Peking, Aug. 18.
There has been a good deal of murmuring in Chinese circles here because Admiral Phelps is sup-. posed to have refused to surrender to the Chinese authorities the officer responsible for the outrage upon the Alice Dollar in Ichang. As the Chinese have pointed out correctly, foreign military and naval men are under the same obligation to hand Chinese offenders over to the Chinese authorities for trial and punishment as_ the Chinese authorities are to hand over foreign offenders as promptly as possible. The insinuation was that Admiral Phelps held the men longer than was necessary before he gave them over to the local authorities at Ichang and that he had acted very arbitrarily in carrying the officer to Hankow where he was surrendered to the American Consul-General, Mr. Heintzleman.
It transpires, however, that the Chinese insinuation is groundless. Admiral Phelps handed the captured marauders over to the Ichang authorities as soon as he arrived and tried to get rid of the officer Liu at the same time, but no one would accept him as a prisoner because he outranked all the officers in the port. There was nothing to do then but turn him over to the Tuchun, so he was taken to Hankow, where there was again difficulty about having him accepted for trial and punishment. All authorities refused to give a written receipt for him, so there was nothing to do but deliver him to Mr. Heintzleman who ~nly received him pending the appearance'of someone willing to accept him as a prisoner. It is to be assumed that he is by now in Chinese hands.
Tae Ministry of Communications has informed the loca] Chinese authorities that hereafter no Chinese steamer will be permitted to hoist foreign flags on the Yangtze River regardless of when ther they find themselves in difficulties, by fighting or otherwise, or not. In times of extreme danger, however, the red cross flag may be hoisted.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.