let onli
619
:
}
they would be joined by a large force of their fellow con-
spirators.
The party whose objective was the Viceroy began oper-
ations about 6 p.m. by blowing a large hole in the wall
in the North-West corner of the Yamen, through which they
poured and by the aid of bombs and kerosene set fire to
the buildings in front of them. At the same time feint
attacks were made on the front and back gates. The Vice-
roy's bodyguard failed to drive them out, and he himself
seems to have been taken by surprise, and though the Chinese
newspapers give an imaginary account of a dignified retreat
to the Admiral's official residence a few hundred yards
away, there seems no doubt he was forced to make a hurried
escape by a small side door in the East wall, or as one re-
port has it, by a wooden bridge over the street.
Probably
his own bodyguard made a poor show of resistance, since it
is a well known factthat a large proportion of the purely
Chinese soldiery are themselves members of some form of
secret society. It was not until the Viceroy had reached
safety in the Admiral's Yamen that the latter sent a force
of his own troops (the best soldiers in the Province), who
| 19953
Red
مرغ
REG 19 JUN 11
dislodged the revolutionaries, killing ot capturing
most of them, and extinguished the fire about 10 p.m.
The detachment detailed to assault the Manchu
quarter was much less successful. Most of the conspir-
ators who had settled there had disappeared and the
rest dared not show their faces; hence the expected
aid was not forthcoming. The Bannermen were on their
guard and repulsed the attack without difficulty, kill-
ing two of their assailants and capturing eight, ac-
cording to the Chinese papers; the rest scattered and
fled.
The detachment sent to capture the Arsenal like-
wise found themselves forestalled, and were repulsed
with some loss; but, nominally owing to the darkness,
the regular forces allowed most of them to escape into
the surrounding network of poor streets. A number of
them, however, were tracked at daylight by a large
force of police to a rice shop near the wall, which,
after a short resistance, was burnt over their heads.
The two small outposts at the
two Southern City
dislodged
Gates