despite the report in "the times", there is speculation concerning whether the incident took place as was popularly supposed. garnet wolseley, who was present at the taking of the taku forts, insisted that "the man belonging to the buffs was either killed, or 'died of drink,' as the chinese say." the source of the information -- a soldier in the 44th regiment -- was, according to wolseley, not reliable. "his mind, indeed, seemed to be unbalanced, as in addition to the untruths he told, he talked utter nonsense about what he pretended he had overheard his captors say."