OCR Text |
Show SAYS WOMEN ENGAGED IN LOOTING AT PEKIN Paris. Nov. 27. The publication in the Matin and other morning papers Nov. 26 of alleged extracts from the ! confidential report of General Voyron. ! the former commander of the French troops in China, which the government refused to communicate to the chamber cham-ber of deputies last week, during the discussion of the bill to authorize a loan to reimburse the treasury for the outlay in connection with the Chinese expedition, has revived interest in the matter of the alleged looting at Pekin. In a publihsed interview. M. Pichon. who was the French minister to China at the time of the Boxer outbreak, denies de-nies that any women connected with the legations engaged in the looting. thousrht it was true that two women i w ho were not connected with the legations lega-tions did engage In the pillage. After Pekin had been relieved he himself ordered or-dered that all baggage of French people peo-ple leaving Pekin be searched, in order or-der to discover whether it contained gold or silver bars looted during the first impulse resulting from the effervescence effer-vescence and excitement which followed fol-lowed the end of the sufferings caused by the siege. France was the only power which took this measure. As to the auctions in the legations, they occurred in only one legation, the English or American. M. Pichon does not say which, and the sales therein lasted daily for three months from 3:30 o'clock in the afternoon after-noon until sunset, under direction of army officers of the same country and with the co-operation of a legation official. |