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BELEAGUERED IN
PEKING

THE BOXER'S WAR
AGAINST THE FOREIGNER

ROBERT COLTMAN, Jr., M.D.

Professor of Surgery in Imperial University; Professor of Anatomy, the Imperial Tung Wen Kuan;
Surgeon, Imperial Maritime Customs; Surgeon, Imperial Chinese Railways.
Author of "The Chinese, Their Present and Future : Medical, Political, and Social."

3IIu0trateIi toit|)

PHILADELPHIA:

F. A. DAVIS COMPANY, PUBLISHERS

1901

J(9ount KPIcaiaant PrintctH

J. Horace McFarland Company
Harrisburc • Pennsylvania

PREFACE

IN the following pages I have endeavored to
give an accurate and comprehensive account
of the Siege in Peking and of the Boxer
movement that led up to it.

Authentic details furnished by representatives
of those legations whose work has been specially
mentioned have made possible a greater detail
in those cases. I regret that others who had
promised me accounts of their work have failed
to furnish the promised material.

The siege at Pei Tang or North Cathedral,
coincident with that of the legations and civil-
ians, is not described for the reason that we
were absolutely cut ofiP from them for over sixty
days and knew nothing of their movements.
Much detail that might be interesting to many
I have been obliged to omit, as it would make
the book too cumbersome.

I make no claim for the book as a literary
efifort, the object being to state the facts in the
clearest manner possible. The illustrations are

(iii)

iv PREFACE

from actual photographs, the authenticity of
which is absolutely proved, and these carefully
studied, add much to the information of the
volume.-

To my sixteen-year-old son, the youngest sol-
dier to shoulder a rifle during the siege, I am
indebted for much of the diary and great help
in copying. A considerable portion of the book
Was written with bullets whistling about us as
we sat in the students' library building of the
English legation.

There are several men whose work entitles
them to decorations from all the countries rep-
resented in the siege, and their names will be
indelibly written in our memories even if the
powers and ministers concerned overlook them.
I refer to F. A. Gamewell, August Chamot,
Colonel Shiba, and Herbert G. Squiers.

ROBERT COLTMAN, Jr., M.D.
Peking, China, September lo, 1900.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Riot at Marco Polo Bridge — Men Wounded by Captain
Norregaard — Dr. Coltman Accompanies Governor Hu
as Special Commissioner to Investigate — Anti- Foreign
Feeling Expressed by Generals of Tung Fu's Army —
A Bargain with Prince Tuan l

II. Yu Hsien Appointed Governor of Shantung, Removed
by British Demands, Only to be Rewarded — Yuanshih
Kai Succeeds Him — Causes of Hatred of Converts by
People and Boxers — The Boxers and Their Tenets —
The Empress Consults Astrologers 31

III, Cables to America Describing Growth of Boxer Move-

ment from January to June, 1900 46

IV. Diary of the Author from June i to June 20 .... 62

V. Diaries of the Author and His Son from June 20 to

End of Siege 78

VI. Reflections, Incidents, and Memoranda Written During

Siege 143

VII. Work During Siege Done by Russians — Work by Amer-
icans 167

VIII. Work Done by Staff of Imperial Maritime, Customs, and

British Legation Staff 190

IX. Work Done by Austro - Hungarians — Mr. and Mrs.

Chamot 209

X. Edicts Issued by the Empress During Siege, with a

Few Comments Thereon 221

XI. Now What? 24s

(v)

Beleaguered in Peking

CHAPTER I

RIOT AT MARCO POLO BRIDGE — MEN WOUNDED BY CAPTAIN
NORREGAARD — DR. COLTMAN ACCOMPANIES GOVERNOR
HU AS SPECIAL COMMISSIONER TO INVESTIGATE — ANTI-
FOREIGN FEELING EXPRESSED BT GENERALS OF TUNG
FU'S ARMY — A BARGAIN fVITH PRINCE TUAN.

IN the autumn of 1898^
in the month of Octo-
ber, very shortly after
the famous coup d^etat of
the Empress Dowager of
China, an event occurred
which may have been the
influence that shaped
after-events, or it may be
that this occurrence was
but the premature explo-
sion of a mine being pre-
pared by the Empress
and her evil advisers,
intended to shake the
civilized world at a later
date. I refer to the riot
at Lukouch'iao, known to the English-speaking
world as Marco Polo bridge, from its having
been accurately described by that early traveler.

A (0

The author in Chinese dress

2 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

This place had curiously enough been chosen
as the northern terminus of the Hangkow-Peking
railway, although ten miles west of Peking, and
the road consequently is generally known as the
Lu Han railway.

The political history of the struggle between
the Russian, French and British diplomats in
Peking, with reference to obtaining the conces-
sion for, and the financing of, this road, is very
interesting, and would fill a book of its own;
but there is no reason why it should enter into
this narrative more than to state that finally the
Belgians, acting for Russia and France, obtained
the concession to build and finance this greatest
trunk line of China.

To connect this line with the existing Peking-
Tientsin railway, a short track was laid from
Fengtai, the second station south of Peking, to
Lukouch'iao, and a fine iron bridge built over
the Hum Ho or Muddy river, a few hundred
yards west of the original stone Marco Polo
bridge. This short connecting line is but three
miles in length, and is the property of the Peking-
Tientsin railway.

With this prelude, allow me to proceed with
the event with which I was somewhat closely
identified, and am able to speak of with knowl-
edge and accuracy.

On October 23 I was called to Fengtai to

CALL TO FENGTAI 3

amputate the leg of a poor coolie, who had
been run over by the express train from Tien-
tsin; and after the operation partook of tiffin at

MARBLE BRIDGE LEADING TO "FORBIDDEN CITY"

A beautiful bridge, which would be a credit to any city. Marco
Polo, the great traveler, nearly a thousand years ago described a
similar bridge, thus showing how old is Chinese civilization com-
pared with our own.

the residence of A. G. Cox, resident engineer
of the Peking section of the Peking-Tientsin rail-
way. His other guests were Major Radcliflfe, of
the Indian army service, on what is known as

4 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

language-leave in China, and C. W. Campbell,
official interpreter of the British legation.

During the meal the newly completed iron
bridge was spoken of by Mr. Cox, and we were
all invited to accompany him after tiffin on a
trolley to inspect the bridge. This I was unable
to do, as a professional engagement in Peking in
the afternoon at four o'clock prevented.

The next morning I received the following tel-
egram, which should have been delivered the
night before ; but owing to the closing of the city
gates no attempt was made to deliver it :

" CoLTMAN, Peking : — Come to Fengtai at once. Cox and Nor-
rcgaard both seriously wounded in riot at Lukouch'iao.

" Knowles."

I immediately rode in my cart to Machiapu,
the Peking terminus of the Peking-Tientsin rail-
way, and wired down to Fengtai for an engine to
come and take me down.

In an hour's time I reached Fengtai, and went
at once to the residence of Mr. Cox, to find both
himself and Captain Norregaard, the resident en-
gineer and builder of the bridge at Lukouch'iao,
with bandages about their heads, and a general
appearance of having been roughly used. Their
story of the riot was told me while I removed
the dressings, applied by my assistant, a native
medical student of the railway hospital at Fpng-
tai, the day before.

TROUBLE AT THE BRIDGE 5

Mr. Cox stated that he and his two guests had
gone shortly after tiffin on a trolley to Captain
Norregaard's residence, near the bridge, and hav-
ing added Norregaard to their party, proceeded
on foot to the bridge. Near the eastern entrance
stood a party of Kansu soldiers, numbering fifty or
more, who, upon the approach of the foreigners,
saluted them with offensive epithets, in which the
well-known "yang kuei tzu" or "foreign devil"
was frequently repeated.

Mr. Campbell, who spoke Chinese fluently, re-
monstrated with the men, and endeavored to have
them stand aside and allow the party to cross the
bridge; but they obstinately barred the entrance,
and warned the foreigners back.

At this juncture a military official of low rank
appeared on the track, and Campbell appealed to
him to quiet the men, and to allow them to inspect
the bridge. This officer replied that the men were
not of his company and he had no power over
them ; but Campbell, knowing well the Chinese
nature, at once told him that they should consider
him responsible for any trouble, whether he was
their particular officer or not.

Upon this the officer ordered the men to open
a passage for the foreigners, which they promptly
did, and the party of four crossed the bridge.
The officer, after they had entered the bridge, left
the men and disappeared. They remained a quar-

6 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

ter of an hour on the farther side of the bridge
and then returned.

As they again neared the eastern side, they
saw the same gang of ruffians awaiting them,
with stones in their hands, and, upon their arriv-
ing within range, were saluted with a volley of
stones, many of which took effect. They val-
iantly charged upon the men, and Cox, being
rather severely hit, and spying out the man who
had struck him, chased him right into the crowd
and knocked him down with a terrific blow. As
Cox stands six feet four, and is a remarkably mus-
cular man, this fellow's punishment was severe.

The mob, however, turned upon Cox, who
was separated from his companions some thirty
odd feet, and, surrounding him, bore him by
sheer weight and number to the ground, not,
however, before he had placed several of them
hors du combat.

At this moment Captain Norregaard received
a severe stone cut just above his eyes, which
severed a small artery and covered his face with
blood. Not knowing how dangerously he was
wounded, and believing Mr. Cox to be in dan-
ger of his life, Norregaard drew his revolver and
fired two shots into the mob. The effect was
instantaneous. The brutal cowards dropped Cox
at once, and ran away like sheep toward their
encampment, half a mile distant.

AFTER THE RIOT 7

After tying a handkerchief around his head,
and assisting Cox to get up, the party hastily ran
to the residence of Norregaard and brought
Mrs. Norregaard and her eight-year-old son to
the trolley, upon which the whole party returned
to Fengtai.

Cox then sent a command out by wire for all
the engineers working on the Lu Han railway to
give up their posts and retire with him to Tien-
tsin to await the settlement of the riot by the
Chinese officials, as well as to obtain some guar-
anty of future good conduct on the part of the
government troops, who were yet to arrive from
the southwest.

After dressing the wounds of these two gen-
tlemen they took the train for Tientsin, and the
writer returned to Peking.

The next day, or two days after the riot, I
received a message from Hu Chih-fen, the gov-
ernor of Peking, requesting me to call upon him
at Imbeck's hotel at once. I found the old gen-
tleman with twenty retainers awaiting me. He
stated that he had been appointed a special com-
missioner by the Empress Dowager to proceed
to Lukouch'iao and investigate the circumstances
connected with the riot two days previously, as
well as to inquire minutely into the condition of
two wounded soldiers reported by their officers
to have been wantonly shot and dangerously hurt

8 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

by Captain Norregaard. He desired me to ac-
company him into the camp, and examine the
wounds as an expert, so that he could make a
proper report to the Empress.

I confess I did not much care to go alone
into the camp of the famous Kansu, haters of
foreign, but I was under many obligations to
Governor Hu, and wanted to oblige him. Be-
sides, there was a spice of adventure about the
undertaking that was pleasant to a correspondent.
I preferred to go armed, however, as, although
knowing a revolver would be of no use in a hos-
tile camp for offensive warfare, yet if Governor
Hu remained with me, I reasoned, I could by
placing a revolver to his head and holding him
hostage prevent any harm to myself — believing
as I did that the Empress' special commissioner's
person would be sacred in the eyes of her gen-
erals. The sequel proved how false this belief
was, and that before many hours.

So I requested permission to return home for
a moment to obtain a small instrument I might
need, as well as to inform my wife of my leaving
the city, that she might not be anxious if I did
not return until after dark.

Governor Hu replied that I could get what-
ever instrument I needed at the railway hospital
at Fengtai, and that he would se>nd one of his
retainers with a message to my wife. I insisted.

WITH HU AS COMMISSIONER

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MAIN STREET OF PEKING FROM THE CITY WALL

This shows the main street of Peking — its "Market Street," as
Philadelphians might say, or its "Strand," from the English point
of view. Although a main street it is scarcely better than a coun-
try road, and busy trading seems to be going on in the foreground
in the open air. Here and there a sign indicates that business is
conducted within, and that unavoidable feature of a Chinese city,
the open pool of stagnant water, is in evidence.

however, that a return home was imperative, and
that I would rejoin him in half an hour. Where-
upon he decided to order tiffin in the meantime,
and told me to hurry back, take tiffin with him

10 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

at the hotel, and we would then proceed to
Machiapu, where a special train would be waiting
for us.

I hastened home, obtained my Smith & Wes-
son six-shooter, and, after a good tiffin with Gov-
ernor Hu, rode in a springless cart to Machiapu,
entrained, and was speedily at the station at Lu-
kouch'iao.

Upon our alighting from the cars we were met
by a sub-official from the camps, and were accom-
panied by him, and about twenty Kansu soldiers,
to the entrance to the railroad bridge, the site of
the riot two days before.

Here Hu ordered the bridge watchmen to be
brought before him, and he interrogated them as
to the occurrences described by Cox and Nor-
regaard. The two watchmen's stories were the
exact counterpart of the two foreigners' ; they
agreed in every particular, and placed the whole
blame on the Kansu soldiers.

I was surprised at the fearless testimony of
these two poor watchmen, one of whom was
afterward murdered by the soldiers for testifying
against them.

Hu now walked to an inn in the village of
Lukou, and told the sub-official to order the
general and colonels of all the regiments quar-
tered near-by to appear before him at once, as
he would hold an investigation by order of the

BEGINNING OF INVESTIGATION ii

Empress. He and I drank tea until they ar-
rived.

The first, a General Chang, appeared in about
fifteen minutes. We knew some one of import-
ance was coming by the hubbub in the court-
yard, the murmur of voices, and the sound of
horses' moving feet. Then a soldier appeared
in the doorway, and announced :

"General Chang, of the Kansu cavalry, has
arrived."

"Ch'ing," replied Hu, and immediately there
stood before us as ferocious looking a ruffian as
the world could well produce. A tall, weather-
beaten man, fifty years of age or more, with
rather heavy (for a Chinaman) yet black mus-
taches, and a more than ordinarily prominent
nose; dressed in a dark blue gown, satin high-
top boots, official hat with premier button and
peacock feather, held at right angles from the
rear of his button by an expensive piece of jade.
His eyes were deep-set and small, and the whole
expression of his face was ferocious and cruel.

He only slightly inclined his head to Hu,
took no notice of me, and, ignoring Chinese
ceremony, proceeded at once to the highest
seat in the little room, and seated himself in
the intensely stifle attitude of the god of war
one usually sees in a Chinese temple. Hu
seemed completely taken aback at this inso-

12 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

lence, and allowed the ruffian to remain in the
seat of honor throughout the interview.

Before Hu had become acquainted, by his
polite questions, with the age, rank, and prov-
ince of his haughty guest, four other military
officers of the rank of colonel and lieutenant-
colonel had arrived, namely, Chao, Ma, Wang,
and Hung.

Finding their general in the head seat, and
noting his imperious bearing, they took their
cue from him and maintained throughout the
interview the most lofty manner, and treated
Hu more like a subordinate than a civil officer
of the premier rank and a special high commis-
sioner of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.

After a few mouthfuls of tea, Hu informed
them in most polite and bland terms that as he
was Director -General of imperial railways, as
well as Governor of the metropolitan prefecture
of Shuntienfu, Her August Majesty, the Em-
press Dowager, etc., etc., etc., had appointed
him to visit the general and officers of the
Kansu regiments in camp at this place, to in-
quire into the circumstances of the late riot.

He stated also that he came gladly because
he felt that, by careful inquiry into the circum-
stances, it could doubtless be proved that the
soldiers had acted in a rowdy manner without
the knowledge and consent of their officers, and

DIFFICULTY OF AGREEMENT 13

that by a well- worded report the latter would
escape all blame, and the matter could be set-
tled to the satisfaction of all, especially as no lives
had been lost, or imperial property destroyed.

General Chang haughtily replied that it was
entirely unnecessary for Hu to come out at all;
that Prince Ching had sent a messenger to him
in the morning, and the Empress was doubtless
aware, through this messenger, of the exact cir-
cumstances of the case already, and consequently
Hu might as well return and save himself any
further trouble.

His impudent manner indicated that, having
given his own side of the case to a trusty hench-
man of Prince Ching's, and obtained that influ-
ential prince's partial testimony in his favor, he
did not care one way or the other for anything
Hu might report later.

But Hu, although very quiet and apparently
humble, was firm and determined, and upon the
conclusion of Chang's defiant speech, replied:

^^It is very well that Her Majesty should have
as early a report as possible, and I am glad you
have informed her of the events ; but as I have
been appointed to inquire officially, I should not
return without having done my duty, and I hope
that none of the officers present will refuse any
testimony I require, and compel me to report a
lack of respect for Her Majesty's commands."

U BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Chang bit his lips and pulled his mustaches
fiercely at this, but said nothing. But Colonel
Chao took up the cudgels in a most unexpected
manner. Excitedly rising, he commenced a most
venomous speech against the introduction of rail-
ways into China. He denounced them as the
instrumentality of the foreigner to subjugate the
country, declaring they had taken away the em-
ployment of thousands of carters, boatmen, and
wheelbarrow coolies ; that they had raised the
price of rice and other cereals; that they em-
ployed foreigners at high wages, who carried all
the money out of the country at the same time
that they abused and maltreated the natives under
their control, and wound up his rather long dis-
course by declaring that the abolishing of railways
and driving into the sea of every foreigner was
the duty of every loyal soldier or subject of the
empire.

Hu mildly endeavored to interrupt him several
times by telling him that the railways were all
Chinese property, and the foreign employees
were their Empress' own employees ; but Chao
drowned Hu's every utterance so that the old
man, after several attempts, was, perforce, obliged
to keep quiet until the irate colonel had exhausted
himself and sat down blowing like a porpoise.

I knew Hu was very unwilling that I should
hear all of this speech, which he realized I

PAGODA NEAR PEKING

In and around Peking are to be seen many specimens of noble archi-
tecture ; among which is this beautiful Pagoda, built hundreds of years
ago. Such buildings are not erected now, and in some instances they are
found standing almost solitary and alone, miles from any great city.

i6 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Avould perfectly understand, and I felt sure he
regretted having brought along a surgeon versed
in Chinese.

To me it was a revelation. I had heard that
the Mohammedan troops from Kansu, under the
famous general Tung Fu Hsiang, were ordered
to Peking immediately after the coup d^etat to
support the Empress in her anti-foreign policy.
I had heard that they were fanatical, ignorant,
and intensely hostile to foreigners. But that they
would dare to insult the Empress, in the person
of a special commissioner appointed by imperial
edict, and reveal the purpose of their general
in such open language, and that before a for-
eigner, I would scarcely have believed short of
the testimony of my own ears.

