Foreign Steamers Fired on by Soldiers: 2 Passengers Killed, 4 Wounded Reports of steamers fired on in the Upper Yangtze by Hupeh, Hunan, and Szechuan troops, lead the reader to believe that few ships have escaped this molestation.
First we heard of the British steamers plying between Hankow and Ichang being fired upon—the Shasi, Kiangwo and Tungting. Then.the gunboats came in for a sprinkling of rifle fire which did no damage. The Hunan troops fired on the American steamer Meining of the Standard Oil Company and again on Butterfield Swire's str. Shasi. Against these steamers, the Chinese soldiers were using not only rifles but quick-firing field guns.
The latest news of a ship under fire tells of the str. Kiangking, on August 10.° This steamer belongs to the Compagnie des Messageries Franco-Chinoises.. She was built as a rival to the _Loongmow and is commanded. by Captain Alfred F. Cooke. She was flying the French flag. At Patung, she was under fire for half -an_ hour, during which time two Chinese passengers were killed and four were badly wounded. The foreign passengers, among whom were Mr. J. K. Jolly and Mr. Colin Scott of Butterfield & Swire, were unhurt.
Patung is the point of contact' between the Szechuan eastward advance and the Hupeh rearguard. It is one of the towns which has suffered severely from recent floods. The officials and residents of the town ascribe the collapse of houses and consequent loss of life to the rushing by of foreign steamers under full speed, thus creating a dangerous back wash. But anyone who has watched the boiling flood torrents rushing down the Crorges with their self created whirlpools and under-currents, wonders how destruction can be blamed to anything but that.
And now we hear that the French gunboat Doudart de Lagree has
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