For over a month the firing has! now been going on between th aoldiors entrenched on the city wall and the Hupeh troops eptrenehed, outside the city. The Kuominchun have made several sallies out through the gates with machineguns and have put up a good fight for a few hours and then retreated again to within the wall, At six different times Wu Poi-fu's for: have used their artillery on the but with apparently" very effect, except that a number in the city have been killed. The guns used are too small, the shells old, and the gunners very poor: shots. Several times they have dropped shells within their own trenches and into building occupied by their own men, Two howitzers of good size were brought in last Sunday, March 7, but they have not yet been used, though they have been put into position for firing. Unless the peace terms now agreed upon come to nought, they will undoubtedly not be used, It was long ago reported that the men in the city had run out of am-good fighters. They are very caus tious about exposing themselves to the firing of the opposite side. The Shensi men seem to be fearless, but they are very rough, disorderly, end even barbarous, They looted the west suburb thoroughly before retreating into the city. They did not complete the looting of the other: suburbs before retreating, but the Honan allies of Wu Pei-fu completed the looting in the suburbs in a most] thorough fashion when they came in Pursuit of the retreating Kuominchun, Tt has been reported that Wa Pei-fu later would not acknowledge these Honan bandits who helped him in the attack on Hsinyanz. but they at any rate came here as his allies and bore the brunt of the fighting on two fronts. They were] sent on to fight the Kuominchun farther north as the Hupeh troops arrived to take charge of the siege.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.