Hu reahzed that it was useless to attempt to
argue with or conciliate these men, and at once
set about the object of his visit, as yet unachieved,
namely, to find out the condition of the wounded
soldiers.

So, upon Colonel Chao's finishing his diatribe,
he poHtely turned to General Chang, without
further noticing the enraged colonel, and said:

"I have been told two of your men have been
wounded by one of the foreign engineers, and
as I have a very skilful surgeon in my employ,
who attends to all the people who are injured on
the railway, I have brought him along to ex-

ANTI- FOREIGN FEELING 17

amine your men, and if you will permit him 1
am sure he can heal them."

He then introduced me as Man Tai Fu, my
Chinese title. They sullenly acknowledged my
presence, for the first time, by a slight nod in
my direction, and General Chang asked Hu if
he had an interpreter who could converse with
me.

"Oh, he doesn't need an interpreter," replied
Hu; "he has lived in China fifteen years, has sons
and daughters born here, and speaks our lan-
guage like a native."

Upon this, my nearest neighbor, Lieutenant-
Colonel Wang, relaxed a little, and observed that
he had never talked with a 'foreigner, and would
be glad to make my acquaintance. I replied that
it was a mutual pleasure, and asked his age, prov-
ince, and personal name, which pleased him
greatly.

As it was rapidly growing darker, however,
and we had not yet seen the wounded men, Hu
cut short our budding conversation by requesting
General Chang to show them to me.

He curtly declared, "They are in camp half a
mile away, and he can go and see them if hp
wants to."

"Will you go?" inquired Hu.

"Yes, if you will go with me," I replied, not
caring to venture alone into the hostile camp,

1 8 BELEAGUERED IN PEKliNG

especially after what I had seen of the temper
of their leaders; but I added, "I think it would
be much better to have them brought here."

"Yes, yes, that is better," said Hu ; but General
Chang interrupted him by saying:

"Impossible! they are too ill to be moved,
and on this cold day would surely take cold and
die."

"Have them well wrapped up and brought
quickly," said Hu, without paying attention to
the interruption, "foi it is getting late, and al-
though I have ordered the city gates not to close
until our return to Peking, I am anxious to avoid
keeping them open any later than necessary."

General Chang then strode across the room
to the door opening into the court, where up-
wards of three hundred of his men were stand-
ing packed like sardines, listening to everything
we had been saying, as Chinese custom is, and
shouted out :

"Bring the two wounded men in here."

Now all of the men had seen Governor Hu
snubbed, had heard Colonel Chao revile him
and his railroads, and had heard their general
say the men would die if brought out in the cold ;
so, supposing they were to act in a similar way,
they, upon receiving this order, held a confab,
and a very noisy confab, too, among themselves
for a few moments before replying.

DANGER APPARENT 19

As I watched Governor Hu's face grow pale
as the commotion increased, I felt that we were
in real danger right in the midst of the officers,
and that my previous view that I could insure my
own safety by threatening Hu's life would avail
nothing, as they hated him as much if not more
than myself. I could plainly see that I must
change my man, and make the general my target
if the necessity arose.

Then a voice shouted out from the soldiers
almost the exact words of the general.

"They cannot be brought here; the exposure
would kill them."

Chang looked at Hu to see what efifect this had
upon him, but Hu was no coward, and calmly re-
plied :

" They must be brought if it kills them ; by
Her Majesty's commission, I demand it."

The general was bluffing; he sullenly gave in.

" Bring those men at once, dead or alive, you
scoundrels," he shouted stentoriously, "and in a
hurry, too !"

"Aye, aye," responded a hundred throats, and
a number of men left the courtyard at once.

The camp must have been some distance away,
for it was over half an hour and nearly candle-
lighting time before the two men, each carried
on a litter on the shoulders of six men, were
brought in.

20 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

The first man was covered up in blankets, and
pretended to be unconscious; but he proved to
have no fever, had a slow pulse, and absolutely no
wound but a scratch at the lower end of his right
shoulder-blade, which might have been made by
a finger-nail, or possibly by a pistol-ball grazing
the skin.

The hypocrite Chang bent over me as I was
examining, and asked in a voice of pretended
sympathy :

"Is he badly hurt? Can he recover? And
how long will he be ill?" to which I replied:

"Not badly hurt; Jie will recover; and I will
guarantee he is all right day after to-morrow if
you will send him at once to my railroad hospital
at Fengtai."

I said this, thinking that the British minister
in Peking, Sir Claude MacDonald, might be glad
to get hold of these men for proper punishment,
and that if they were in the hospital at Fengtai
they could easily be obtained ; otherwise I would
have ordered this man to be dismissed at once
as shamming.

The second man also pretended to be much
worse oflf than he really was, but he did in fact
have a small bullet-wound in his shoulder, from
which I extracted with forceps a fragment of
blue cotton cloth, and then sent him also to the
hospital, predicting his recovery within ten days.

REPORT TO THE EMPRESS 21

General Chang thanked me for my interest,
and promised to reward me for my services when
the men recovered; then, nodding coolly to Gov-
ernor Hu, he and his stafif marched out of the
inn and left us, and allowed a subordinate to
escort us to the special train that brought us
down, which was as great a lack of courtesy and
positive insult as he could give to the Empress
Dowager's high commissioner.

Our return journey was without incident. The
city gates were open awaiting us, and were closed
immediately upon our entrance. Governor Hu
immediately memorialized the throne, stating the
result of his inquiries, reported the impudence
of Colonel Chao, and made the request that
he be turned over to the Board of Punishments
for a penalty.

The Empress acknowledged the memorial, and
she decided to deprive Colonel Chao of one step
in rank, degrading him to a major. This ap-
peared in an edict at once ; at the same time she
commended Hu for his promptness and general
ability.

But, alas for Governor Hu ! General Tung
Fu Hsiang, the man who was to prove the curse
of China, was unacquainted with all these cir-
cumstances, and had yet to be heard from. This
man had obtained his reputation first as a brigand,
and afterward as a leader of Her Majesty's army

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

in putting down a rather formidable rebellion
of the Mohammedans in his own province of
Kansu. Bold, cruel, and unscrupulous, he had
murdered his own provincials, who were but

A temple in the Summer Palace grounds

poorly armed and without military discipline, in
a most ruthless manner, and had not only sup-
pressed the uprising, but nearly exterminated the
rebels.

His fame spread far and wide as a wonderful
general, so that when the Empress again assumed
power by forcibly seizing the throne from the

ANGER OF TUNG FU

weak but good-intentioned Kuang Hsu, she de-
cided at once to bring this man Tung and his
Kansu ruffians to Peking to assist her in main-
taining her authority against all comers. It was

MEMORIAL ARCHES

It is doubtful if we should have been able to learn so much of
the "Forbidden City" and of the beautiful and remarkable things
to be seen in the Palace grounds had it not been for this Siege.
These are most beautiful from a Chinese point of view, the archi-
tecture dating back for many ages. These arches are built of
immense blocks of stone, beautifully fitted and arranged.

en route to Peking that his advance corps, under
General Chang, had the trouble at Lukouch'iao.
As soon as Tung Fu Hsiang learned of Colo-
nel Chao's degradation, he was wild with rage.

24 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

taking the view at once that the insult was not
only upon Chao but also upon himself.

Knowing the Empress was in a precarious
condition without troops she could depend upon,
this courageous adventurer, at his first audience
upon his arrival in Peking, promptly told Her
Majesty that unless Chao were restored to his
rank immediately, and Governor Hu were re-
moved from his offices as Governor of Peking
and Director -General of Railways, as well as
prevented from taking his seat in the tsung-li-
yaAien, or foreign office, to which he had just
been appointed, he, Tung, would disband his
army and return to Kansu at once.

The Empress remonstrated with him in vain,
alleging that Hu had only done his duty, and
that with his knowledge of foreigners he would
be a valuable official in the tsung-li-yamen. But
Tung remained obdurate, and the Empress re-
luctantly yielded aad dismissed Hu to private
life, where he has ever since remained.

As Governor Hu was alone responsible, by his
firm friendship for the English, for obtaining for
the Hong Kong and Shanghai banking corpora-
tion, an English company, the loan for extending
the Peking-Tientsin railway, and had signed the
contract which gave the real control of the rail-
way to the English stockholders, his dismissal
from office should have been prevented by diplo-

GOVERNOR HU DISPLACED 25

matic action. As it was, only a mild remonstrance
by the diplomatic representative of Great Britain
was made, and the tsung-li-yamen passed it, as
usual, unheeded. Governor Hu remarked to me
a few days after his dismissal, very bitterly, "If
I had been the friend to Russia I have been to
England I should not now be in disgrace."

He was replaced in the office of Governor of
Peking by Ho Yun Nai, and in the office of Di-
rector-General of Railways by Hsu Ching Ch'eng,
ex-minister to Germany and Russia. The first
of these officials was a well-known hater of for-
eigners, who was suggested by General Tung.
The latter was a corrupt opium-eater, already in
the pay of Russia, as Chinese president of the
Manchurian railway, and was suggested by a high
palace eunuch, himself in the pay of Russia.

Tung's influence in Peking now became all-
powerful ; his soldiers swaggered about the
streets in their fancy red and black uniforms,
growing daily more menacing to the foreigners
they passed, until finally several incipient riots
occurred which resulted in one foreigner having
several ribs broken and others being assaulted,
so that a few of the foreign ministers united
and requested that his army corps be removed
some distance from the capital. The Empress
agreed reluctantly to this, but only sent them a
little over a hundred li away.

26 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Tung, early after his arrival, made the ac-
quaintance of Prince Tuan, a stupid, ignorant
Manchu, who soon became his complete tool.
The question of a successor to the sickly Empe-
ror, Kuang Hsu, had been discussed for several
years, as he had as yet no issue, and seemed
likely at any time to die childless. The sons of
Tuan, of Duke Lan, and of Prince Lien were
all considered eligible, and from amongst them
must be chosen the future Emperor of China.

Tung saw that Tuan would become his tool
much more completely than either of the others,
and proposed an alliance between Tuan's son
and a daughter of his own, agreeing to support
the younger Tuan's candidacy for the throne,
with his whole army, if necessary, to accomplish
the purpose. Tuan agreed to this, but stated
the succession must be made without its being
known that he was under obligations to favor
Tung's daughter, but that when an apparently
open competition for selection of an empress
was made, and the various eligible damsels
appeared at the court, Tung's daughter should
arrive from Kansu in time and be the favored
recipient.

On this understanding everything became
smooth sailing, and the consummation of their
plans, as far as Tuan's interest was concerned,
occurred, when in solemn conclave of all the

BARGAIN WITH TUAN

princes of the blood and great ministers of
state, on January 24, 1900, Pu Chun, son of
Prince Tuan, was solemnly named as successor
to the previous emperor, Tung Chih ; and poor

CHINESE STATESMEN

A group of Chinese officials of the highest class ; in Peking,
previous to the Siege.

sickly little Kuang Hsu was succeeded without
a successor to himself, but a successor to his
uncle being appointed, which, by imperial edict,
makes him an interloper.

28 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

This was a nice piece of vengeance the Em-
press Dowager worked out, partly to avenge
herself on her nephew for his unsuccessful at-
tempt to shelve her and run his government
himself. Tung's intensely anti-foreign senti-
ments soon made him many friends at court,
among the oldest and most conservative Man-
chus, as well as some of the Chinese. But it
was among the former that his influence was
greatest.

Many of these men, stupid in the extreme,
and too cowardly themselves ever to have orig-
inated any of the designs that have since been
worked out, joyfully fell in with the plans in-
spired by his ambition for his own success, but
always put forward as for the salvation of his
country.

Hsu Ting, Kang Yi, Ch'i Shin, Ch'ung Ch'i,
Ch'ung Li, Na T'ung, and Li Ping Heng be-
came his warmest friends and admirers, and
formed a cabal which soon controlled the entire
administration of government. By Tung's direc-
tion all important offices, as they became vacant,
or could be readily made so, were to be filled
by the Manchu friends of the cabal or, if Chi-
nese, as rarely occurred, then a Chinese who
was of their own set and their own creature.
This gave them a powerful patronage under
their disposal in the lucrative taotaiships and

MANCHUS IN POWER

other posts formerly more or less evenly divided
between Manchu and Chinese, but now almost
entirely limited to Manchus.

Kang Yi was sent on a mission southward
through all the provinces to extort money to

BRIDGE AT WAN SHOA SHAN, NEAR PEKING

That the Chinese appreciate the picturesque, both in situation
and in architecture, is shown in this picture.

raise more armies, as well as to feel the pulse
of the people in regard to, and encourage them
in, their anti-foreign tendencies. Li Ping Heng
was sent to examine and report on all the de-
fenses of the Yangtze valley, as well as to
denounce any official of progressive tendencies.
Yu Hsien was to succeed the latter as Governor
of Shantung, and to sow in that province the
seeds of disorder and riot that yielded such a
bitter crop when they ripened ; just as only
a poorly- organized, semi - patriotic, but fully

30 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

looting society could do — an organization that
was to be called the I Ho Ch'uan or Boxer
organization.

This programme has been fully carried out,
and what the result has been will be described
in part only (as we in the north only know
part) in the following chapters.

CHAPTER II

YU HSIEN APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF SHANTUNG, REMOVED
BY BRITISH DEMANDS, ONLY TO BE REWARDED— TUAN-
SHIH KAI SUCCEEDS HIM — CAUSES OF HATRED OF CON-
VERTS BT PEOPLE AND BOXERS— THE BOXERS AND
THEIR TENETS— THE EMPRESS CONSULTS ASTROLOGERS

W-

ITH the appoint-
ment of the Man-
chu Yu Hsien as
Governor of Shantung
province, to be the suc-
cessor to the anti-foreign
Li Ping Heng, whose
removal the Germans
had succeeded in effect-
ing, commenced the
governmental recogni-
tion of the Boxers' so-
ciety as an agent to
expel missionaries, merchants, and diplomats
alike. This man, whose hatred of foreigners
exceeded that of his predecessor, was no sooner
in office than he caused the literati all over the
province to revive among the masses the "Great
Sword" and "Boxer" organizations, which had
been a bit shaken by the removal of their en-
courager, Li Ping Heng.

(3O

HSU CHING CHENG
Ex-minister to Germany, mem-
ber of Tsung-li-yamen. Beheaded
Aug. 9, for favoring peace.

32 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

The foreign residents of Shantung, who had
hoped the new government would be an im-
provement over the old, soon found they were
worse off than before. The native Christians
were persecuted most bitterly by their heathen
neighbors, and their complaints at the yamens
treated with disdain.

Yu Hsien did his work thoroughly and rapidly,
knowing the foreign power which had compelled
the removal of Li Ping Heng would also cause
his removal. But as he was only placed in Shan-
tung for the deliberate purpose of making trou-
ble, his removal would mean for him a better
post as the reward of his success.

This came when the " Boxers " of Chianfu
prefecture attacked and murdered a young mis-
sionary of the Church of England named Brookes,
who was traveling from Chianfu city to his station
of P'ingyin.

The British government demanded his re-
moval from office, and the Chinese government
acquiesced; but their treatment of him upon his
arrival in Peking alone would have sufficed for
an intelligent observer to make clear the policy
of the Empress without any other confirmatory
evidence, abundance of which, however, was not
lacking.

Instead of being reprimanded, we find him
granted immediate audience with the Empress,

YU SENT TO SHANSI 33

and the next day's Court Gazette informed an
astonished world that the Empress had written
with her own brush the character "Fu," happi-
ness, and conferred it upon him publicly. Then
followed his appointment as Governor of Shansi,
a rich mineral province in which the "Peking
Syndicate," an Anglo-Italian company promoted
by Lord Rothschild, held valuable concessions.
In this province, too, were the long -worked
missionary establishments of the American Board
(Congregationalist) and the China Inland Mis-
sions.

The Chinese all understood this as an appre-
ciative approval from the Empress, and so, too,
did all the older foreign residents ; but the diplo-
matic corps, beyond a feeble remonstrance from
the British and United States ministers, did noth-
ing. So, to-day Yu Hsien is pursuing in Shansi
the same policy he did in Shantung, the results
of which must turn out similarly.

The Empress appointed as successor to Yu
Hsien the man who had turned traitor to the
unfortunate young Emperor, Kuang Hsu, Yuan-
shih Kai. This man is well known to foreign-
ers. He was formerly Chinese resident at Seoul,
and it was largely due to him that the China-
Japan war occurred. After the war he was made
commanding-general of a force of foreign-drilled
troops stationed at Hsiao Chan, south of Tientsin,
c

34 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Yuan is one of the shrewdest and most un-
scrupulous men of China, and the Empress, in
rewarding him by this appointment for his ser-
vice to her in making known the Emperor's pur-
pose to send her into captivity, gave power to a
man who would desert her, when it suited him,
as quickly as he had the weak, but well-meaning,
Emperor.

Yuan, upon his arrival in Shantung, found
himself in a difficult position. If he encouraged
the Boxers he would make enemies of the for-
eigners. If he was severe with the Boxers he
would be removed by the Empress, influenced
as she was by General Tung Fu Hsiang and
his cabal.

Being a man of great wealth and having a
perfect knowledge of the situation, he steered a
course that would obviate his striking on either
rock. He subscribed to the Boxer organiza-
tions where they obeyed him, and punished
them where they were refractory, and soon had
Shantung, which was in a ferment when he took
charge, fairly well in hand.

He gave it to be understood that they would,
in time, be able to exterminate foreigners ; but
they must patiently drill and practice gymnastics
until such time as he considered that they had
reached perfection, and must not on any account
injure a foreigner too early, as it would bring

ENCOURAGEMENT TO BOXERS 35

down trouble before the government was pre-
pared to meet it. At the same time he allowed
them to pillage and murder the native Chris-
tians freely, well knowing this would please the
Court, and would not be actively taken up by
the foreign powers as an infringement of treaty-
rights, which it certainly was.

Evidently his idea was, too, that Tung Fu
Hsiang's plan to drive out and exterminate all
foreigners was an entirely impossible one, and
that if he could keep his province from com-
mitting any overt act that would lead to a foreign
war, for a year's time, the Chihli authorities, all
the Manchus, and Tung Fu Hsiang himself
would have brought on the war and ruined
themselves, while he. Yuan, would then have a
chance to cut loose from the conservatives, and
come to the front in the new regime, which
must come, as a reformer. That he will do this
I fearlessly prophesy.

