Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 126, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1903 — WEAPONS OF THE CHINESE. [ARTICLE]

WEAPONS OF THE CHINESE.

Capt. Royal Ingersoll’s Fine Collec-tion-Some Ctirioue Implements. Captain Royal Ingersoll, United States navy, for some years one of the distinguished professors in the naval academy, Annapolis, and from which Institution he graduated with high honors, says the Baltimore Sun, has returned bo his former home jin La Porte, Ind., from a tour in Chinese waters. He is a fine officer, and ranks very high as a commander of administrative ability. The La Porte Herald gives the following account of a collection of curiiosities which Captain Ingersoll has brought to his home. The Herald says: “What Is believed to be the finest collection of Chinese war weapons and implements and Chinese curios jn America, if not in the world, was brought to La Porte by Captain Royal Ingersoll, United States navy, who, on Sunday, arrived in this city direct from Yokohama, where for the past two years he had been in command of the United States cruiser New Orleans of Admiral Evans’ squadron. The principal part of the collection consists of sixty-three Chinese and Japanese •weapons and implements of war, of which thirty-six are a complete set of the official weapons of the viceroys of China. It is claimed that nowhere in the world outside of China is there such a complete set, although in a number of the world’s largest museums apd in the possession of prominent persons who have traveled in China are found incomplete sets. Each weapon in this set of thirtysix is about ten feet ldng and consists of a steel blade fitted on a teek handle, the wood being extremely hard and tough. The blades are all different, there being no alike In the set. All are more or less suggestive of fishing and farming implements, after which they were evidently made originally. Some of the weapons have brass trimmings, with dragons’ heads thereon and other figures that remind one of the Orient. Six of the weapons are extra fine and were carried by the very highest officials in the Chinese army, including the Emperor. Two have dragons on the blades and were used more for display than actual warfare, while the others were used in the days when the Chinese army was not equipped with modern rifles, as at present. One weapon is like a sevenstar knife, another has a blade like a Malay creese; still others are shaped

like harpoons,' some have prongs, one Is a steel club, some have single and double moon blades, another is like a spear or pike pole, one blade is like an Inverted half-moon and some are like forks. The blades are of extra fine steel, almost al> sharp as razors. The weapons weigh from five to twelve pounds each and some of them came from the residences of Chinese mandarins, (