This conversation took place on Thursday morning, December 21. On Thursday afternoon the writer set several Chinese to work trying to round up the witnesses, all of whom except farmer Chiang of Urga were still supposed to have remained in Kalgan. It was nob difficult to get in touch with the two bank agents, representing the Hung Sheng Yin Hao and the Hsing Chi Yin Hao, and the writer was promised that they would appear in the evening to tell their story. Incidentally several of these persons had already assured their Chinese friends that the foreigners did not fire. When evening came they did not appear but promised te come in the morning. Meanwhile it was ascertained that the yamen was active and that two of the passengers in one of Mr. Coltman's cars from a Chinese hong known as the Chien Yii Teh had been taken to the yamen for dinner. The following morning the two bankers had disappeared—leaving word that they had gone out of tewn—and the two yamen guests of the previous evening had gone also. Further inquires revealed the fact that the other two of the six supposely available witnesses gone to Urga. On Thursday evening a foreigner deeply versed in Chinese affairs had remarked to the writer that if Coltman and the consul had fired, the Chinese would produce every passenger on all four cars and prove it by their testimony, while if they had not fired every witness would disappear, particularly after the conversation which 1 had had with the Chief of Staff in the morning. When, therefore, on Friday morning it was apparent that the entire body of neutral witnesses had gone up in smoke, the writer concluded that it would be a waste of time to look for further evidence to settle the question of who shot first s0 took the first available train for Pe'ing, fully convinced in his own mind that the foreigners had never even produced a Weapon.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.