The Boxer organization was not started by
Tung Fu Hsiang, but was, by his advice, given
imperial sanction and infused with new life and
activity. A similar organization, known in olden
times in China under the same name, was a
volunteer militia for national defense. The re-
cent revival has not only been for defense, but
to exterminate the Christian religion and the
people who brought it.

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

A MONGOLIAN LLAMA
Great learning is possessed, according to the Chinese standard,
by these priests. The young student or candidate on the left is
receiving instruction.

That the Chinese people have much to com-
plain of from the aggressive attitude of many
native Christians, and particularly the Roman
Catholic Christians, no sane man will deny. For
years it has been the practice of the priests and
of many of the Protestant missionaries to assist
their converts in lawsuits against the heathens,

CAUSE OF DISLIKE OF CONVERTS 37

and to exert an unjust influence in their behalf.
To "get even" with an enemy it is only neces-
sary for a convert to tell his priest or pastor
that he has been persecuted in some way for
his religious belief, to induce the missionary to
take up the cudgel in his defense. I have
heard heathen Chinese often assert that these
men (converts) appear good enough to their
priests, who see very little of their ordinary be-
havior, but behind the father's back they are
overbearing and malicious to all their neighbors,
who hate them because they fear them.

After years of residence in China, I have
come to the conclusion that it has been a mis-
take of the Powers to insert in their treaties
provisions making the preaching of Christianity
a treaty-right, in spite of Chinese objection.
Nearly all of the riots in China have come from
attempts to force the Chinese officials to stamp
deeds conveying property to missionaries for
residences or chapels. The animosity incurred in
forcing a missionary establishment upon an in-
terior city, town, or village is not obliterated in
a lifetime. It may be barely tolerated in time of
peace, only to be demolished when the country
is disturbed. This applies to the China that has
been — barbarian, uncivilized China.

Should the reformers come into power, and
religious toleration be granted as the result of

38 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

civilization, then there would be no reason why
the missionaries should not work in the more
remote parts of the empire; but China, as it has
been and is, would be much more peaceful for
all concerned if the proselyting work was car-
ried on only in the treaty ports. I don't expect
any of the missionary body to agree to this state-
ment, but doubtless many of their supporters,
thinking people, who will take the trouble to
reason it out, will believe it, supported as it is
by the testimony of all the residents of China
acquainted with the problem. There are many
reasons for the Chinaman's hatred of the for-
eigners, but his religion is the chief one.

In the late riots the railways have been at-
tacked and destroyed, but that came only after
a half-year's successful campaign against the con-
verts had led them to want to root out the people
who brought both the religion and the railways.
While I am a Christian myself, and would gladly
see China a Christian nation, I cannot help see-
ing that the policy which has been pursued in
forcing Christianity upon the Chinese, in the ag-
gressive manner we have, practically at the point
of the sword, has not been a success, and has
given to such men as Tung Fu Hsiang a power-
ful argument with which to persuade his igno-
rant followers to exterminate alike the foreigner
and his converts.

BOXERS AND THEIR TENETS

INDIVIDUAL EXAMINATION ROOMS FOR CIVIL SERVICE DEGREES

A remarkable feature of Chinese social and political customs
is the method of selection for public office. The candidates for
examination are installed in the little rooms or houses shown in
this picture; a supply of water is placed in the large jars at the
entrance, and the candidate is expected, regardless of the pangs of
hunger, to remain constantly in this little room until he shall have
passed this examination, which sometimes lasts two or three days.

The Boxers are principally of two sorts : the
ignorant villager and the city loafer or vagabond.
The first easily becomes a fanatical enthusiast ;
the latter has joined simply to obtain loot. When

40 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

it became an assured fact that the Empress
sanctioned the movement the ranks were rapidly
filled, because rewards and preferment were held
out as inducements to serve, and the majority of
China's population, being poverty-stricken in the
extreme, would join any movement that promised
an increased income. The Boxer headquarters
was the palace of Prince Tuan in Peking. From
this place emissaries were sent with instructions;
first into Shantung and afterward throughout
Chihli, to cooperate with the already-existing se-
cret societies, as well as to organize new com-
panies. Every city, town, and village was visited,
the head men consulted, and the young men and
boys enrolled.

Their gymnastic exercises, from which they
derive their name, were taught them, and they
were promised that when they had attained per-
fection they would be given service under the
Empress with good pay and rapid promotion.
They were told that if they would go regularly
through the ceremonies prescribed every day,
in from three to six months they would acquire
indomitable courage, and would be invulner-
able to bullets and sword-cuts, and that the
youngest child would be a match for a grown
man of the uninitiated. That thousands believed
this nonsense there is no doubt; and thousands
of little boys from ten years of age upward

PREMATURE UPRISING 41

eagerly enrolled. The exercise consisted of bow-
ing low to the ground, striking the forehead
into the earth three times each toward the east,
then south, then throwing themselves upon their
backs and lying motionless for several minutes,
after which they would throw themselves from
side to side a number of times, and, finally
rising, go through a number of posturings, as
though warding off blows and making passes at
an enemy. As a uniform they were given a red
turban, a red sash to cross the chest, and red
"tae tzio," or wide tape, to tie in the trousers
at the ankle.

The time set for their uprising was fixed for
the Chinese eighth moon, seventeenth day, be-
ing two days after the annual "harvest festival,"
or pa yueh chieh. The premature explosion of
the movement was not anticipated by those who
originated it, but it is largely due to its going
oflf at half-cock, so to speak, that enabled the
Powers to combat it so readily after they were
aware of its existence as a real government
agency.

Doubtless the government intended before that
time to give arms and ammunition to all grown
men; but, in the first place, they were to arm
themselves with swords and spears only. They
were told, among other things, that at the time
of their uprising myriads of regiments of angelic

42 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

soldiers would descend from the skies to assist
them in their righteous war against foreigners.

The Empress herself believed this story as well
as the possibility of their being invulnerable to
foreign bullets. She is exceedingly superstitious,
and in the early part of May consulted the Chi-
nese planchette to read her destiny. Two blind
men, holding the instrument under a silk screen,
wrote in the prepared sand underneath the fol-
lowing message from the spiritual world :

"Ta Chieh Lin T'ou
Hung Hsieh Hung Liu
Pai Ku Ch'ung Ch'ung
Chin Tsai Chin Ch'in
Tan Kan

T'ieh Ma Tung Hsi Tscu
Shui Shih Shui Fei
Ts'ai pai shiu."

The interpretation of this would read in English :

"The millennium is at hand;
Blood will flow like a deluge;
Bleaching bones everywhere
Will this autumn time be seen.
Moreover, the iron horse
Will move from east to west;
Who's right and who's wrong
Will then be clearly established."

The millennium is used by the Chinese as a
critical period in a cycle of years. The iron

LOOTING FOREIGNERS

horse is supposed to mean war. The Empress
understood this to mean that in the war which
she intended to commence it would be clearly
shown by her success that she was right.

A GROUP OF PROMINENT CHINESE OFFICIALS
These men are connected with the Tsung-li-yamen.

The Boxers, however, completely spoiled all
her plans by their eagerness to obtain loot.
Being promised the spoil of the foreigners after
the contemplated uprising in the eighth moon,

44 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

they regarded the property of the Christians
and their teachers as already mortgaged to
them; and, fearful lest the government troops
would acquire some of it, they commenced the
campaign themselves before the appointed time.
How the government at first made feeble efforts
to restrain them, and afterward completely gave
in and joined with them is now a matter of
history.

The monumental idiocy of the idea that
China could successfully defy the whole civil-
ized world was only possible to such brains as
those possessed by the densely ignorant Man-
chus who surrounded the Empress as her cabi-
net. Several of the tsung-li-yamen ministers,
like Prince Ch'ing and Liao Shou Heng,
weakly tried to reason them out of it, and
were promptly given back seats.

Of the others remaining in the tsung-li-yamen
after their retirement, none dared say anything
against the movement for fear they also would
be shelved. But as they were not strong enough
to please the Empress in her final dealings with
the foreigners, she, a few days before the com-
mencement of the siege, appointed Prince Tuan
as head of the yamen, in place of Prince Ch'ing,
and at the same time appointed two fire-eating
foreign-haters, Chi Shui and Na T'ung, to seats
in that obstructive body. These men, with Tung

RESPONSIBILITY FOR DEATHS 45

Fu Hsiang and the cabinet, must be held re-
sponsible for the murders of Baron von Ketteler,
F. Huberty James, David Oliphant, H. Warren,
Ed Wagner, and the other civilians and guards
killed during the siege, as well as for many mis-
sionaries in the province that have doubtless per-
ished, but of whose fate we, being besieged, had
no certain knowledge.

That the Powers, in the settlement of their
crimes, will treat them as murderers, as they are,
we can scarcely doubt, and we hope none of
them in any way implicated will be allowed to
escape capital punishment.

CHAPTER III

CABLES TO AMERICA DESCRIBING GROWTH OF BOXER MOVE-
MENT FROM JANUARY TO JUNE, igoo

CHUNG LI
Manchu Boxer Chief

HE murder of the
Church of England
missionary, Brookes,
in Chinanfu prefecture,
Shantung province, by
the Boxers, was the be-
ginning of the explosion.
On January 4, 1900, I
cabled home the occur-
rence of the murder.
On January 5 I cabled
that the Americans in Taianfu, two days' jour-
ney by cart south of the scene of the murder,
were in danger, and that the United States
minister had requested that they be protected;
also that the Empress Dowager had expressed
to Sir Claude MacDonald, through the tsung-
li-yamen, her horror at the deed, and from
thenceforth, under the respective dates given
below, I sent cables recording the Boxer prog-
ress.

January 13. Christians in Shantung are being
constantly pillaged by marauding parties of Box-

(46)

DISPATCHES HOME " 47

ers. The Taianfu district is especially dangerous,
as the prefect will not allow them to be interfered
with. Dr. Smith, of Pang Chuang, in northern
Shantung, has also written and telegraphed the
United States legation that matters in his district
are in the same condition. Christians murdered,
chapels burned and looted, and no redress obtain-
able from the officials.

January 15. An imperial edict was issued yes-
terday which really commends the Boxers, and is
sure to cause trouble. Upon Baron von Ketteler
representing this to the tsung-li-yamen he was
given no satisfactory answer to account for it.

January 24. Boxer movement is rapidly spread-
ing, and the situation fills many with alarm. Prince
Tuan's son has been chosen as the successor to
the Emperor, which is an unfavorable omen.

January 25. An edict has been promulgated
apparently from the Emperor, but really from the
Empress Dowager, stating that, because of his
childless condition and infirm health, he has de-
cided for the good of the state to appoint Pu
Chun, son of Prince Tuan, as his successor.

February 5. Although the Boxer movement
continues to increase in the northern provinces,
Peking remains quiet.

February 10. The anti - foreign crusade is
proceeding apace. Jung Lu, Hsu Tung and
Kang Yi have assumed great power, and are con-

48 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

stantly with the Empress. The Boer successes in
the Transvaal are being used to show the masses
that a very little country can defy a big govern-
ment if only the hearts of the people are in the
struggle. British prestige here declining rapidly
as a consequence. A Boxer mob has attacked the
Germans building the railway in Shantung, and
driven the foreigners away from their work. As
Baron von Ketteler insists upon their going 'on
with the work, the tsung-li-yamen finds it diffi-
cult to please both the throne and the foreigners.

February 12. A letter received from a Presby-
terian missionary in Chinanfu states that over sev-
enty families of Christians have been mobbed and
looted in his district, and that they can obtain
no redress from the local officials, and that the
Boxers, knowing this, are rapidly increasing and
growing bolder.

February 15. Imperial edict orders the sus-
pension of any native papers showing reform ten-
dency, and the editors to be imprisoned.

February 19. The annual audience with the
foreign ministers took place with most scant cere-
mony and in a shabby apartment. This was done
with the direct purpose of insulting them, but
none remonstrated.

February 23. A French priest from Tientsin
informs me that all that district is pervaded by
the Boxers, who openly avow they are drilling to

BOLDNESS OF BOXERS 49

come to Peking and drive out and exterminate
all foreigners,

February 25. Several thousand armed Boxers
have possession of the German railway building
at Kaomi in Shantung, and state their purpose
is to drive out the foreigner.

February 28. Yuan Shih Kai, Governor of
Shantung, has sent a private messenger, an ex-
drillmaster in his army corps, to Baron von
Ketteler, the German minister, to say he will
disperse the Boxers at Kaomi and restore quiet.

March 14. The man who obtained for the
British syndicate the concession known as the
Peking syndicate's Shansi concessions to mine
and build railways, was arrested for assisting for-
eigners to obtain concessions in China. Upon
Sir Claude MacDonald's demanding his release,
the Empress promptly sentenced him to impris-
onment for life. This will deter others from
helping foreigners in any capacity.

March 15. United States Minister Conger,
having protested against the Empress using Yu
Hsien, ex-governor of Shantung, in any province
where American interests are great, is greatly
displeased to learn to-day that, so far from heed-
ing, the Empress has actually appointed him
Governor of Shansi, in which are not only a
number of American missionary stations, but the
interests of the Peking syndicate.

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

ANCIENT ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS
These peculiar instruments, which are of great astronomical
merit, were made during the reign of Kublai Khan, A. D. 1264.
An especial interest attaches to this illustration, on account of the at-
tempt of the Germans to remove these instruments to Berlin, and the
protest made against it by General Chaffee, of the U.S. Army. The
engraving shows the instruments just as they were used for hun-
dreds of years, before they were taken apart for removal to Europe.

April 24. Boxers aggregating nearly 10,000
have collected in one place near Paotingfu, and
are very disorderly. The outlook is very threat-
ening, not only there but at Tungchow, thirteen

ALARM AND WARNING 51

miles south of Peking, and at Tsunhua, to the
east of Peking. At all these places there are
large American missionary stations.

May 17. Boxer movement has now assumed
definite shape and alarming proportions. They
have destroyed several Catholic villages east of
Paotingfu, and are moving on the property of the
American Board's mission at Choochow at Kung
Tsun. They have also looted the London mission's
premises, and killed several Christians. Boxers are
now daily to be seen practicing in Peking and the
suburbs. Situation is growing serious here.

May 18. I have been warned by one of the
princes that I should take my family from Pe-
king, as he states his own elder brother is a
Boxer, and that foreigners are no longer safe in
Peking. Have fully informed the United States
minister of the situation, but he believes the offi-
cial promises that all is well.

May 21. Foreign ministers have held a meet-
ing and discussed question of bringing legation
guards to Peking. The French minister favored
this, but Conger opposed, stating he believed
the government resolutely means to suppress the
Boxers. No action was taken, it being decided
to await further developments.

May 24. The tsung-li-yamen has not yet re-
plied to the joint note sent them by the foreign
ministers four days ago, requesting that the Box-

52 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

ers be dealt with summarily. Unless an imme-
diate and vigorous foreign pressure is applied, a
general uprising*is sure.

May 25. General Yang was killed at Ting-
hsing, Hsien, near Paotingfu, either by his own
soldiers or the Boxers. The soldiers then joined
the Boxers.

May 26. The tsung-li-yamen has sent a vague
and temporizing reply to the foreign ministers'
demand requiring the suppression of the Boxers.
They are now regularly enrolled at the residences
of several of the princes in this city.

May 28, A. M. The foreign ministers held
another meeting to-day, but still deferred any ac-
tion looking toward defense, as the tsung-li-yamen
promises that it will shortly issue a strong edict
that will suppress the Boxers. Pichon distrusts
the Chinese promises and again advocates strong
legation guards.

May 28, 4.10 P. M. Boxers have burned the
bridge and destroyed the track at Liuliho, forty-
five miles west of Peking, on the Lu Han railway,
and are advancing toward Marco Polo bridge,
twelve miles from here. The foreigners employed
on the railway have all fled. The Tientsin train
is overdue, and our communication with the coast
threatened. The legations are just beginning to
wake up to the fact that the Boxer movement is
a perilous one.

PERIL CLOSE AT HAND

May 29. At last it has come to our very door.
Not only Liuliho and Changhsintien, on the Lu
Han railroad, have been destroyed, but the junc-
tion at Fengtai, only six miles from here, has

FAMOUS ARCH OF THE MING TOMBS

A celebrated traveler has said that it was worth encircling the
earth to see this beautiful piece of architecture. Were it in the
middle of Paris or New York, it would arouse great admiration
and wonder; but, situated as it is in the midst of a wild and bar-
ren landscape, with huge mountains for a background, and repre-
senting as it does, the burial place of a mighty dynasty that for
ages ruled a stupendous nation, it fills the beholder not only with
wonder and admiration, but with awe

been attacked, looted, and burned, and all the
foreign employes have fled to Tientsin. The for-
eign ministers now want guards badly, but, as it
is not yet known whether the railroad is torn up

54 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

at Fengtai, there is no certainty of getting them
quickly. The fate of a large party of French
and Belgian women and children, known to re-
side at Changhsintien, is not known. Legation
street is crowded with villainous-looking ruffians
congregating to loot if opportunity offers. Until
troops arrive the situation is precarious.

May 30. The tsung-li-yamen has requested
the foreign ministers not to bring troops, assur-
ing them they are not necessary; but the situation
here has at last impressed them, and they have
disregarded the yamen and ordered up guards
at once. The populace are quite excited, and
only need a slight cause to break out.

May 30, P. M. Viceroy of Chihli has forbid-
den guards taking train at Tientsin. Fifteen
warships are reported at Taku.

May 31. Viceroy of Chihli has been ordered
by the yamen to allow guards to take train for
Peking, but requested ministers to bring only
small guards, as last year. Troops have arrived.

June I. Populace seems cowed and sullen.
Riots in the city may now be prevented, but the
problem of dealing with the movement is one
requiring active diplomatic effort.

June 2. Station buildings south of Paotingfu
on the Lu Han railway have been burned, and
railroad destroyed. Party of thirty Belgians, in-
cluding women and children, attempted to escape

MISSIONARIES SLAIN 55

to Tientsin, and were attacked by Boxers. Sev-
eral known to be killed ; fate of remainder un-
known. Said to be surrounded when their native
interpreter left to obtain help. Native Christians
of the American Board's mission at Choochow,
and the American Presbyterian mission at Kuan-
hsien, are pouring steadily into Peking, to escape
murder at the hands of the Boxers. All their
houses have been looted and burned.

