so now for tor Russia will not tolerate any coalition between China and England without coming to the assistance of the Japa Japa- Japanese Japanese Japanese nese At any rat rate rate a great part of the war has to be fought on Corean soil and Seoul will be ground between the upper and the nether millstones It may be wiped out of existence If so the most curious city on the face of the globe will pass away fay I visited it six years ago and my visit of the present year included more than a month of hard work I have spent days in wandering through its streets I have been inside of ItS prisons and have walked through its palaces I have talked with aU all classes and have seen all sorts of new things at every turn There are no guide books of Asia You will not find accurate description of Seoul in any books of travel The tourist who comes here without introductions could not find a lodging place lace There are no hotels and I am indebted to my friends among the missionaries among the diplomats and with some of the high for for- formy formy formy my entertainment through these many days I despair of giving you an ac accurate ac- ac accurate curate idea of the Corean capital it is isso so different from any other city on the face of the globe It is such a mass of of the beautiful and the ugly of civilization and barbarism of the old and the new that I dont don't know how to describe it Take it-Take Take its situation It lies in a great basin surrounded by mountains which in some places are as rugged as the wildest peaks of the and which I in others have all the beautiful verdure verdure- verdure verdure-of of the or the Catskills The tops of these mountains oft Test lest in the clouds and masses of vapor hang l in their recesses above the green plain upon which the city is built They change in their hues with every change change- of the heavens and they give Seoul a setting more gorgeous than jewels The basin below is just about large enough to contain the town and a great gray wall from thirty to forty feet high runs along the sides of these hills bounding the basin and mounting here and there almost to the tops of the the- the lower lower mountains It scales one hill of at least one thousand thousand feet in height and this wall the whole city It was built was built in nine months by an army of two hundred thousand workmen about five hundred years ago and it is a piece of soli solid masonry consisting of two thick walls of gr granite nite packed down in the theis middle with earth and stones I Its ts top is is so wide that two carriages could easily be driven about it and it has on th side facing the country a crenellated crenellated crenel- crenel battlement with holes large enOugh for its defenders to shoot through with arrows There are no nC cannon no-cannon cannon upon it and it will be no means means of of defense against the batteries of the Chinese or the Japs J aps in in the present struggle Its only use in late years has been tp keep out the tigers and leo leo- leopards leopards leo leopards This wall is more than six miles in length It is pierced by eight gates the arches of which are as beautifully laid and cut as those of y any stone work you will find in in the Unit United d States Each these of-these great arches has his a curved roof of black tiles This rests upon carved wooden pillars which rise above the tops of the walls and which form watch watch- watchtowers watchtowers watch towers towers for the soldiers Over the great south gate the main entrance to the capital there are two such roofs one abOve the oth other r which are guarded at their corners comers by min miniature demons of porcelain wh who see seems s to be crawlin crawling structure would not take much muth more than a gat- gat ling gatling gun xun n to batter down the heavy hea doors by which these arches are closed close These doors are bigger than those ot of any barn bam in our country country They are swung up on pivots made by pins fitting I into the masonry at the top and the bottom They are sheathed with plates I of iron riveted on with big bolts and up up- upI until up-until I until now the common have believed them a defense against the enemy They Th y have as much ceremony connected with them as as other nations nations have have with their torts and there are officers officers cers in charge of them who would lose their heads if they failed in their duty Every night just at sundown these gates gates are are closed and they are not opened again until about 4 ia the morning The signal of their closing closing and open open- opening opening opening ing is the ringing ofa of 01 a massive bell is iD the exact center of the city After this those hose who are in cannot get out out and those who are outside cannot get in The greatest care is taken of the keys to these gates fates The locks close with a spring and the k keys ys are kept in the kings king's palace except at the time they are re used at the gates fates The locks them them- themselves themselves themselves selves are guarded all day at the palace and are only brought to the gates fates a short time before closing the city I wish I could show you one of these locks Jocks Each gate fate has two of them and they are