The Red Cloud Chief

DEFIES THE WORLD
China Pours a Volley Into International Fleet.
HER ACTION PROVES TO BE FATAL
Bombardment That Follows Is Very Effective-Four Hundred Chinese Reported Killed, While Loss On Warships Is Said to be Slight
A London, June 18, dispatch says:
China declared war against the world when the Taku forts opened fire upon the international fleet. The accounts of what took place are still unsatisfactory, the best semi-official information being the dispatch received at Berlin from Che-Foo, as follows:
"A semi-official dispatch from Che-Foo says three men on the German warship Iltis were killed and seven were wounded in the attack on Taku fort. The dispatch adds that the foreign settlements at Tien Tsin were being fired into by the Chinese.
"The forts on both sides of Taku are now occupied. The Chinese opened fire unexpectedly.
The casualties to the mixed force were as follows:
"Killed-British, 1; German, 3; Russian, 1; French, 1.
"Wounded-British, 4; German, 7; Russian, 45 and French, 1.
"Chinese torpedo boats were seized.
Followed Orders From Pekin.
The Shanghai correspondent of the Daily Mail, telegraphing yesterday, says:
"The forts began firing in observance to orders from Pekin, conveyed in a personal edict of the empress dowager, by advice of Kang Yi (president of the ministry of war). Several warships were struck by shells from the 12-inch guns of the forts.
"The heavy Russian losses were due to the blowing up of the magazine at Mandshur.
"Four hundred Chinese are reported to have been killed.
The Chinese, when retreating, fell into the hands of the Russian land force."
The Daily News has the following from Che-Foo:
"Two of the forts were blown up.
The thirty-two warships at Taku aggregated two hundred thousand tons and carried more than 300 guns.
The failure of Admiral Seymour's column and its retreat to Tien Tsin increases, it is presumed, the perils of the legations in Pekin, which are still isolated, although Shanghai forwards Chinese rumors that the legations were attacked by mobs who were mowed down by machine guns, and also that the members of the legations were massacred.
The situation at Niu Chwang is reported critical. The British consul at Kiu Kwang has ordered all foreigners to leave Ku Ling and Nau King Chang.
The powers are taking prompt action. Four thousand German troops have been ordered to China; 10,000 French troops are waiting to embark at Saigon, capital of French Cochin China, and from 3,000 to 5,000 more Russians have been ordered from Port Arthur to Taku.
This reinforcement, says the St. Petersburg correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, is announced in the St. Petersburg Gazette, the government pointing out that Russia is sending so many troops solely for the sake of peace and humanity.
The war department at Washington confirms the report that the Ninth Infantry has been ordered from Manila to China. Colonel Liscum commands the regiment, which has its headquarters at Tarlac, about two hours' distant by rail from Manila. War department officials say that the regiment probably is already aboard the transport and ready to sail for China.