June 2, 8 P. M. Serious dissension among
Chinese ministers, Prince Ching favoring mod-
eration and suppression of the Boxers. He is
said to be secretly supported in this by Jung Lu
and the tsung-li-yamen. Prince Tuan, supported
by Hsu Tung, Kang Yi, and other intensely anti-
foreign ministers, is favoring the Boxer move-
ment. A crisis is imminent.

June 3. Church of England missionaries
Robinson and Norman killed at Yungching by
Boxers, and their chapels looted and burned.
Boxers now have entire control of country from
Tientsin to Paotingfu, and thence northeastward
to Peking; native troops make no effort to sup-
press them. All religious and missionary work m
North China is ended unless treaty powers com-
pel observance of treaty provisions, and demand
indemnities for each and every infringement.

June 4. Native converts from the west of
Peking report that many thousand Boxers are

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

assembling at Choochow preparing to attack the
foreigners and converts in Peking. The mis-
sionaries are convinced of the truth of this, and
have informed their legations, who will not be-
lieve it. Dr. Taylor, of the American Presby-

CHINESE LITTER

A typical method of Chinese conveyance. The litter is sup-
ported by poles to the backs of two animals, one in front, the
other behind ; in it the traveler can make himself comfortable.
Beyond are the massive tombs of the Ming Dynasty, the famous
arches of which are shown elsewhere.

terian mission at Paotingfu, telegraphed to the
American minister: "We are safe at present,
but prospects threatening."

June 4 (afternoon). Morning train arrived
from Tientsin four hours late, owing to burning

DESTRUCTION — UNCERTAINTY 57

of bridge and destruction of station building at
Huangtsun by Boxers. Noon train now overdue,
and, as the telegraph wires have been cut, is
unheard from. Unless foreign troops are imme-
diately placed to guard the railway we shall be
cut off from help by way of the sea.

June 5. The American missionaries in Pao-
tingfu have been attacked, and have wired for
help. The tsulig-li-yamen, when appealed to by
United States minister, said it would telegraph
the local officials to do so. But unless a relief
party rescues them speedily their fate is certain
death.

June 5, P. M. American Methodist mission at
Tsunhua, with twelve children and four women,
are beset and have wired for help. Trains from
Tientsin have ceased to arrive ; we are sending
a courier overland with mails.

June 6. United States consul at Tientsin has
wired the minister here that the Tientsin native
city is in great excitement, and the situation is
very serious ; he advised that no women or chil-
dren attempt to enter Tientsin from Peking, as
they could not get through. Fate of Paotingfu
missionaries unknown, as we can get no tele-
grams through.

June 6, P. M. United States consul wires from
Tientsin that the situation there is growing stead-
ily worse ; an attack is imminent. Here in Pe-

58 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

king we are all collecting in the legations, but
have insufficient arms and ammunition. Never-
theless we will make a determined stand.

June 7. I have overwhelming evidence that
government officials are the real causes of the
Boxer movement, acting under the direction of
the Empress. Therefore the tsung-li-yamen and
cabinet are supporting this movement, which is
intended to exterminate all foreigners and Chris-
tian converts. The senile cabinet has persuaded
the Empress this is possible, and they are quite
willing to face the inevitable foreign war that
their policy entails. The imbecility of this idea
does not in any way interfere with the facts. The
foreign powers should all prepare for war at once,
or entrust the work to those powers nearest and
best fitted to successfully undertake it. The
sooner this is done the less will be the loss of
life and property. The tsung-li-yamen yesterday
promised Sir Claude MacDonald, through the
secretary of Prince Ching, that if the foreign
ministers would not press for a personal audience
with the Empress, as they intended doing. Prince
Ching would guarantee the restoration of the
interrupted railway in two days, and a general
amelioration of the condition of affairs. Another
useless edict was put out to-day mildly enjoining
officials to distinguish between good and bad
Boxers, and punish only the bad.

FLIGHT TO PEKING

June 7, P. M. Twenty converts have been
murdered at Huangtsun, thirteen miles south.
Missionaries at Tungchow have decided to aban-
don their valuable compound, and have tele-
graphed the United States minister to send them

Hsii Yung 1 Wang; Chao Shu Conger Yu Keng
Beheaded Wen Chiao U.S. Minister to

Aug. 9, igoo. Shao. Boxer Chief. Minister. Paris.

A group in front of the American Legation

a guard of marines to escort the women and
children to Peking. This compound contains a
valuable college, and will inevitably be burned.

June 8. Tungchow missionaries have arrived
safely in Peking. Two other stations on the
Tientsin railway, Lofa and Langfang, have been

6o BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

burned, as well as the college compound at Tung-
chow. Tsung-li - yamen has refused to allow a
reinforcement of the legation guards now in Pe-
king. Although thirty warships of all nationali-
ties are at Taku, Peking is completely isolated.
Why America, after Secretary Hay's much vaunted
open-door policy, should allow her representative
to be denied sufficient guard for the safety of
himself and his countrymen is something one
cannot comprehend, unless the representative has
not kept his government well informed.

June 8, P. M. Most alarming situation. Mis-
sionaries from all compounds in this city com-
pelled to abandon their homes and seek refuge
in the Methodist mission, which is nearer the
legations, being a half mile east of the United
States legation. They have a few shotguns and
very little ammunition, and are surrounded by
their terrified converts, who have fled with them.
Prince Ching's promise of restored railway has
proved false. The foreign ministers now realize
they have been fooled again, and have lost two
days' valuable time. We call upon our govern-
ment to make haste and rescue our wives and
families quickly or it will be too late.

June 9. Emperor and Empress return to-day
to the city from the summer palace. Another
futile edict has been put out to further delude
the foreign ministers. It is known that Prince

UNITED STATES URGED TO ACT 6i

Ching has expostulated with the cabinet, but to
no purpose.

June 9, P. M. United States Minister Conger
has sent in all twenty marines to assist the Meth-
odist mission compound in their defense. Still
no word from Paotingfu missionaries.

June lo. Five hundred marines and sailors
left Tientsin to relieve us. They can get as far
as Anting, twenty miles south of here, by train,
and will then have to march the remainder of
the distance. If prompt they should arrive to-
morrow. Methodist mission is fortifying the
place with strong brick walls and barbed wire.

After this telegram I was notified that the
wires south were cut, and sent only one message
more, on July 12, by way of Kiachta, relating
the murder of the Japanese secretary and urging
prompt government action looking to our rescue.

The history of the growth of the Boxer move-
ment seems to me to have been clearly shown
by these telegrams, so that any one of ordinary
understanding could have been, by June i, if in
possession of this series of dispatches, fully
acquainted with the situation.

The United States minister, the British minis-
ter, and the French minister were each acquainted
with all the above major facts and much more
minor detail.

CHAPTER IV

DIARY OF THE AUTHOR FROM JUNE i TO JUNE 20

CHAO SHU CHIAO
Boxer Member of Cabinet

HE following tran-
scription of my diary
gives the principal
events in the situation
up to the date of the
close siege, going back
a little in point of time
from the last chapter.

June I. After three
days of exciting mental
strain, we can at last
breathe easier. Rumors continue to fill the air of
plots within the palace, riots against the Catholic
cathedral, railway being torn up between here
and Tientsin, etc. But the solid fact remains that
a few foreign guards have arrived at six lega-
tions, and a machine gun will now have some-
thing to say in one's behalf if the excited
populace's thirst for foreign blood becomes too
pressing.

With the exception of M. Pichon, the French
minister, all the other ministers are greatly to
blame for their tardy recognition of the impend-
ing trouble, and they have very nearly had the

(62)

MINISTERS SLOW TO BELIEVE 63

odium of a preventible foreign massacre to an-
swer for.

Sir Claude MacDonald, for whom the entire
English community outside his legation feel, and
have openly expressed, the greatest contempt,
would not believe that there was any danger
coming, and vigorously opposed Pichon's advice
that the troops be sent for ten days ago.

Mr. Conger seconded Sir Claude, partly be-
cause the United States legation quarters are so
limited that the second secretary and his wife
are obliged to live in two rooms over the main
office building, and partly because he believed
the government willing and capable of putting
down the disorder. Both were suddenly con-
verted when Fengtai, only six miles away, was
burned, and the Boxers were reported marching
unopposed upon Peking. Then the most excit-
ing telegraphing for warships to come to Taku,
and guards and machine guns to come to Peking,
became the order of the day.

Had the Boxers been at all organized they
could have torn up the track for a mile or two
at Fengtai, and effectually cut oflf the troops
from arriving in time to prevent any city riots.
Fortunately, they seem to have been carried away
by the desire to loot, and after they had carried
ofif all the furniture and belongings of the eight
foreign residences at Fengtai, and robbed the

64 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Empress' private car of all movable property,
they were content to set fire to the stations and
machine shops, and then clear out home to the
adjoining villages.

June 4. None of the Boxers have been pun-
ished, and they have grown bolder, burning the
next station below Fengtai, known as Huangtsun,
thirteen miles from Peking, killing two Church
of England missionaries named Robinson and
Norman at Yungching, and defeating a force of
Cossacks sent out from Tientsin to search for the
surviving Belgians escaping from the Lu Han
railway. In spite of this, and with seventeen
men-of-war at Tangku, the foreign ministers, be-
sides bringing up each a guard of fifty or seventy-
five men to protect his own legation, are doing
nothing — that we can see at any rate — to pacify
the country. Why they don't land a large force,
come to Peking, and seize the old reprobates
that they all know are the real bosses of the
Boxer movement in Peking, and hold them re-
sponsible for any further movement, nobody
knows.

Every minister can tell you that Hsu Tung,
Kang Yi, Chung Li, Chung Chi, and Chao Shu
Chiao, with Prince Tuan, are the real causes of
all the present disorder. Although they all know
this, they still pretend to believe the assurances
of the government to the contrary. . . .

THRILLING EVENTS 65

June 13. Events have been too exciting to
allow of one sitting down quietly to write. The
missionaries from Tungchow, thirteen miles south
of Peking, have fled into this city, and all their
college plant, private residences, and property
have been destroyed by soldiers sent from the
taotai's yamen to protect them. All the Peking
missionaries have gathered together in the Meth-
odist mission compound, where, with such arms
as they could collect — a few shotguns, rifles, and
revolvers — and with a guard of twenty marines,
sent by Mr. Conger, United States minister, they
have fortified themselves with barbed wire and
brick fences, and are "holding the fort."

For days we have heard no word from our
Presbyterian missionaries at Paotingfu. The last
word, now some days since, which came through
the tsung-li-yamen and is therefore untrustworthy,
was that they were safe at present. Wires south
have been cut since the burning of the college
buildings at Tungchow, and I have been unable
to write home the developments daily occurring.

On the loth of June, just before the wires
were cut, we had a message from United States
Consul Ragsdale, saying eight hundred odd troops
were coming to our assistance, but to-day is the
fourth day since its receipt, and we only know
of their reaching Lofa, a burned station on the
railway to Tientsin, on Monday night. We have

66 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

been expecting them every hour since, but no
definite word of their arrival at any other place
has reached us. Why they don't send natives
in advance we can't imagine.

June 1 8. Eleven days v^e have been besieged
in Legation street. Our little guard of four hun-
dred and fifty marines and sailors of all national-
ities have kept unceasing watch night and day,
and are nearly exhausted. Eleven days ago we
were told that an army was marching to our re-
lief, and although they had only eight miles to
come we have not yet seen them, nor do we
know their whereabouts.

We have nightly repelled attacks of Boxers
and soldiers of the government, and have killed
in sorties over two hundred of them ; but we
have millions about us, and unless relieved must
soon succumb. Our messengers to the outside
world have been captured and killed, and our
desperate situation, while it may be guessed, can-
not be truly known.

With fifty men-of-war now at Taku we have
to remain within our barricaded streets and wit-
ness the destruction of all the mission premises
and private foreign residences on the outside.

The American Board mission's large property,
the two large Catholic cathedrals known as the
South cathedral and the East cathedral, the two
compounds of the American Presbyterian mis-

TIMES THAT TRY MEN'S SOULS 67

sion, the Society for Propagation of the Gospel
mission, the International Institute, and the Lon-
don mission have all furnished magnificent con-
flagrations, which we have beheld without being
able in any way to prevent.

At each place the furious Boxers, aided by
their soldier sympathizers, have murdered, with
shocking mutilation, all the gatekeepers as well
as any women and children in the neighborhood
suspected of being Christians or foreign sym-
pathizers.

At the South cathedral the massacre was shock-
ing; so much so that when some of the poor
mutilated children came fleeing across the city,
bringing the news of what was going on, a relief
party was organized from our little force, con-
sisting of twelve Russians, twelve American ma-
rines, and two civilians, W. N. Pethick and M.
Duysberg, armed with shotguns, who, risking
conflict with the Manchu troops, marched two
miles from our barricades and, coming on the
Boxers suddenly in the midst of the ruins, fired
a number of volleys into them, killing over sixty,
upon which the rest fled. They then collected
the women and children hidden in the surround-
ing alleys, and marched them back to us, where
they are for the present safe.

I have just finished dressing the wounded
head of a little girl ten years of age, who, in

68 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

spite of a sword cut four inches long in the back
of her head and two fractures of the outer table
of the skull, walked all the way back here, lead-
ing a little sister of eight and a brother of four.
As she patiently endured the stitching of the
wound, she described to me the murder of her
father and mother and the looting of her home.
One old man of sixty carried his mother of eighty
upon his back and brought her into temporary
safety; but how long before we are all murdered
we cannot say.

Our anxiety has been something frightful, and
at this moment, many days since we were told
that troops were coming to our relief, we are
apparently no nearer rescue than at first. We
can't comprehend it. Night before last, after
being driven away by our hot rifle fire, the Box-
ers turned on the defenseless shopkeepers in the
southern city, and burned many acres of the best
business places and native banks.

They also burned the great city gate, known
as the Chien Men, an imposing structure of many
stories high, which must have illuminated the
surrounding country for miles. Surely our troops
must have seen the glare, if they were within
forty miles of us. We begin to fear they have
met with an overwhelming force of Chinese sol-
diers, and have been driven back to Tientsin.

The tsung-li-yamen, or foreign office, is utterly

THE GREAT GATE

MAIN GATE TO PEKING, DESTROYED BY BOXERS SEPT. 16, 1900

This is one of Peking's main and most imposing gates. Notice
the massive building above the wall; note the solidity of the wall
itself; an idea of its great height can be formed by noticing how
small a proportion is occupied by the arch and yet how small a
proportion of the arch is actually required for the passing vehicles.

powerless, and yet it continues to send us mes-
sages stating it is going to protect us, and it has
the Empress issue daily edicts, which, while ap-
parently condemning the Boxers, really encour-
age them.

70 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

The Manchu soldiers have stood idly by in
thousands, and have seen the frightful butcheries
of converts and suspected converts, without rais-
ing a finger to interfere. When questioned why
they did not obey the edicts authorizing them to
repress arson and looting they have replied, "We
have other instructions."

Mauser bullets are nightly fired at our sen-
tries, and every night we have to turn out a
number of times to repel the cowardly natives,
whom we find sneaking down upon us, and who
dare attack only under cover of darkness.

The behavior of our women and children
under these circumstances has been remarkable,
and their courage and bravery above all praise.

Should these lines ever be published I wish
to make known to the world the great courage,
devotion, and constant watchfulness of Captain
John T. Myers, of the marine corps. We will
owe to him our lives and the lives of our loved
ones if we are ever rescued. His bravery and
endurance will, if he survives, mark him for high
command some day. While all the officers here
have acted well, yet he is head and shoulders
above them in coolness and decision, and all the
other nationalities come to him for advice and
counsel.

He is well seconded here by ex-Lieutenant
Herbert G. Squiers, Seventh United States Cav-

OUR SECRETARY OF LEGATION

airy, who is first secretary of legation. Had Mr.
Squiers been minister, we would never have been
in our present terrible situation, for he realized
the appalling nature of the threatened outbreak
while the ministers pooh-poohed it. As he could

HERBERT G. SQUIERS
First Secretary, United States Legation, Peking

not of his own initiative order up troops in time,
he laid in abundant stores of rice and other eata-
bles, and bought up all the wagons and ammu-
nition purchasable.

The blind trust the ministers (with the excep-

72 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

tion perhaps of M. Pichon) placed in the prom-
ises of the tsung-li-yamen, in the face of the
daily increasing riots and murder, is an instance
of childlike simplicity which I trust they may
never have an opportunity to repeat elsewhere.
The entire community here, of civilians and
military alike, condemn them as a set of incom-
petents.

They now, of course, all see their mistake in
being fooled by the tsung-li-yamen, and pre-
vented from bringing a sufficient force here
until the railroad was destroyed and hordes of
fierce Kansu ruffians placed in the way of ad-
vancing relief.

The marines of the Newark and Oregon, of
which we have fifty, that compose the entire
American force, are a sturdy lot of courageous,
devoted men. Sober, intelligent, cheerful, en-
during, all of them are as brave as lions. Ser-
geant Walker alone, at the South cathedral,
killed seven of the Boxers.

The district held by us is about a half-mile
east and west on Legation street, and is guarded
by blocking the streets at the Itahan legation on
the east and the Russian legation on the west.
At each barricade there is placed a machine gun.
A diagram of the ground held will be found
on another page. June 19, yesterday, the tsung-
li-yamen ministers (four of them) visited the

FAIR WORDS, BUT FALSE! 73

English, Russian, and American legations, and
begged the foreign ministers to persuade the
relief guards that we hope are coming to our
aid, to return, assuring them that from this time
on the Chinese would prevent any further Boxer
outrages on foreigners, and that legation prem-
ises should be safe. They also said the Empress
was now sure that the Boxer movement was a
menace to the government as well as the for-
eigners, and that the imperial troops would be
ordered to shoot every Boxer on sight. As all
the afternoon our sentinels on the city wall saw
Boxers in full regalia going at pleasure among
the native troops stationed about the ruined
Chien Men, we know that the tsung-li-yamen's
words were, as usual, a pack of lies.

A messenger arrived yesterday from Tientsin
from Mr. E. B. Drew, commissioner of customs,
to Dr. Morrison, of the London Times, stating
that the railroad had been destroyed in the rear
of the relief column, and they were being driven
back on Tientsin and away from us.