each as heavy as a year ten year ten boy It is all that one man can do to carry one fart part of the city to the other and when I t tried to lift one I found my back strained They are of massive iron They are made in the shape of a box and are two feet wide and at least a foot thick They lock with padlock a spring much like that of a pad pad- padlock lock and it takes a hammer to put them together When I lifted the lock the gatekeeper J with horror warned me to let it alone He pointed to my neck and drew his fin n er rapidly around his Iris own in order to let me know that I was in danger of loosing my head I still stilt held it and he rushed toward me as th though ugh he would seize it from my hand As he be came up J I upI dropped it on the stones It clattered and 1 stooped over and tried to raise it again As I did so T l stood it on end and the rod of iron which was partially thrust into the iron box rested on the ground The Corean ga gatekeepers gatekeeper's face lace became ashy He gr grabbed the I lock ck from Irom me and as he did aid so I could see seethe seethe the reason for his fear The rod on which on-which which the lock rested on the ground formed the means of locking it and had hadI I down it the would pushed upon pon spring it- it iti i have caught He would have been Un- Un Unable unable able to lock the gate that night without going to the palace to get the key a and d might have lost his head for lor his care care- carelessness carelessness My My interpreter showed me methe the methe trouble and he told my that the king woul would surety surely punish the man if he knew that the lock had been out o of his l t r then went to the gate and looked at the clumsy fastening into which this lock went The bar which I have spoken of was as big as an old old- fashioned poker and the lock joined chains made of links of wrought iron which were as big-around big as the biceps of a blacksmith the rings being as thick as your thumb I It t was just after this this that the hour hOUf for or dosing closing the gates of the city approached I waited and watched First two men came from rom the the- the gate gate house and sang out ui Corean the words that the gates ates were closing and the time was short Their voices were as shrill as those o of an iman of a mosque when he calls alls out the hour of pray prayer r from the minarets and they held on to their final tones for forthe the space of twelve seconds by my watch As they cried there was a grand rush for tor the gates Hundreds Hundred of of men in black hats bats and white gowns ran like like ghost through the darkness Bare Bare- Bareheaded Bareheaded Bareheaded headed coolies dragged great bullocks with packs on their backs through the doors doors and porters by the scores loaded down with all sorts of wares ares came stumbling along There were coolies bearing closed boxes in which were their mistresses There were officials on horseback and nobles on foot all pushing before and scrambling lo get in be- be before be fore ore the gates closed As I watched thes the I s big bell ben pealed out its knell and the two men grasped the great doors and putted pulled tin them ta with wilha k bang It took the strength of both to move each one of them and the gates lock locked d witha with a spring The key which remains with the king over-night over is is not brought back from the palace till the morning It is isa isa isa a massive bar of iron and it takes a sledge hammer to drive it into the lock Similar locks lock are on the gates to the wall which the palace of the king and on each of the eight gates of the city Inside this great wall walt within this set set- setting setting setting ting of mountains lies the city of Seoul It is a town bigger than Cincinnati Cleveland Louisville Washington Buffalo or Detroit It contains more than three hundred thousand people and it has scarcely a house that is more than one story high It is a city of wide streets and narrow winding alleys It Itis Itis Itis is a city of thatched huts and tiled one one- story buildings On one side of it are the palaces of the king They cover an anarea anarea area as large as that of a thousand acre thousand farm and they are massive one story buildings surrounded by great walls and laid out with all the regularity of a city As you stand on the walls of ot Seoul and look over ver thi this me medley le of bwl buildings gs your first impression IS is that you are in the midst 0 of a vast hay field interspersed here and there with tired barns and ana the three biggest t streets that cut through these myriad myriad- haycocks look like a road through the fields You note the shape of the thatched houses They are all formed like horseshoes with the heel o of the shoe resting on the street The roofs are tied on with strings and the thatch has bas grown grO old and under the soft light of the setting sun it assumes the rich color of brown plush and there is isa a a a velvety softness s to the As you looK closer you see that the city is divided up into streets and that these narrow and widen and twist and turn without regularity or order One part of the city is is made almost entirely of tiled buildings These are the homes of the swells and over there not far |