A QUEUELESS BRIGADE.
A great feature of the Revolution was the discarding
of the pigtail. Barbers were kept busy for many days
shearing the revolutionaries.
Most of the story of that night and the following day is already known to the world. Sun Wu's face was badly wounded in the explosion, and he was concealed by friends, who saw to it that he got proper treatment until he had recovered sufficiently to rejoin his comrades. Liu King's family was then living in the native city at Hankow. He had long been suspected, and when the news of the explosion was received his wife and brother were arrested. He had himself escaped from the house in the Russian Concession. Several arrests followed during the night, and the following morning four men were executed. Liu's brother was not among them, for the reason that the Viceroy was having him tortured to induce him to reveal Liu's hiding-place. Two of the leading agents of the Revolution, Liu Yao-chen and Run Chung-yung, were among those arrested on the 10th. Liu King had tried to start the Revolution at midnight on the 9th, but had failed.
"I saw we should all be ruined if we did not begin at once," said Liu, "but the soldiers had no badge, so they did not revolt. The next morning (October 10th) I wrote to them that if the Viceroy found the list of their names contained among our papers he would certainly disarm and execute them all. They replied that they were not afraid, and it was only because they had no badges that they had failed to begin the Revolution. I then gave instructions that any white band round the arm should be used as a badge, and that the Revolution should begin at ten o'clock that night—the time fixed by the Viceroy for the execution of my brother.
"The sappers and miners did not wait for the appointed time but began their work at half-past seven. They sent men at once to watch all the gates. The artillerymen, camped outside the city, heard the firing and realised what had happened. They entered the city and occupied the Choawangtai (where the magazine was), the Hwanghwalo (the promontory overlooking the river), and the Serpent Hill. They intended to shell the Viceroy's yamen, but soldiers went to the yamen and found that the Viceroy had escaped through a hole dug in a back wall. As all the gates were held by Revolutionists, he must have got over the wall by a rope.
"The sappers and miners went to the camps of the other corps and told the men they must join the mutiny or fight. Practically all joined, with the exception of part of the Commissariat Corps and about 250 soldiers, who fled with Chang Piao.[[4]]
"I had come to Wuchang from Hankow, and we called a meeting at the magazine. The Revolutionary agents decided not to elect one of their own number as commander."
Then followed in the interview a short description of the manner in which Li Yuan Hung had been raised to the position of Leader of the Revolution of China.
* * * * *
The following leader, printed in the London Times as soon as the Revolution broke, shows how great a surprise was given to the world. It also shows how utterly unprepared China herself seemed in the eyes of the world to be for the change that so suddenly shook the fundamentals of her Government:—'