Surely our condition is desperate. Food is
getting scarce. Boxers are mixing openly with
the Chinese soldiers, our own soldier boys are
getting worn out by constant watching, and no
help is nigh.

July i8. On June 19, nearly a month ago
to-day, the tsung-li-yamen sent the foreign min-

74 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

isters word that, as the admirals at Taku had
notified the viceroy of Chihli through the French
consul if he opposed troops landing in any re-
quired numbers they would take the Taku forts,
and as this was really a declaration of war, the
foreign ministers were hereby requested to leave
Peking, one and all, within twenty-four hours,
and proceed to Tientsin en route to their re-
spective countries, a Chinese escort for which
was to be provided by the Chinese government.

As the railroad had already been destroyed
all the way to Tientsin, and the intended relief
corps under Admiral Seymour and Captain
McCalla had been driven back without being
able to reach us, and as we knew the country
between Peking and Tientsin was filled with
thousands of Boxers and hostile soldiers, it
seemed patent to the most simple intellect that
to leave the protection of our legation walls was
to invite massacre.

But the intensely dense ministers. Sir Claude
MacDonald, E. H. Conger, M. de Giers, M.
Pichon, and others, all excepting Baron von
Ketteler, the German minister, actually agreed
to proceed to Tientsin on the morrow with all
their nationals, providing only that the Chinese
government would furnish transportation. The
military officers all declared this would mean
the massacre of the entire community.

VON KETTELER'S DEATH 75

The ministers, however, would certainly have
had us all thus massacred had not the unfor-
tunate Baron von Ketteler been murdered the
next morning by the Chinese troops while pro-
ceeding to the tsung-li-yamen to consult about
details. He rode, as is customary, to the tsung-
li-yamen from his legation in a sedan chair.
When passing -the entrance of Tsung Pu street,
just below the yamen, he was fired upon by a
troop of Manchu troops of Yung Lu upon the
command of a lieutenant with a white button,
and was mortally wounded. His secretary inter-
preter, Mr. Corder, who accompanied him, was
also badly wounded by the volley, but, aided by
some friendly natives, managed to escape to the
Methodist mission near Legation street, where,
after having his wounds dressed, he was sent on
to his legation. The horse coolie had already
quickly galloped back to the legation and given
the alarm.

The folly of trusting our lives to the Chinese
escort was thus made clear, and the foreign
ministers, dense as they were, could not but
realize that to trust themselves and their families
to the tender mercies of the ruffians who would
be appointed to escort and murder them and
us, would be lunacy to a degree at which even
they were not yet arrived.

I had, in company with the correspondent of

76 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

the London "Times," early in the morning of
the 20th of June, in the most emphatic language,
represented the true state of the case to Min-
ister Conger, only to be met with the cold
reply, as he turned away after listening to us,
" I don't agree with you."

But on receipt of the news of Ketteler's
death, a few moments later, the United States
minister "changed his mind," and reluctantly
admitted it would be impossible to go to Tien-
tsin, and that we must try and defend ourselves
in Peking until a large relief force could arrive
to rescue us.

Hasty preparations were then made to send
all the women and children into the English
legation, which was the largest of all the lega-
tions, as well as the strongest, from which to
make a final stand.

In a few hours after the news of Von Kette-
ler's murder a steady stream of men, women,
and children, carrying bundles, buckets, and
trunks, could have been seen pouring into the
main gate of the British legation, all with anxious
faces. Carts, too, loaded with provisions from
the three foreign stores, were making the best
use of the time in transferring all the available
eatables and drinkables within the protection of
the legation walls.

As the twenty-four hours granted us in which

BESIEGED 77

to hasten from the city expired at 4 P. M., all
used their entire energy as well as that of the
coolies and servants at their disposal, so that at
the time specified, when the Chinese opened a
terrifying fire upon us from all sides, provisions
enough to last us several months were safely
under shelter.

CHAPTER V

DIARIES OF THE AUTHOR AND HIS SON FROM JUNE 20
ro END OF SIEGE

HSII YUNG I

Beheaded for favoring moderation

Member of Tsung-li-yamen

T four o'clock on
the afternoon of
June 20, 1900, all
the foreign women and
children, and nearly all
of the civilians of Peking
and vicinity, including
the customs staff and the
missionary body, had
taken refuge in the Brit-
ish legation. It was sur-
prising to every one to
find that, in the time that had elapsed since the
arrival of the British marines, May 31, no barri-
cades had been erected, no trenches dug, nor any
attention paid whatever to rendering the place
better able to stand a siege.

In talking with one of the British sergeants,
and commenting upon this utter neglect, he in-
formed me that Captain Halliday had, a few
days before, attempted to improvise some bar-
riers by means of dry- goods boxes filled with
earth, but had been so laughed at and snubbed

(78)

AMERICANS FOREMOST IN DEFENSE 79

by Captains Strouts and Wray, British officers,
that he had given up the attempt.

Sir Claude MacDonald, the British minister,
who is an ex-major in the army, and should
have instructed in this very important duty, was,
equally with marine officers, culpably silent.

The American missionaries, however, no
sooner arrived than they formed committees on
fortification, sanitation, food, etc., and set ac-
tively to work; and to them belongs, as every
one agrees, the credit of placing the legation
in a defensible condition.

To Mr. F. D. Gamewell, of the American
Methodist mission, more than to any other one
man, is due the success which has attended our
defense. His energy was simply extraordinary.
From morning until night he was to be seen
superintending the filling of sand-bags, the tear-
ing down of houses adjoining our walls that
might serve as cover to the enemy, the building
of barricades and strengthening of walls from
the timbers and brick so obtained, making loop-
holes at the proper places for firing through and
doing, in fact, everything that could have been
done by an arm'y engineer of experience; all
the time, too, under a galling rifle fire from the
outside Chinese army, under the command of
the Kansu ruffian. General Tung Fu Hsiang.

All the Chinese coolies, servants, cooks, and

8o BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

retainers of the foreigners, to the number of
over I, GOO, were enrolled, given a badge sewed
to their sleeves, declaring their identity, and
hours fixed for their employment on public works
for general defense.

Latrines and garbage tanks were arranged, and
the place put under proper sanitary regulation,
supervised by Drs. Coltman, Lowry, and Inglis.

A hospital was equipped under Doctors Velde
and Poole, and a trained nurse corps installed,
consisting of several lady physicians and three
trained nurses.

The Holland and Belgian legations, being
outside of the line of defense adopted by con-
sultation of the military captains, were aban-
doned, but it was decided by the military to hold
the French, German, American, Italian, and Rus-
sian legations, until absolutely untenable.

With the exception of the Italian legation,
these premises are still in our possession, al-
though the French and German legations are
but shattered wrecks, every building being full
of holes from shells and round-shot of the Chi-
nese cannon, often fired at only two hundred
yards' distance.

On the afternoon of that first day of the siege,
F. Huberty James, professor of English in the
Imperial University, noticed several Chinese sol-
diers upon the bridge, a few hundred yards north

PROFESSOR JAMES ENTRAPPED

of the legation gate. Without stating his motive
to any one, although it is supposed he intended
to converse with them, and, if possible, find out
their orders in regard to us, he walked from the
gate up the street along the canal to the bridge.

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BUILDING BARRICADES IN GERMAN LEGATION
Without the barricades the defense would never have been suc-
cessful. Some very hard fighting was done in the vicinity of this
barricade. The lower portion was built of brick, with sand-bags
on top and loop-holes left for the purpose of rifle firing.

He had no sooner arrived there than several
Chinese soldiers, concealed behind the wall of
Prince Su's palace, fired upon him. The sentry
at the legation gate saw him hold up his hands,
then heard a report and saw him fall. He was

82 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

seen to partly raise himself, when several of the
ruffian soldiers hurriedly ran out, picked him up,
and carried him behind the corner of the wall
and beyond, the reach of rescue. His fate was
probably a hasty death at their hands, if, indeed,
he was not already mortally wounded.

When I heard of this sad affair, an hour after
its occurrence, I could scarcely believe that my
friend who had welcomed me to China in 1885
had come to such a cruel end. He had not an
enemy in the world, and was uniformly gentle
and considerate. His fate, following so closely
upon Baron von Ketteler's, the first day of our
siege, cast a deep gloom over the entire com-
munity.

Promptly at 4 P. M. the Chinese soldiers opened
fire upon all the legations from behind the sur-
rounding houses; but, very fortunately for us,
most of their bullets flew high and went entirely
over the legation district and must have injured
Chinese residents in Peking at a distance.

The British legation inside presented a scene
of greatest confusion. Eatables and tinned stores
of every description had been hastily dumped by
coolies into all parts of the compound. Men,
women, and children were busy for some hours
trying to identify and collect the little stores they
had brought or sent in, with the idea that a few
days' provision would be all that would be neces-

PROBLEM OF FOOD AND CLOTHING 83

sary, as no one believed that; Admiral Seymour,
Colonel Wogack, and Captain McCalla would be
longer than a week at most in relieving us.

Little did we imagine that many weeks of
siege under shot, shell, and rifle-fire must be
endured, with absolutely no word from the out-
side world, before we, or at least such of us as
survived, would again come forth.

Many had left their homes hurriedly, taking
with them nothing but the clothes they wore.
Having left my own house one week previous,
and gone to the United States legation as a
guest with my family, I had been requested
not to bring in any supply of provisions, as it
would alarm people, and it was hoped quiet
would be restored in a few days.

When obliged by the Chinese ultimatum to
leave Peking or, as we decided after Baron von
Ketteler's murder, to take refuge in the British
legation and await reinforcements, it was too
late to visit my home outside of the foreign
lines and remove anything from my storeroom.

Fortunately for my little family, Mr. H. G.
Squiers, as I have mentioned, had laid in an
abundant supply of rice, flour, and other stores,
and he offered, if I would undertake to move
all his stores safely to the British legation, to
contribute to my needs. This I was only too
glad to do; so, taking two of his servants and

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VIEW FROM THE WALL OF PEKING SHOWING SCENE OF

1. — The prominent building at this point is the British Legation, prac-
tically the headquarters of the defense. 2. — This high wall, extending the
entire length of the picture, marks the boundary of the "Forbidden City";
at the point indicated, the Krupp guns, mentioned in the narrative, were
mounted, giving them a sweeping range of Legation street. 3. — The
residence of the author after the siege, his own property having been so
badly damaged by the mob as to make it untenantable. 4. — The roof of
the American Legation (in another picture is shown a view of the Lega-
tion itself). 5. — The Russian Legation, another of the most important
points in the foreign field of defense. 6. — Bridge over the canal at Lega-
tion street. The foul and stagnant water in the canal and the filth in
its bed are plainly shown. 7. — The roofs of the Emperor's palace and
"Forbidden City" and other portions of some of the buildings appear

(84)

THE BLOCKADE AND OTHER POINTS OF SPECIAL INTEREST

above the wall that surrounds it. It will be noticed that, while strictly
barred out from the "Forbidden City" and the palace of the Emperor, the
foreign legations were nevertheless within a comparatively short distance.
8. — The top of what is known as the "Coal Hill," in the Imperial grounds
of the "Forbidden City," shows over the top of the wall. This hill is a
vast supply of coal, which has been accumulating for hundreds of years.
It is entirely without shelter, and there seems to be no authentic history to
account for its inception, nor any special reason for its continuance; but
here, in the most sacred place in the Chinese kingdom, right in the magnifi-
cent palace grounds of the Emperor, this ugly, unsightly pile of coal, covering
several acres in extent and rising, as can be seen by the picture, to a very
considerable height, washed by the rains and seamed by the upheavals of
the frosts of winter, continues to exist, as it has done from time immemorial.

(85)

86 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

the only two of mine who, out of nine, had
remained faithful, I worked from 9 A. M. until
4 P. M. removing Squiers' stores to the British
legation.

I purchased, also, from one of the foreign
stores within the lines of defense two dozen tins
of condensed milk and four tins of baked beans,
a very inadequate provision to feed six children
and two adults for two months.

Many others were as poorly provided for as
myself ; but, providentially, within the region
we had adopted as our lines of defense, were
several large grain shops full of rice, wheat, and
millet. Our carts were kept busy for several
days hauling these supplies into the English
legation, where they were placed in charge of
a commissary officer and issued out as needed.

We thus had sufficient grain, not only for all
the foreigners, but also for the two thousand
odd refugees, coolies, and servants, who had,
from one motive or another, cast their lot with
us. From the grain shops, too, we brought in
their millstones, and, as we had altogether over
one hundred and fifty mules and horses, we
started up a ten-mule-power mill, which ground
out flour all day for the needs of the besieged.

Being oc'cupied daily with the sanitary work
and attendance on the sick, I was unable to
keep much of a diary, so I instructed my son

FLAMES ADD TO TERROR 87

Robert, aged sixteen, to do so for me, and the
following transcription of his diary gives the events
of our daily life until the end of the siege.

June 21. Most of the Chinese coolies and
many foreigners were set right at work filling
sand -bags for fortifying all the weak places in
the legation, while the women, with needle and
thread and the few sewing machines inside the
compound, manufactured the bags by the thou-
sand. This was kept up until 20,000 to 25,000
sand-bags were made.

The Belgian legation and the Methodist mis-
sion were set fire to and completely burned.
Tung Lu's troops kept up a desultory fusillade
upon us all day, but scarcely any of the bullets
took effect.

It was reported that Prince Ching's troops
were firing on the Boxers, who were attacking
the customs compound and Austrian legation.
This report was afterward proved false. The
French were driven from their barricade in the
customs lane into the French legation compound.

The Chinese set fire to a native house just
in the rear of Mr. Cockburn's house, hoping it
would catch to the latter place. It was very
near, and, as the wind was strong, was only pre-
vented with the greatest difficulty from spreading
into the legation. It was put out at last, after
two hours' hard fighting.

88 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Some of the marines stationed as watchmen
on the roof of the Cockburn house had seen
Chinamen sneaking around with rags soaked in
kerosene and had fired on them, but had not
succeeded in preventing the fire being set.

The Austrians, Itahans, Germans, and Japan-
ese were forced by the heavy firing to leave
their legations and come here. The Americans
also started, but were sent back. The Austrians
and Italians were never able to retake their lega-
tions, but the Germans and Japanese returned
very shortly to theirs. The Germans found a
Boxer prisoner missing on their return on the
23d of June.

A fire was started just outside the north wall
of the compound at 10 A. M., which was put out,
or thought to have been put out; but it broke
out again in the afternoon, this time burning a
part of the Hanlin Library, adjoining the legation
on the north. The conflagration was separated
from the legation by only one narrow court, so
one of the buildings in the court was pulled
down to prevent its spreading. Thousands of
wooden printing blocks were thrown into the
fire to get rid of all combustible material in the
immediate neighborhood. These blocks repre-
sent days of labor each, and were used in print-
ing valuable (to the Chinese) books. Many
valuable books also perished in the flames. At

RAIN OF SHOT AND SHELL 89

night a guard was placed in the Hanlin yuan, or
garden, to watch the smoking remains, and, as
this point is of greatest strategic importance,
barricades will be erected here and the position
maintained.

June 22. The customs compound and Aus-
trian legation were burned, the Austrians remain-
ing in the French legation to help them there.
The back part of the Russo-Chinese bank com-
pound was burned, also a house in the Japanese
legation, which latter fire was soon subdued. A
discharge of shrapnel from a gun on the city wall
struck the gate house of the United States lega-
tion, and cut down the flag-pole, tearing a large
hole in the roof, but hurting no one.

At 7 P. M. a house near the Hotel de Pein was
burned. In this house two Boxers were captured.
When seen, they threw down their swords and
attempted to escape, but were caught and brought
into the British legation to be locked up.

The fortifying operations are being pushed
forward vigorously under the excellent manage-
ment of Mr. F. D. Gamewell. He is the one
man competent to take charge of affairs here, as
the British, although in their own legation, and
knowing that the place was to be the last place
of refuge, had not done a stroke of work toward
fortifying it, and seemed to be as helpless as
children.

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

June 24. At ten minutes past midnight the
Chinese began a furious fusillade from all quar-
ters, and an alarm
was rung from the
bell-tower, notifying
all of a general at-
tack. But after about
twenty minutes of
prodigious noise,
with almost no dam-
age done, the firing
ceased as suddenly as
it had commenced,
and the rest of the
night was compara-
tively quiet. About
10 A. M. a fire was
started outside and
adjoining the south
stables, which, after
heroic exertions
upon the part of
nearly the entire
garrison of men,
women, and coolies,
all of whom formed into line and passed hun-
dreds of buckets of water from the two nearest
wells to the scene of the fire, was subdued with-
out our stables catching fire. With every one

PORTION OF china's GREAT WALL
Showing one of the towers or forts,
which are built at intervals throughout
its entire length.

FIGHTING ON THE WALL 91

of these fires that was successfully put out, the
danger from that source was lessened.

The German and American marines took pos-
session of the city wait south of their respective
legations, to prevent the Chinese from bringing
their heavy guns too near and too directly able
to bear upon the legations. Thrice they were
driven back by the heavy fire, but they stuck to
their task, and eventually obtained each a posi-
tion on the wall — the Germans to the east, the
Americans to the west, the two positions being
about six hundred yards apart.

The second time they advanced, the Americans
took the Colt machine gun with them, and, ad-
vancing almost to the Chinese barricade, killed
several hundred Chinese. The third time, the
Americans advanced several hundred yards and
then retreated suddenly, as though panic-stricken.
This brought the Chinese out from behind their
barricades with a rush, when the Colt gun was
again turned loose on them and killed sixty
more.

After this the shelling got so hot that the po-
sition became absolutely untenable. A piece of
shell struck the shoulder-piece of the Colt gun,
and another shell, striking the wall, knocked
down the bricks so thickly around the gun that
Mitchell, the gunner, thought he might have to
abandon it; but, hastily taking it apart, he man-

92 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

aged to get it down the ramp, and brought it
safely into the British legation.

The German officers claimed to have seen
rockets to the southwest, which they thought to
be signals from the relief force. Heavy cannon-
ading was also heard, about 4 P. M., outside the
city, which was thought to come from the troops,
but both proved false hopes.

Corporal King, United States Marine Corps,
was killed by a Chinese sniper in the Russo-
Chinese bank. The United States barracks were
set on fire, but fortunately the fire did not spread
to the legation. Captain Halliday, Royal Navy
Marine Corps, was severely wounded by a stray
bullet. Thirteen men are in the hospital.

