Viceroy for aid, and he called upon the few Chinese troops who had been sent to drive off the mob in very strong terms, charging them with cowardice. After this time the Viceroy sent a large number of troops, which filled up the point, and kept the mob out of the place. I counted eleven houses destroyed by fire, but I am told there are thirteen, besides four others only looted. There could be no efforts made to check the flames. There were no engines, for the Chinese burnt down the engine house and destroyed the engines.
At five o'clock a meeting of the residents was held at the Canton Club, Mr. Daval, the president of the Club, being appointed Chairman, to take into consideration measures for the defence of the Settlement. Herr Von Ketler, the German Vice-Consul, was appointed the commander of the residents' forces, as he had seen some active service as a German officer and was the only one who had seen real service. There were three officers under him, viz., Mr. Von Pustau, Mr. Rocher, and Mr. Dunt, who had command each of a division, and these divisions took alternate watches of three hours each for patrolling the Settlement from nine o'clock.
I was in the first watch, that of Mr. Von Pustau, and everything was quiet all the night through on Shameen, but while I was on duty I heard firing going on somewhere in the city, the cause of which I do not know. During Monday a great number of Chinese troops arrived in the Settlement, and at nine o'clock in the evening many Chinese gunboats arrived and placed themselves round Shameen, whilst watch boats kept any mob from crossing the creek. The camp of the troops was pitched upon the Bund, which they almost filled.
The next morning a feeling of security succeeded to the anxiety which prevailed before, and the ladies and children came ashore to their houses; some whose houses were burned came on to Hongkong by the Honam, whilst others will come on to-morrow. I don't think Mr. Sebruynter is seriously hurt. He was wounded with small shot, being struck on the forehead, the back of the head, the left arm, right wrist, and stomach. There were no medical instruments available to extract the shots, all having been destroyed, but the doctor thinks the wounds are not serious.
I was with him before leaving, and he appeared to be pretty well, and was about writing a lot of correspondence for the mail. It is believed that the shots were fired by a Chinese soldier. The Chinese soldiers seemed to take a lively interest in the welfare of the mob on Shameen, and they let all of them escape. The only ones captured were seven we seized, four of whom made good their escape, whilst the other three made some escapes and were re-captured.
There is a strong feeling in the settlement that if there had been an English gunboat there, the whole damage might have been prevented. As we were on the way down we met the gunboat Swift on the way to Canton, she was going at a very great rate. The Espoir we saw taking shelter from the weather.
Mr. Brocklemann, of the firm of Messrs. Pustau & Co., gave us later on a very complete description of the affair, but as it travels over the same ground as the preceding narrative, and corroborates it, we will only give that part referring to what occurred while Mr. Schwemann was on board the Hankow, and such extra particulars as he gave.
Mr. Brocklemann said: Just before half-past eight this morning, Mr. Raven, of the Ice House, who lives in the same building as I do, called to me over the banister as I was dressing that he had just heard from his compradore that a Chinaman had been kicked overboard from the Hankow and drowned at 5.30, and that a Chinese mob had assembled, being then engaged in firing the Custom House. I went to the verandah and saw the smoke rising from the two steamer wharves, which were then on fire.
I went downstairs at 8.40, and then saw the first Chinese crossing the bridge into Shameen. We wanted to look after some books in the house, but as there were some ladies in the next house who needed protection, three of us got together, one with a cane, another with a dagger, and another with a revolver, and tried to drive the crowd back on the front row.
There were about a hundred men there then, but we succeeded for a short time, and then we went to the middle row, keeping near our own place, and the crowd was soon increased to 250 men, as they came pouring over the bridge, the gates of which they had opened. They drove us back for a bit, and this kind of thing kept on till about 9.30, when some 50 Chinese soldiers came across the bridge which leads from the city to the middle of the Settlement.
Of these 25 stayed on the bridge to prevent any more Chinese from coming over, and 25 more came on to Shameen. However, they were a wretched lot, miserably armed, and were utterly afraid to attack the mob. They seemed to have no leader and would do nothing without the co-operation of the Europeans. They just followed us about, and did nothing, the only good being the guarding of the bridge.
We took some of their bamboo spears away from them, and found them useful to use ourselves, as revolvers and small things were of no use with the crowd. The few Europeans drove back the mob three or four times, and if we had had any support from the Chinese soldiers we could have kept them back, but we were unsupported, and the soldiers were firing behind us, and so we retreated, and the crowd chased us to the middle of the Settlement.
They then broke into the house of Messrs. Thomas, Rowe, and Smith, and though they looted it, they did not at that time set fire to it. The Consuls warned us not to shoot any of the natives, and we heeded the caution. Mr. Brocklemann here went on to deal with the banding together of the residents armed with the weapons supplied by Mr. Butler, and their successful attack on the crowd.
He said that from 8.30 a.m. the Consuls had sent to the Chinese authorities for assistance, and had received word back that there were 200 to 300 men on the other side of the creek who did not dare to pass over unless they had support from the Shameen side, and so Mr. Mollendorf arranged this party of attack.
Messrs. Thomas, Rowe, and Smith's premises were the first fired on Shameen, this being done at ten a.m., and the outbreaks followed quickly. The crowd, according to this gentleman's computation, numbered about 700 at this time. The Consuls had a consultation at three o'clock as to whether the Hankow was to be kept at Canton or sent to Hongkong, and they decided it would be well for it to remain until the drowned Chinaman was removed, and that the Portuguese watchman charged with causing his death should not then be taken away for fear of further inflaming the mob.
Mr. Brocklemann said he saw the bodies of three Chinese killed by firing, which went on pretty briskly after the decision to resist the mob by force, and he understands that about 20 dead bodies were carried off by the mob.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT,
Early in the morning some of the foreigners were informed by their servants that a Chinaman had been kicked to death by a watchman on the Hankow and that there was a disturbance, but no particular alarm was felt at the time. Soon after eight o'clock, however, the mob appeared off Shameen, but the constable stationed at the bridge kept the gate closed and refused to allow them to pass.
Mr. Woodruff, the Commissioner of Customs, left his house in his chair with the intention of passing through the crowd to the Custom House, but on reaching the gate he saw that it would be unsafe to go on. As things were then looking very threatening, the ladies at the London Mission House were taken on board the Ningpo, which was lying off the Concession.
On seeing this party passing towards the water the mob set up a yell and began throwing stones, but fortunately none of the missiles reached far enough to do any injury, and the party got safely off. By this time the alarm had become general, and the other ladies and children were taken off to the steamer. Few if any waited to pack up their clothes, but went off simply with those they had on at the time.
Meanwhile the crowd, which had been increasing in numbers and violence, burst open the gate and swarmed on to the Concession. Had there been any organised and properly armed guard at that time, however small, it is thought the Chinese would not have ventured to cross. There being nothing of the kind to deter them they rushed on...