Killing May End Chinese Republic.

New York Times 100 years ago today, August 19, 1912:
Executioner of Gen. Chang Dined with Victim Before Arresting Him — No Evidence at "Trial."
WAS BY PRESIDENT'S ORDER
Yuan Shi-Kai Fears Assassination, and Sun Yat-Sen Is Also In Danger — Latter on Way to Peking.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Monday, Aug. 19.— The Daily Telegraph's Peking correspondent gives the following details of the manner In which Gen. Chang-Tsen-Chu was trapped and killed.
    "The Bannerman General, Tuan Chi-Kuei, who was intrusted by President Yuan Shi-Kai with the arrest and execution, actually dined with Gen. Chang in a European hotel, and toasted him repeatedly.
    "The dinner being ended, the victim departed for his lodgings outside the Chien-men Gate. In the meanwhile strong bodies of mounted and foot gendarmerie took possession of the gate and all its approaches.
    "Immediately the carriages neared the fatal spot, Tuan Chi-Kuei, who was in a vehicle following the victim, leaned out of a window and blew a police whistle. A forest of bared sabres and bayonets grew up as by magic, surrounding Chang Tsen-Chu, who was dragged out of the carriage, bound with ropes, flung into a mule cart, and conveyed to a military court where the Judges were already sitting.
    "These officers simply stated that the death of the prisoner had been decreed, and that it was ordered that he be shot instantly. No evidence was brought, no witness was examined. Chang Tsen-Chu was examined, then tied to a pillar in the courtyard, and the firing party leveled their rifles.
    "The unfortunate officer was not killed by the first volley, but cried loudly: 'My heaven! My parents! What sin have I committed!' The volley firing then continued.
    "A horrible detail lay in the fact that since it was necessary to dress the corpse, a message was actually sent to the General's wife asking for more clothes, as her husband 'felt cold in the night air.'
    "Yuan Shi-Kai, alarmed at the violence of the outcry aroused by the tragedy, is publishing Li Yuan-Hung's telegrams, with the object of putting the blame upon him.
    "It is understood that the Advisory Council will attempt to impeach the President, who is so convinced that his assassination is possible that he causes himself to be guarded by dense throngs of troops, who render access to him impossible."