June 25. During the night one of the cap-
tured Boxers tried to escape, so in the morning
they were both shot. There was about twenty
minutes of hot firing about the same time as
last night.

At 5 P. M. the Chinese put up a poster on
the north bridge ordering the firing to stop, and
to protect the ministers, stating also that they
would send us a message. This message was
never sent, however, and though the firing was
stopped for a few hours, it soon started up again,
and the whole thing was believed to be a fraud
by which the Chinese wished to get some of the
foreigners outside the legation to be killed.

OUR FIRST HORSE -STEAK

The Americans
and Germans again '
took their positions
on the wall, and be-
gan building barri-
cades in the face of
the Chinese gun. As
the mutton began to
get scarce, the first
horse was killed. It
was very good eating,
and I doubt not that
we have had some of
that kind of beef be-
fore, in substitution
for the genuine arti-
cle. Three rockets,
probably Chinese,
were seen during the
night.

June 26. The night
entertainment — "fire-
works"— came at 3
A. M., instead of mid-
night, as usual. Chi-
nese troops were seen
marching northwest,
supposedly to convey
mer palace. By this

ENTRANCE THROUGH GREAT WALL
INTO MONGOLIA — ROTATING GATE

This great wall extends in massive
proportions over more than a thousand
miles of plain and mountain. It was
built ages ago as a bar against the in-
cursions of the barbaric and warlike
tribes, who were destined in time, de-
spite this tremendous obstacle, to over-
run and acquire the kingdom and place
their own rulers upon its throne.

the Empress to the sum-
time the shells from the

94 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

various guns close by us began to come nearer,
several exploding in the compound. "Bomb-
proof" cellars were therefore started in different
parts of the compound, in which we might take
refuge if the shells actually began to do dam-
age. These "bomb-proofs" were trenches about
six feet deep, covered with a roof of timbers,
boards, and from two to four feet of earth or
sand- bags. These it was thought would furnish
efficient protection against fragments of shell.
Sergeant Fanning, United States Marine Corps,
was killed by a sniper on the city wall.

June 27. Very heavy firing, mostly from the
imperial city wall. A crowd of greenhorn Box-
ers started to attack the Americans on the wall
from below. The Americans turned the Colt on
them, killing about fifty, and the rest got away.

A Chinaman who arrived from near Tientsin
reported Boxers very thick around there, and
that three divisions of troops had left Tientsin
June 24 to come to Peking, one coming north,
one west, and one east.

June 28. No news of importance.

June 29. In the morning there was an attack
made by the Chinese on the south stables, the
weakest part of the whole legation compound.
This was repulsed after a short fight, and about
twenty British marines under Captain Stroutswent
out after the Chinese, killihg a large number of

PERILS OF THE NIGHT 95

them, and capturing their rifles with about six
hundred rounds of ammunition. The guns were
mostly Mauser rifles and carbines. They were
distributed among the unarmed men of the lega-
tion. Captain Strouts was grazed in the neck by
a bullet. Later fifty volunteers, under Captain
Wray, went out to capture a gun near the Su
Wang Fu that was making things unpleasant for
the people there. They could not find it, how-
ever, and had to return.

By this time nearly all the Chinese houses near
the United States legation had been burned in
the various attempts to fire the legation, and in
the ruins of these houses a number of Chinese
snipers installed themselves, making it extremely
dangerous for any one attempting to cross Lega-
tion street.

June 30. At night there was a very heavy thun-
derstorm, the first of the rainy season. Simul-
taneously with the thunder, the Chinese started a
terrific fusillade from all quarters. The hideous
noise, with the vivid flashes of lightning and the
torrents of rain, produced an effect on the minds
of all who witnessed it that they will probably
never forget.

July I. The Americans and Germans were
forced by heavy shell-fire to leave the wall. Later
in the day the Americans returned, but the Ger-
mans did not. The Chinese were quiet at night,

96 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

there being hardly any firing at all. The reason
for this was supposed to be temporary shortness
of ammunition. At night a good many people
believed they saw flashes from an electric search-
light, which was supposed to be with the troops
at Tungchow. They claimed to have seen at first
forty flashes, then an interval, followed by eight
more. This they supposed to be some kind of a
signal to us, but since it has all turned out to be
heat lightning. Ed. Wagner, one of the customs
men, was struck and killed in the French legation
by a shell.

July 2. It rained at night, and no flashlights (?)
were seen.

July 3. The Chinese on the wall had built
up their barricade so high during the night that
it almost overlooked our own (the two were only
forty yards apart), and had they been able to
build a little higher they might easily have fired
right down on our men, so that it became a ques-
tion of rushing the Chinese barricade or of leav-
ing the wall. The former course was adopted.
At 3 A. M., fifteen United States marines, fifteen
Russian sailors, and twenty-five British marines,
led by Captain John Myers, in the blackest part
of the night, crept silently over the American
barricade, and, dividing into two parties, each
keeping close to either side of the wall battle-
ments, advanced rapidly right up to the face of

RUSHING THE BARRICADE 97

the Chinese barricade undiscovered. Arrived
here, as agreed, they gave a tremendous yell, and
swarmed over and around the barricade, yelling
and firing volleys into the astonished Celestials,
who, taken entirely by surprise by the yelling
foreign devils, made very little resistance, and
speedily fled to their second line of defense,
some distance westward toward the Chien Men.
Before starting. Captain Myers had briefly ad-
dressed his men, telling them the vital necessity
of capturing the barricade. "Men," he said, "we
must take that place at all costs or be driven oft
the wall! Once oflf the wall, the legations will
lie at the mercy of the Chinese, and we, with
all the women and children, will be butchered.
This is our opportunity. I expect every man to
do his duty. We cannot stop to pick up any
who may be wounded, but must press on and
accomplish the work, leaving the wounded until
we return. If I fall, Sergeant Murphy of the
British marines succeeds to command ; if he falls
Corporal Hunt of the American marines suc-
ceeds him. Now, when I give command, spring
over the barricade, and follow me." He imme-
diately gave the command: "Come on!" The
sortie was most successful, the barricade was
gained and held, but we lost two brave Amer-
ican boys. Privates Turner and Thomas. Captain
Myers was badly wounded by a spear-throst in

98 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

his knee, and Corporal Gregory of the British
marines was shot in the foot.

July 4. Independence day in America, but a
day of red-hot fireworks for us. Chinese butch-
ers on the outside trying hard to get in and
murder us. Only celebration by Americans was
a party given to the smaller children by Mrs.
Squiers.

July 5. Mr. David Oliphant, one of the Eng-
lish legation students, was shot and mortally
wounded, in the Hanlin Yuan. He died at 3,
and was buried in our little graveyard at 7 P. M.
His death threw a deep gloom over the whole
legation, as he was a general favorite. Three
attacks were made on us last night at 10 and 12,
and 2.30 this morning. Cartridge ammunition
of the enemy seems to be running low, as they
are firing now more of the old muzzle-loading
Yingalls, and fewer of the Mauser cartridges.

July 6. A sortie was made by the Japanese to
try and capture a gun that was making havoc on
their barricades in the Su Wang Fu. Too many
Chinese houses, however, concealed the where-
abouts of the gun, and after having three men
wounded they were obliged to return unsuccess-
ful. A shell fell in one of the rooms of Mr. Con-
ger's house, doing considerable damage. Mrs.
Conger had been in the room only a short time
before.

RUNNERS TO TIENTSIN

A messenger was let down from the wall with
ropes, to try and communicate our desperate sit-
uation to Tientsin. He was offered one thousand
taels if he got safely through the enemy's lines
with his dispatches. We have sent numerous
runners out by the
water-gate, and sev-
eral over the wall,
but none have ever
returned. Doubtless
they have been cap-
tured and killed.

During the day a
number of three- and
seven - pound solid

On the great wall, Kun Ming Hu

iron shot have been

thrown into our midst by guns located on the wall
of the imperial, or yellow city, to the north of us.
So far, beyond knocking a few holes in the build-
ings, they have done no harm. The powder
they are using must be very inferior. One of
the missiles passed through Lady MacDonald's
dining room.

July 7. Two attacks were made on the French
legation and were repulsed, the Chinese loss being
small, as they retired rapidly. The Austrian com-
mander. Captain von Thorneburg, was killed in
one of these attacks, being shot through the heart.

We are now really eating the horse-meat. A

loo BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

number of people who were using it assured us it
was very good, but our prejudices prevailed some
time. First we tried the liver, fried with a small
scrap of bacon, and were pleased to find it tasted
just like beef-liver. Then we tried some of the
meat curried, and now we are having excellent
sausages of the meat, which helps the rice to be
more palatable. We are allowed one pound of
horse-meat per adult individual each day.

When the Russians came up the first time,
they brought along with them sixty shells, leav-
ing the gun in Tientsin to be brought up by
the next force that came. As no other could
get in, the ammunition was of no use. It was
thought that if some kind of a cannon could be
made, many of our shells might be utilized in
destroying the Chinese barricades. So Mitchell,
the United States gunner, started to work on two
sections of a fire-engine pump. Meanwhile, two
Chinese coolies found an old cannon, a muzzle-
loader of about i860, in a junkshop, and dragged
it in. As this cannon fitted the shells it was
used instead of the pump. It was mounted on
a pair of wheels taken from the Italian ammuni-
tion truck. It has been nicknamed the " Inter-
national." The gun itself was an old British
one, mounted on an Italian carriage, and fired
with Russian ammunition by an American gun-
ner. Hence the nickname.

STILL NO RELIEF loi

The ammunition for the ItaHan one-pound
gun having run short, pewter vessels from the
Chinese houses around were brought in, melted,
and run into molds to make the shot for the
gun. With these the used cartridges were re-
loaded, and, there being no primers for them,
revolver cartridges were readily used instead.
When tried in the bore they worked very well,
though it was feared that the harder metal of
which they were made would be ruinous to the
rifling of the gun.

The Chinese broke two holes in the top of
the imperial city wall and built a platform just
over the water-gate, where it was expected they
would mount guns the next night. At lo P. M.
they started a fusillade, which lasted for a few
minutes, but the rest of the night was fairly quiet.

The French and Austrians claimed to have
heard cannonading about ten kilometers (six
miles) to the southeast. But this has also proved
a false hope, and the general opinion is now
that the relief has not started from Tientsin at
all, though why, no one can say.

July 8. Sunday. The Chinese on the wall
moved up their arms and opened fire on our
barricade. The third shot they fired was badly
aimed and struck their own barricade, carrying
most of it away, when they were forced to re-
treat in a hurry. There was a fire at the Su

102 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Wang Fu of the main pavilion buildings, but it
was not very serious. Two shells from a gun
to the west struck the wall, and one the top of
Mr. Coburn's house, showing that the Chinese
are getting the range. The evening fusillade
started at 9:45 and lasted about twenty minutes.

July 9. In the morning Mr. Squiers sent
out a man into the city to see what was going
on there. He returned in the afternoon report-
ing, first, that Hatamen has been closed for
many days; second, that there are no Chinese
troops in the southern city; third, that Rung
Lu's troops are guarding the Chihaumen, but
there are many Kansu men on the Hatamen
streets and in the imperial city; fourth, that at
the ssupailou (four arches) the shops are open
and doing business as usual ; fifth, that the Em-
peror and Empress Dowager are still in the
city; sixth, that the Peking "Gazette" is pub-
lished daily. The day was quiet except for
occasional firing.

July 10. In the morning several of the
Chinese shells came very close, breaking right
over the tennis court, and making it unsafe for
any one to cross.

July II. A messenger sent out with a letter
tried to get through the water-gate, but was im-
mediately fired on by the Chinese sentries and
forced to fly. He got in without being hurt.

A SEIZURE Of THEIR FLAG

103

The Chinese were extremely quiet all night,
but the cause was not known until the next
morning, when it was discovered that they had
built two new big walls, one in the Hanlin
Yuan, and another in the imperial carriage park.

1900 f'"" Month— SI IHj»1

Full Mooili 9.28 piB.

July n»-"]

12 THTTRSDAT- [ii»-iri.

(ChlneM v[ Mooa]

[vi Moon, ICth I%iy]

;U<^ ^/eM 0^^- AyLX , ^Jt,^^. >iiAA^ JmM^

13 FRIDAT [104-111]

(VI Moon, Klh D'y]

^^^^fcOZ^^. ^mJUy Ui^aZZ^ ^cUL iu^ U^-^^^

Part of Author's Diary

July 12. The Chinese kept up a heavy can-
nonade all day, mostly from the guns on the
imperial city wall, but did very little damage to
us. A flag, white ground and black characters,
was captured by the French in the morning,
and in the afternoon Mitchell captured a big

104 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

black one in the Hanlin Yuan. He got up on
a Chinese barrier and wrested the flag from a
Chinese soldier by pounding him with sand-
bags until he let go, while five or six volleys
were fired at him. He secured the flag and
got down without a scratch.

July 13. A Chinese prisoner taken by the French
marines this morning states that the Emperor
and Empress Dowager are still in the palace here.
Prince Tuan, Jung Lee and General Tung are in
control of public affairs. Prince Ching takes no
part in them. Many Boxers are still in the city.
Their principal patron is Prince Tuan. In his
palace they are registered, fed, and paid.

These Boxers are ridiculed by the soldiers be-
cause they dare not go under fire at the front, in
spite of their pretensions to be bullet-proof.

General Tung's troops are facing us on the
wall and along our lines on the south. Jung Lu's
troops are behind the French legation. Several
of them are killed or wounded every day. The
prisoner declares that he was one of several coolies
(hired at twenty-five cents a body) to carry off
and bury the dead. There are about three thou-
sand of Tung Fu Hsinang's troops in the city.

The Empress has forbidden the use of guns
of large caliber against us, because of the harm
they might do to her loyal people and their
houses.

BELEAGUERMENT TO STARVATION ! 105

Direct attack having failed, and our rifles being
better than theirs, it has been decided to starve us
out. Two weeks ago news came that foreign
troops from one hundred warships at Taku had
captured the Taku forts, and occupied "East
Taku," opposite Tangku railway station. Tien-
tsin city was in a panic on this account.

Ammunition is being brought here from the
Hunting park. Imperial edicts are issued as usual.
Business is going on in the north part of the city,
and market supplies are coming in. The four
"chief banks" are closed. The soldiers believe
that we have several thousand troops under arms
here. The prisoner thought we had at least two
thousand.

Of course, this information is not official, and
there may be much that is not strictly accurate.
It simply represents the gossip of the tea-shops
and restaurants.

One reason the Chinese have for thinking we
have so many men here is that a number of them
are killed by their own bullets, which are aimed
high and pass over our heads and drop among
their own people. This shooting they attribute
to our men, and so think we have a large force
here.

Same date, 6.30 P. M. The Chinese exploded
a mine under the French legation wall, destroy-
ing part of the wall and also part of their own

io6 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

fortifications. Four men were buried by the first
explosion, one of whom was dug out, and another
blown up again by a second explosion. Having
done this, the Chinese made a desperate assault,

VIEW IN LEGATION STREET

The entrance to French legation is on the left. The lions
shown on either side of the entrance are such as can be found
nowhere outside of China. The street is in somewhat better con-
dition, since it is presumably under foreign control, or at least is
modified by foreign influences.

but were beaten off after having killed three and
wounded three French marines and lost about
twenty of their number.

The minister's and first secretary's houses were
fired, the minister destroying all his official papers

CHINESE ALMOST UPON US 107

himself, to prevent their falHng into the hands of
the Chinese.

Simultaneously with this attack came a tre-
mendous fusillade from all sides, which lasted
forty-five minutes, by far the longest we have
had yet.

The Su Wang Fu was the scene of the hottest
firing, and once it was thought it would have to
be given up.

At the same time a body of Chinese, number-
ing about two hundred, charged down the wall
street and got past the German legation without
being stopped. When they got to the bridge,
one of the United States marines was just com-
ing down from the wall and saw them as they
were coming up over the bridge. He gave the
alarm to four men stationed in the barricade on
the street, who fired about a dozen volleys on
them, killing thirty of them. The natives then
turned and fled ; on the way back the Germans
fired on them, driving them into the club tennis
courts, where they killed eighteen more. The
officer in command of the Chinese was shot by
E. von Strauch, captain of the customs volun-
teers. In the fray two Germans were seriously,
and two slightly, wounded. The Chinese kept
up a desultory firing all night.

July 14. A large supply of wheat was brought
over to the British legation from a grain store

io8 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

near the south bridge, and distributed in several
storerooms throughout the compound. This was
done as there had been some burning near there,
and it was feared it would be destroyed. A mes-
senger sent out by Mr. Tewksbury on the loth
instant returned, bringing a message supposed
to have been written by Prince Ching. It was
soon known to be an invitation to leave the
legations and go to the tsung-li-yamen for pro-
tection, though the full translation was not put
upon the bulletin board till the next day.

July 15. The following bulletin was posted
at I P. M. :

A messenger sent out on July 10 by Mr. Tewksbury,
with a letter for the troops, returned yesterday. He is the
gate-keeper at the Nan Vang (south cathedral) and a Roman
Catholic. He says he was arrested outside the Hatamen and
taken to the Wofursu (temple?), his letter was taken from
him, and he was beaten with eighty blows. He was then
taken to Jung Lu's headquarters in the imperial city. Here
he found a man named Yu who formerly knew him as gate-
keeper. He was there given a letter, purporting to be written
by Prince Ching and others, addressed to the British minister,
and told that men would wait at the water-gate to-night for
an answer. A translation of the letter is annexed :

"For the last ten days the soldiers and militia have been
fighting, and there has been no communication between us,
to our great anxiety. Some time ago we hung up a board
(referring to June 25) expressing our intentions, but no

INVITATION TO TSUNG - LI - YAMEN ,109

answer has been received, and, contrary to expectation, the
foreign soldiers made renewed attacks, causing alarm and
suspicion among people and soldiers.

"Yesterday the troops captured a convert named Chin
Ssu Hai, and learned from him that the foreign ministers
were all well, which caused us great satisfaction. But it ig
the unexpected that happens — the reinforcements of foreign
troops were ever so long ago stopped and turned back by
the Boxers, and if, in accordance with the previous agree-
ment, we were to guard your excellencies out of the city,
there are so many Boxers on the Tientsin -Taku road that
we should be very apprehensive of misadventure.

"We now request your excellencies to first take your families
and the various members of your staflf, and leave your legations
in detachments. You should select trustworthy officers to give
close and strict protection, and you should temporarily reside
in the. tsung-Ii-yamen, pending future arrangements for your
return home in order to preserve friendly relations intact from
beginning to end. But at the time of leaving the legations
there must on no account whatever be any single armed foreign
soldier, in order to prevent doubt and fear on the part of the
troops and people, leading to untoward incidents.

"If your excellency is willing to show this confidence, we beg
you to communicate with all the foreign ministers in Peking,
to-morrow at noon being the limit of time, and to let the origi-
nal messenger deliver your reply, in order that we may settle in
advance the day for leaving the legations. This is the single
way of preserving relations that we have been able to devise in
the face of innumerable difficulties. If no reply is received by
the hour fixed, even our afifection will not enable us to help you.
Compliments.

PRINCE CHING AND OTHERS."

"6th moon, i8th day [July 13, 1900]."

no BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

A reply has been sent to-day declining, on the part of the
foreign representatives, the invitation to proceed to the tsung-
li-yamen, and pointing out that no attacks have been made by
our troops, who are only defending the lives and property of
foreigners against the attacks of Chinese government troops.
The reply concludes with a statement that if the Chinese gov-
ernment wishes to negotiate, they should send a responsible
official with a white flag.

CLAUDE M. MacDONALD.

This message is thought by every one to be a
rank fraud. It is supposed to come not from
Prince Ching, but from the leader of the Kansu
troops, and is probably intended to lure some of
the foreigners outside the legation and then to
shoot them.

Same date, 3 P. M. Twenty Russians and
four Americans made an attack on a house to
the west of the Russian legation, where there
were about sixty Chinese snipers. On arriving
at the wall they found there was no way to get
into the yard. So each man took a brick, and,
at a given signal, heaved them all together into
the yard, shouting and reviling the Chinamen.

Alarmed by this they fled, and the men took
the building without a shot being fired on either
side. At this time the Chinese at other points
started up a brisk fire, lasting about ten minutes.

July 16, 7 A. \l: While on a tour of inspec-
tion in the Su Wang Fu, in company with Dr.

MORE LOSSES iii

Morrison and Colonel Shiba, Captain B. M.
Strouts, R. M. L. I., was shot and mortally
wounded by a sniper. Dr. Morrison was shot
in the leg, though not seriously. Captain Strouts
died at ii A. M. and was buried at 6 P. M. yes-
terday. One of the United States marines,
Private Fisher, was killed the same day.

It is indeed a pitiable plight that we are in
now. Neither the Americans nor the British
have any leader. Captain Meyers is disabled by
the spear wound he received in the sortie of
July 3. Captain Strouts is dead; Captain Halli-
day, the only other able British captain, is crip-
pled by a wound received three weeks ago. Sir
Claude MacDonald, though he assumes charge,
is no man for the situation, and the French and
Germans deny his authority.

Same date, 5 P. M. The messenger sent yes-
terday returned with four others, who waited
for him at the bridge. He brought a letter
from Jung Lu to Sir Claude MacDonald, and a
telegram from Washington to Mr. Conger. The
letter to Sir Claude contained nothing of any
importance. The telegram, Mr. Conger recog-
nized as being in the State Department cipher,
but could not determine its meaning, as it had
evidently been tampered with in some way by the
Chinese. So the messenger was sent back with
a request that the full original telegram be sent.

112

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

July 17. The mes-
senger returned again
bringing a telegram
from Wu Ting Fang,
the Chinese minister at
Washington, enclosing
one from the Secretary
of State. This read:
" Communicate tidings
to bearer." To this the
minister sent in reply:
"One month in the Brit-
ish legation under shot
and shell. Will all be
massacred unless help
comes soon."

One of Jung Lu 's
soldiers came in the
morning and gave him-
self up at the German
legation, and asked for
some medicine for a
wound in the ear. He
said that Jung Lu had
ordered the soldiers to
stop firing, but to hold their positions, and that
he was very desirous that the foreigners should
be protected.

Not a shot has been fired since early morning.

GENERAL SUNG CHING
Commander-in-Chief, who fought
the battle of Tientsin against the
allied international armies.

GIFTS OF FRUIT

113

This is probably due
to a fear that the
foreign troops are
near, and the gov-
ernment wishes to
protect itself by say-
ing they were un-
able to control the
Boxers and the
Kansu soldiers. Sev-
eral other Chinese
soldiers gave them-
selves up as prison-
ers at the different
legations, though
with what purpose
no one can say.

July 18. As Jung
Lu had expressed a
willingness to assist
the foreigners, a
messenger was sent ^^^^^^^ ^^ yu kun

to him requesting Major-General under SungChing; also

that supplies of fresh ^''S^S^^ in the battle of Tientsin with

the allied international armies.

vegetables, eggs,

meat, etc., might be sent to the legation for the
women and children. This was promised, and
watermelons and peaches have already been sent
to the Japanese in the Su Wang Fu and to the

114 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Americans on the wall. The soldiers on the
wall go on each other's barriers and chat in the
most friendly manner. There are great num-
bers of Boxers in the city, especially in the
south city, but the troops are no longer in
league with these.

A messenger sent out by the Japanese minister
on the 30th ult. returned to-day from Tientsin,
bringing word that a mixed force of 33,300 would
start from there for the relief of Peking about
the 20th inst. The force is to consist of 24,000
Japanese, 4,000 Russian, 2,000 British, 1,500 Amer-
ican, 1,500 French, and 300 German troops.

He reports that he left by the Ch'ihuamen
(east gate) on June 30, proceeding to Tientsin by
boat. He arrived at Tientsin on July 5, but was
unable to enter the city, as it was surrounded by
Chinese troops. He walked round the city gates,
and found a force of Chinese, under General
Chang, posted north of the railway station, can-
nonading a force of Japanese holding the ground
south of the station.

On July 9 General Chang was defeated, and he
(the messenger) managed to get through the
Japanese lines on July 12, and delivered the Japa-
nese minister's letter to the Japanese consul.

While in Tientsin he gleaned the following
news : That General Nieh was dead, that all the
missionaries in Tientsin and outlying stations had

NEWS FROM THE OUTER WORLD

115

left for home, and that the Taku forts were taken
without difficulty by the foreigners on June 17.
On July 14 the foreign troops took the native city
of Tientsin, after a two days' attack. On July 15

GORDON HALL

In the cellar of this building all the women and children re-
mained during the shelling of Tientsin by the Chinese troops. It
is one of the most beautiful and attractive buildings in Tientsin,
and in strange contrast with its Chinese surroundings.

the messenger left Tientsin for Peking, being
escorted by the Japanese to the "second bridge."
He returned to Peking by road.

Among other things he mentioned was that the
Tunchou taotai had been lodged in the board of
punishments, and that prior to his own arrival in

ii6 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Tientsin. No news of Peking had reached that
place since about the end of June.

We look for the troops about the 30th inst., if
they have no fighting to do on the way. This ex-
plains why the government is so anxious to have
peace in the capital at present. They are awaiting
the issue of a contest between the relief force and
the Chinese troops between here and Tientsin.

If our troops are victorious, as of course they
will be, unless outnumbered overwhelmingly, the
government will say they have done all in their
power to stop the fighting, but have not been able
to control their troops until now. If our troops
are defeated they will turn on us and slaughter us.
In the meantime we have a resting spell of a few
days.

Bulletin : Precis of further correspondence
between the British minister and "Prince Ching
and others."

On July 16 the Chinese sent a reply to Sir
Claude's letter of the 15th, in which they explain
that the reason for suggesting the removal of the
legation staffs to the tsung-li-yamen was that the
Chinese government could afford more efficient
protection to them if concentrated there than if
scattered, as at present. As the foreign minis-
ters, however, do not agree, the Chinese will, as
in duty bound, do their utmost to protect the

EFFORTS TO LURE US OUT 117

legations where they are. They will bring re-
inforcements, and continue their efforts to pre-
vent the Boxers from firing, and they trust the
foreign ministers on their part will restrain their
troops also from firing.

July 17, A. M. Sir Claude replied to the effect
that the foreign troops had all along acted en-
tirely in self-defense and would continue to do
so. But the Chinese must understand that pre-
vious events had led to a want of confidence,
and that if barricades were erected or troops
moved in the vicinity of the legations, the
foreign guards would be obliged to fire on
them.

July 17 P. M. The Chinese replied, reviewing
the situation and ascribing the present hostilities
to the attacks previously made by the legation
guards. They noted with satisfaction that a ces-
sation of firing is agreed to on both sides, but
suggest that as foreign soldiers here have been
firing from the city wall east of the Chien Men,
they should be removed from that position.

July 18 (noon). Sir Claude replied with a
review of the situation from the foreign point
of view. On June 19 the yamen had given the
legations notice to quit Peking, and the foreign
representatives had replied, pointing out that
there were no facilities of transportation. The
yamen had then replied, extending the time ;

ii8

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

but, in spite of this, fire was opened on the
legations on the following day, and they had been
under constant fire
from Chinese gov-
ernment troops ever
since, a condition of
things unparalleled in
the world's history.
He alluded to the in-
cident of the board
displayed on June 25,
the free moving of
troops during the ces-
s at ion of hostilities
thus caused, and the
renewed attacks made
after the completion
of the preparations
thus facilitated. He
hoped that mutual
confidence would
gradually be restored,
but meanwhile he
again pointed out that
cessation of hostile
preparations, as well
as of actual firing, was necessary on the part
of the Chinese forces to secure that the foreign
troops should cease shooting. As for the sugges-

STREET VENDERS OF TIENTSIN
A vast amount of business is trans-
acted by these merchants, whose stock
in trade is of the smallest, and whose
transactions are so insignificant as to be
incredible according to western ideas.

A YAMEN SECRETARY COMES IN

119

tion that the foreign troops should leave the city
wall, it was impossible to accede to it, because

a great part of the
attacks on the lega-
tion had been made
from the wall. He
concluded by sug-
gesting that sellers of
fruit or ice should be
allowed to come in.

In a letter ad-
dressed the same day
to Jung Lu, the sub-
stance of Sir Claude's
previous letters was
repeated, and a sug-
gestion was made
that communications
would be facilitated
if a responsible offi-
cial were sent to the
legation. In response
to this suggestion, a
yamen secretary arrived this afternoon with a card
from Jung Lu. He had no special message, but
promised to see whether Peking "Gazettes" could
be procured and a market established for ice,
fruit, eggs, etc., and also to ascertain whether
telegrams could be transmitted on behalf of the

Scepe at a street corner in Tientsin

120 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

foreign ministers to their governments. He
mentioned that telegraphic communication was
interrupted. He expressed the concern of the
Chinese government at the deeds of the Boxers,
who had caused the whole difficulty between
China and the foreign powers.

July 19. A very quiet day. No firing on
either side. About two hundred and fifty eggs
and a few vegetables were brought in by Chinese
soldiers for sale. The yamen sent another mes-
sage asking that the ministers leave here for
Tientsin.

July 20. Several copies of the Peking ''Ga-
zette" of the past month were procured from
the Chinese. Translations of a number of edicts
contained therein are given in another chapter.
The ministers replied to the yamen's request of
yesterday, saying that, as the Boxers were so
numerous outside the city, they would not dare
to trust themselves on the road. Four cart-loads
of watermelons and vegetables were sent to the
ministers by the yamen as a sign of good feel-
ing (?). No firing all day, except for a few
shots fired by Boxers in the south city against
our men on the wall.

July 24. Mr. Narahara, second secretary of
the Japanese legation, died in the early morn-
ing, of lockjaw from a wound.

ALLIES REPORTED HALF-WAY TO US 121

Same date, 7 P. M. The following was re-
ceived from Colonel Shiba: "A Chinaman who
came to our barricade this afternoon says that
on the 17th of this month Yangtsun was occu-
pied by the foreign troops, and on the 19th a
battle took place around the same place. About
one hundred and fifty wounded of Tung Fu
Hsiang's troops have just been brought to
Peking; the foreign troops were about forty li
this side of Yangtsun when the wounded men
started."

July 26. Colonel Shiba reports: "A China-
man states that about 11 o'clock on the 24th
instant the Chinese troops under General Chang
were attacked by foreign troops thirty li south
of Hoshiwu (half-way between Tientsin and here
by road) and driven back at midnight to the
latter place. At 10 A. M. yesterday Hoshiwu
was attacked, and the Chinese troops driven
back with heavy loss to ten li north of the latter
place. The force of 4,800 men who came from
the west with nine guns left Peking at 6 o'clock
yesterday morning for Hoshiwu."

Since the beginning of the truce, on July
18, the soldiers of Jung Lu have observed the
truce and refrained from firing ; but those front-
ing us on the north wall and on the west of the
legation have started sniping again. The latter
are Tung Fu Hsiang's troops.

122 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

July 25. Chin Tsu-hsi, a messenger who left
our lines eight days ago carrying an official
letter to Jung Lu, returned to-day. He says
that he delivered the letter at Jung Lu's head-
quarters, and was locked up there seven days.
Jung Lu goes to court every day. The Emperor
and Empress Dowager are still in the city.
Boxers patrol the streets in small bands.

Four days ago a ragged, dirty foreigner, hat-
less and coatless, of general disreputable appear-
ance, was captured by Tung Fu Hsiang's men
and brought to Jung Lu. He was of medium
height, blonde mustache and beard, and spoke
Chinese. (This referred to a Swede named
Nestergaard, who, on some slight oflfense, left
the legation and went over to the Chinese.)
He said he went out to find food. Meanwhile
Boxers assembled around Jung Lu's house, and
demanded the foreigner, but Jung Lu sent him
off under guard to the yamen of the Shun Tien
Fu for safe keeping.

A messenger sent out on July 4 to go to
Tientsin with our letter returned to-day, bring-
ing the following note from the British consul
at Tientsin :

Your letter of July 4 received. There are now 24,000
troops landed and 10,000 here. General Gaselee expected at
Taku to-morrow. Russian troops are at Peitsang. Tientsin
city is under foreign government, and Boxer power here is

A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT 123

exploded. There are plenty of troops on the way if you
can keep yourselves in food. Almost all ladies have left
Tientsin.

(Signed) W. R. CARLES.

Dated July 22.

(The letter of July 4 gave details of the siege
up to that date, numbers of killed and wounded,
and stated that Chinese troops had fired into the
legation quarter continuously since June 20, and
that we were hard pressed.)

This answer of the British consul aroused great
indignation among all the besieged. It had been
impossible up to that time to get any word from
the outside world, though many messengers were
sent out, and then when one did succeed in get-
ting through the Chinese lines, to receive a letter
(and that from an official, too) which gave no
information of any attempt to relieve us !

Following is the story of the runner's trip
to Tientsin and back: Lin Wu Yuan, sixteen
years old, a messenger, native of Shantung, liv-
ing in Peking, arrived this morning, from Tien-
tsin. He left Peking with letters on the night of
July 4, disguised as a beggar. He was let down
over the wall by a rope, crept along the moat to
the Chien Men, slept under the gate, and in the
morning walked to the Yungting Men, passed
through, and went to Machiapu station without
being molested.

124 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Hearing nothing there, he went to Tungchow
and worked his way along the main road to
Tientsin. At a village near Hoshiwu he was
stopped by the villagers and made to work eight
days. He reached Tientsin July i8, first met
Russian, then Japanese, and on July 21 met
the British troops at Peiving Men, the entrance
through the defense wall, half a mile from
Tientsin city, on the Peking road.

He delivered his letter? to a foreigner in citi-
zen, dress, who spoke Chinese. On July 22 he
was taken to the British consulate; there the
consul gave him a letter. He was then sent to
the foreign outpost at Hungchian (Red Bridge
over the Paotingfu river, a half mile west of
Tientsin city) .

On July 23 he left Hungch'iao, and soon met
the Chinese troops. That night he slept at
Yangtsun in a locomotive boiler near the bridge.
The bridge there was not destroyed. That day
he saw only Chinese infantry, the main body of
which was at Peitsang; he saw no Boxers. The
night of July 24 he slept near Hoshiwu; saw
few soldiers and no Boxers. The night of July
25 he slept at Mat'ou. That day he saw a few
parties of Boxers in villages, but none on the
road.

At Mat'ou and elsewhere he saw that the river
was in high flood ; few boats moving, but many

HATAMEN GATE

125

APPROACH TO HATAMEN GATE IN WALL DESTROYED
BY THE RUSSIANS
Elsewhere in this work is presented a view of the top of this
wall, indicating its great width. The view above shows its height
and form. To the left is the encircling canal, with its stagnant
water and accumulations of filth; under a corner of the wall near
the bend of the canal may be seen a caravan. A block house or
fortification is shown on top of the wall. At the right the larger
building upon the top of the wall indicates where one of the city
gates is placed. The foundation of the wall is of great blocks of
hewn stone, above which are tiers of sun-dried brick.

moored to the banks. On July 26 had no ad-
ventures; he spent the night at Yuchiawei,
twenty \i from Peking.

On July 27 he reached the Sha Kuo gate, the
east gate of the south city, at 10 A. M. He found

126 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

the roads good ; telegraph poles and wire along
the river all gone; railway torn up everywhere,
rails buried, or used for making Boxer swords.

He was not stopped at the gate, though there
were many Boxers and Tung Fu Hsiang's men
there. He made his way without trouble to the
Hatamen, which he found closed, and to the
water-gate, which was too closely guarded to pass
by day. The man slept last night near the Chien
Men, crawled along the moat, and entered the
water-gate without challenge before daylight this
morning.

He said the high road to Tientsin is in good
condition. Crops everywhere look well. Vil-
lagers are attending to their farms, but there is
a Boxer organization in every village. When he
left Tientsin, the foreign troops had not advanced
beyond the defense wall, San Ko Hin Sin's
"Folly," built by that general against the British
and French in i860 but never defended (hence
the name "folly") surrounding Tientsin city at
a distance of one-half to one mile. All the yamens
in Tientsin are occupied by foreign troops, chiefly
Japanese. All Boxers have left the front at Tien-
tsin because badly punished in the battle, so the
Chinese soldiers despise them. Chinese army was
concentrating on Peitsang, eight miles northwest
of Tientsin. The messenger had a dollar in his
pocket when he met the foreign pickets at Tien-

WAR AND RUMOR OF WAR 127

tsin, and they relieved him of it, "lest he might
lose it" !

Colonel Shiba's informant gives the following
dates of battles:

Battle at Tsaitsun, July 24, i to 12 P. M.

Battle at Hoshivs^u, July 25, 10 A. M. to 3 P. M.

Battle at Auping, July 26, 6 to 9 P. M.

Chinese troops retired to Mat'ou on the 27th
inst.

July 29. Reports from various sources, etc.:
Foreign troops advance on the 26th from Auping
tov^^ard Mat'ou, from 3 A. M. to 12 M., and v^ere
driven back to Auping by the Chinese at daylight
on the 27th.

Foreign troops of three nationalities at Auping.
Chinese ammunition short; southern rice boats in
the hand of the foreign army. Russian troops are
advancing toward Kalgan ( from a man from
Changpingchou, eighteen miles south of the
Great Wall) .

July 29 P. M. Reported Yangtsun completely
destroyed by foreign troops two or three days
ago, and foreign army in steady advance. The
Empress Dowager desires Tung Fu Hsiang
and Jung Lu to send her with an army to
Hsianfu, the capital of Shansi. They do not
consent, and suggest Li Ping Heng to help con-
quer us. He is ordered up, has arrived, and
is now attacking the Peit'ang. During the night

128 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

a strong barricade was built on the north bridge ;
two hundred Boxers took up a position on it
and commenced firing.

July 30, 10 A. M. The Chinese army messen-
ger left Changchiawan at 8 o'clock yesterday
evening. He reports desultory fighting from
3 A. M. to 8 P. M. yesterday. Many Chinese
were killed. The foreign army advanced to
Mat'ou yesterday at 8 A. M. Chinese retreated
on Changchiawan. They have about 10,000 men.
Three cannon have been taken from the Chien
Men to the front. Fighting at Peit'ang is con-
tinued by Boxers. The firing from the north
bridge is by a company of two hundred Boxers
having only thirteen rifles. The Empress has
three hundred carts and Tung Fu Hsiang one
hundred, ready to start west; the date is a secret.
Tung's fourth son, with five hundred men, has
reached Lianghsiang on the way west. (This
news was brought in by a soldier of Tung Fu
Hsiang's body-guard, who brings us regularly the
report of the army messenger.)

Same date, 7:30 P. M. Yesterday morning
Mr. Sugi sent two outside coolies to Tungchow
to inquire in regard to the foreign army, etc.
They returned this evening. They report that
men in Tungchow affirm that the foreign army
had fought the Chinese yesterday just south of
Mat'ou. They also report having seen a man

ACTIVITY OF THE CHINESE 129

from Chiachiatuan (eight miles east of Tung-
chow) who says foreign troops have come to
reUeve the CathoHcs there, and are distant but
a mile or so from the intrenchments, letters
having already been exchanged.

The Peking gates, except the Chihua Men
and the Pingtzu Men, are ready to be closed,
with stone and sand-bags at their sides. Many
Boxers have been killed at the Peit'ang; twelve
regiments of General Ma's troops are to go to
Changchiawan.

We have given each of these coolies a small
letter to the commander of the troops and
offered a reward for a return to-morrow night
with an answer. The troops must be pretty near
us, and we may hope to see them in two days.

July 31, II A. M. The regular Chinese army
courier arrived from the field of battle this
morning at 4:30. He reports, in the hearing of
one of Tung Fu Hsiang's body-guard, the same
man who has brought us the reports of the
movements of the foreign army from Yangtsun,
the foreign army advanced from Mat'ou, fight-
ing from 8 P. M. on the 29th, and arrived at
Changchiawan at 5 P. M. yesterday. The Chinese
army is five miles south of Tungchow.

August I. The following letter received to-day
by Colonel Shiba, dated Tientsin, the 26th ult. :

"Your letter of the 22d received. Departure
I

I30

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

TEA CARAVAN RESTING OUTSIDE OF CITY WALL

One might imagine this picture to illustrate a scene in Bible
times, in Palestine or Egypt; but time does not make any changes
in China; nothing changes there, save through the influence of out-
side aggression. Here is a caravan from the interior of Asia, halted
outside the city wall for entrance in the morning. The burdens
have been taken from the camels and the beasts have settled for rest.

of troops from Tientsin delayed by difficulties of
transportation, but advance will be made in two
or three days. Will write again as soon as esti-
mated date of arrival at Peking is fixed."

CHINESE LIES 131

A somewhat mangled but authentic telegram
has been received from London. The telegram
is undated, but was sent off probably between
the 2ist and 24th ult. It refers to a letter written
by the Japanese minister about June 29, and to a
telegram from the United States minister, dated
July 18, from which it may be inferred that the
state of affairs here on the latter date was every-
where known. It also says that the Chinese
troops, after severe fighting, were finally routed
from Tientsin on the 15th ult., and that arrange-
ments for our relief were being hastened. It
further asks if the Chinese government is pro-
tecting us and supplying provisions, etc.!

Very few provisions have been sent in to-day.
A desultory firing has been kept up all the time
from the north bridge and the Mongol market.
The messenger, who has been bringing in the
previous rumors of the progress of the troops,
said that they had been driven back from Chang-
chiawan to Auping. As the letter from Tientsin
has proved him an arrant liar, in future no more
attention will be paid to his stories. It is a great
disappointment, after being told that the relief
were within two days of us, to hear that they
have not yet started and have not yet fixed a
date for starting.

The messenger's story has been well arranged
all along, and has agreed very well with the let-

132 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

ter received by the Japanese minister on July i8.
As we have had no later information (the British
consul's letter gave none) as to the movements
of the army, we have believed just what the
Chinaman told us, and as long as he was get-
ting paid for it he would give us any kind of
rumors.

August 2. Extracts from various letters re-
ceived from Tientsin: Mr. E. B. Drew to Sir
Robert Hart, July 28. "Yours of 21st wired
home. Keep heart; aid coming early. Troops
pouring in. Enemy is at Peits'ang. Japs and
Russians in his front. Very little rain. Yangtzu
valley agitated. Lu and Chang trying to keep
order. Li Hung Chang at Shanghai; doubtful
if he is coming to Chihli. Tientsin is governed
by a joint foreign commission. Manchuria ris-
ing against foreigners. Russians, hands full there.
Newchwang much disturbed. Germany and
America each sending 15,000 men, Italy 5,000 —
Canton, west river. Ichang threatening. Ear-
nestly hope rescue of you all."

Mr. E. K. Lowry to Mrs. Lowry, July 30.
"Bearer arrived last Friday evening, with news
from Peking. . . . The 9th and 14th regiments,
United States, already at Tientsin ; 6th cavalry at
Taku on its way up. There was fighting at Piet-
s'ang this morning. Everything quiet here now.
Word came to-day that the Boxers are killing

RUSSIANS FIGHTING

133

Christians at Tsunhua, Shanhaikuan, and many
other places. Russians and imperial troops have
fought at Chinhau. Tientsin is full of foreign
soldiers and more are coming all the time. Rail-

BALED TEA READY FOR SHIPMENT TO RUSSIA

Some idea of the great quantities of tea produced, and of the method of

packing, may be gathered from this picture.

road open between here and Tangku. Many ladies
and children were taken to the United States by
the transport Logan. All property at Peitaiho
has been destroyed "

134 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Consul Ragsdale to Mr. Conger, July 28. "Had
lost all hope of ever seeing you again. Prospect
now brighter. We had thirty days' shelling here,
nine days' siege — thought that bad enough.
Scarcely a house escaped damage. Excitement
at home intense, of course. Our prayers and
hope are for your speedy rescue. Advance of
troops to-morrow probable."

From J. S. Mallory, Lieutenant-colonel 41st
U. S. Infantry. "A relief column of 10,000 is on
the point of starting for Peking; more to follow.
God grant they may be in time."

Colonel Warren to Captain Myers. "Have
been trying to reach you ever since June 21.
Relieved the foreign settlement June 23. Sey-
mour, June 24. Captured east arsenal June 26;
captured west arsenal July 10; captured Tientsin
city July 14. Will advance in two days. Col-
umn 10,000 strong, — EngHsh, American and
Japanese ; 40,000 more following in a few days.
Hold on by all means. First column will sup-
port you and divert enemy from you. There
will be eight regiments of United States infantry,
three of cavalry and two batteries of artillery;
also five hundred marines. Infantry will be in
the first column. Enemy strongly intrenched
seventeen miles north of here (Yangtsun), and
at two points farther on."

The Customs volunteers took up a new posi-

NOTES FROM TSUNG-LI-YAMEN 135

tion on the Mongol market, on the southwest
of the British legation.

August 3. Another message was received
from the yamen requesting us to leave the
legation and go to Tientsin. The Chinese are
extremely anxious to get us out of Peking, as
they think that with us out of the way the
armies will have no particular reason to come
to Peking and will be content to settle up mat-
ters at Tientsin.

August 4. A great deal of firing all night.
Two Russians were wounded while building a
barricade, one of whom died during the night.

August 6. A sharp fusillade at i A.M., other-
wise a quiet day. The firing, which throughout
the first few days after the truce amounted only
to a few scattering shots, has come to be nearly
as hot as before the truce, and attacks are being
made again every night.

August 8. The ministers received an official
message from the tsung-li-yamen saying: "By an
imperial edict dated August 7, full power has
been granted to Li Hung Chang to discuss and
arrange all matters by telegraph with the foreign
offices of all the powers."

Colonel Shiba reported that a Chinese outside
coolie came in to say that all the troops in
Peking, with the exception of five battalions of
Jung Lu's, have been, or are going to be, dis-

136 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

patched in great haste to meet the foreign
troops ; he does not know where the latter are.
He adds that another 50,000 foreign troops have
been landed at Taku.

August 9. Sniper firing all day from Tung
Fu Hsiang's troops, especially at the customs

LI HUNG CHANG
China's greatest Viceroy

position in the Mongol market. The latter were
several times silenced by volleys from the Nor-
denfeldt machine gun mounted on a parapet
built against the west wall of the legation. No
firing from Jung Lu's troops at all.

August 10. Very heavy rifle-fire from all
sides about 3 A. M. A messenger sent out to
meet the troops returned, bringing a letter from

CHEERING DISPATCH FROM GASELEE 137

General Gaselee, the British general in command,
also one from General Fukushima. General
Gaselee's letter is dated south of Tsaitsun,
August 8: "Strong forces of allies advancing.
Twice defeated enemy. Keep up your spirits."

The following letter from General Fukushima
to Colonel Shiba was received : "Camp at Chang-
chiang, two kilometers north of Nantsaitsun,
August 8, 1900 — Japanese and American troops
defeated the enemy on the 5th instant near
Pietsang, and occupied Yangtsun on the 6th.
The allied forces, consisting of American, British,
Russian, and Japanese, left Yangtsun this morn-
ing, and while marching north I received your
letter at 8 A. M. at a village called Nantsaitsun.
It is very gratifying to learn from you that the
foreign community at Peking are holding on,
and believe me it is the earnest and unanimous
desire of the lieutenant-general and all of us to
arrive at Peking as soon as possible, and deliver
you from your perilous position. Unless some
unforeseen event takes place, the allied forces
will be at Hoshiwu on the 9th, Mat'ou on the
loth, Changchiawan on the nth, Tungchow on
the 1 2th and Peking on the 13th or 14th."

The messenger who brought in the letter told
the following story: On August 6 he went by
way of Tungchow, finding there that his family
had been murdered by the Boxers. On the 7th,

138 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

he met boat-loads of wounded and defeated Chi-
nese. At Tsaitsun he met the advance guard of
the allies. The evening of the 8th he marched
with the middle division to Chuanchang, six miles
south of Hoshiwu. On the morning of Thurs-
day, the 9th, he started with this division, which
expected to reach Hoshiwu that evening, but left
them and returned to Peking by the road to the
west. The troops have but few Chinese servants.
They have many pack animals, led mostly by
Japs. He saw a small number of Russians and
a body of several hundred mounted black (prob-
ably Bengal) lancers, who made fun and charged
at him with their spears. He asked how long
they would be before reaching Peking, and was
told five or six days, as the Chinese were not
stubbornly resisting, the allies merely having to
drive them on ahead of them.

The following is an extract from a telegram
received by Mr. Conger from the United States
consul at Chefoo : "All communications north of
this pass through this office. So far as known,
excluding army and navy, no Americans have
been killed, and there has been but little loss of
property south of Tientsin. All trouble confined
to Peking and Taku. The high officials are do-
ing their best to keep order. Very large force
of all nations at Taku."

August 12. Heavy firing all day.

HARDEST FIGHT OF ALL 139

August 13. The whole force of the artillery
possessed by us was brought to bear on the
Chinese position in the Mongol market, as the
Chinese seem to be making a last desperate at-
tempt to kill us all before the arrival of the
relief force, and it is expected that from that
quarter will come the fiercest attack.

Same date, 4 P. M. The yamen sent word
that if we would refrain from firing they would
positively stop all volleys on their side. This was
agreed to, and five hours later, though they had
been shooting all day, they made the most terrific
attack of the siege. This was kept up all night,
the very violent attacks being renewed at inter-
vals of about two hours.

At 4.30 in the morning, having been up all
night under the hottest fire mortals ever endured,
I had just dropped asleep, which even the heavy
shots did not prevent, when I was awakened by
the pop, pop, pop, at regular intervals of only
the fraction of a second, of an automatic gun.
As I knew the Chinese had no such gun in their
forces, and as our own Colt's gun was just out-
side the British legation gate to prevent a rush
down the moat between the British legation and
Lu Wang Fu, I instantly came to the conclusion
that the final rush, which would end the drama
and our lives, was being made.

I40 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Grasping my double-barreled shotgun, I rose
from the floor, where I had just thrown myself
down, and stepped outside in front of the lega-
tion chapel. As I did so I heard the thunder
of heavy guns in the direction of the Tungchow
gate. Then the situation was clear. The relief
were outside the city engaging the Chinese troops,
and the automatic gun was not ours, but theirs.

I dropped on my knees in the roadway and
put up a few words of thanksgiving to Almighty
God, and then, rising, called out the good news
to those inside the houses, in excited tones. Oh,
the sweetness of those sounds ! Shall I ever for-
get how delightful to our ears? How anxious
I felt when they ceased for a few moments, and
how happy when they were resumed !

The Chinese attacking us heard them too, and
for a while somewhat slackened their fire to lis-
ten; but only for a while, for they kept up a hot
fire all day.

Poor Mitchell, the brave American gunner,
was wounded in the night, having his arm broken
by a bullet from the Mongol market attack, but
he smiled a grim smile when the guns were heard
outside, and remarked: "Oh, you can keep up
your devilish racket now, but in a little while
longer you will be silent enough!"

At about four o'clock the Americans on the
wall saw men in foreign uniforms directly oppo-

ALLIES AT THE GATES!

141

site them. While the Americans and Japanese
had attacked the Tungchow stone road gate and
the Pieu gate, the Enghsh had found the Shah-
kuo gate entirely open and unguarded, and had

SIKH POLICEMAN

The two Oriental types, East Indian and the Chinese, are
plainly shown in this picture. The policeman looms up almost
like a giant in the midst of his Celestial neighbors.

hastened, as directed by our notes of advice, to
the water-gate, directly under the eastern ex-
tremity of the American position on the wall.
The Sikhs came pouring up to the gate, which
they soon smashed in, and then the hurrahs that

142

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

rent the skies told those in the houses and in
the hospital that the siege was over.

Just as the relief forces were pouring into the
British legation, the first woman to be wounded
during the siege, Mme. Cuillier, a French woman,
was struck by a Mauser rifle bullet in the thigh
and seriously, but not dangerously, wounded.

The following table shows the number of
officers and men who were killed or wounded,
and those who died of disease during the siege :

Number
of

Killed or
died of
wounds

Wounded

Casualties in
per cent

Died of
disease

Volunt'rs
and inde-
pendents

Total

«■
e

ci
Z

B
u

y
'a

B
V

Am'can
Aust'an
British .
French .
German
Jap'nese
Russian
Italian..

3
5
3
3
I
I

2
I

53
30

79
45
50
24
79
28

I
I
2

7
3

9
12

5
4
7

I
I

8
8
18
37
15
21
18
II

12. S
II. 4

3-7
22.9
23. s
20.0

4-9
24.1

17.8

37.4
24.4
77.1

31-4
84.0
23.9
41.4

30.3

42.8

28.1

100. 0

54-9

104.0

28.3

65.5

v§

2
I*

6
6

7
4
6

13
13
10

7
7

11
II
26

43
16
29
20
12

Total

388

126

13. 1

35.6

48.7

••

168

* Baron Von Ketteler.
tMr. Cordes.

t Includes Captain Anlo.
§ Cossacks of the Legation.

CHAPTER VI

REFLECTIONS, INCIDENTS, AND MEMORANDA WRITTEN
DURING SIEGE

ONE of the most no-
ticeable effects of
siege-life has been
to bring out into promi-
nence all the mean and
selfish characteristics of
the individual, as well as
the heroic and self-sacri-
ficing. People who in
times of peace pass for
very nice, sociable indi-
viduals, with no particu-
larly mean tendencies,
when subjected to depri-
vation in the food-supply,
and their nerves become
a bit shattered with the
sound of whistling bul-
lets, the shrieking of fly-
ing shells, or the dull
thud followed by the
crashing and grinding of solid shot, show up in
their true bedrock character, and are meanness
to the core.

(H3)

WANG
Minister Conger's head servant

144 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

It has been most interesting to observe the
dissolution of previous friendships, often of years'
standing, and the making of new ones between
individuals formerly more or less at variance.
This has come about sometimes from a man or
woman with a sick child, or sick member of his
or her family having no supplies of their own,
begging a tin of milk or a can of soup or some
little delicacy or necessity from a friend having
abundance of stores. Upon a flat refusal on the
ground that he has none he can spare, the afore-
time friend realizes the depth of the former
friendship and has no wish to continue it.

Again, another instance : A gentleman has
gone to inquire of a person in authority in a cer-
tain establishment, where he is to move another
gentleman, a mutual friend, ill and unable to
take care of himself, to a place of safety, from
quarters no longer tenable, and is told: "If you
have been near the sick man, keep away from
me. Do what you please with him, only keep
away from me and mine, as we are fearful of
contagion." "But what do you advise?" persists
the inquirer of his quondam friend and superior.
"I don't advise anything," is the reply. "Is he to
be left alone to die or be captured, where he is?"
still persists the anxious friend. "That is none
of my business," is the heartless answer, destroying
a friendship which had existed for twenty years.

"A FRIEND IN NEED" 145

Then, too, it has been an interesting study
to watch the effects on the optimistic man and
the pessimistic man of the various rumors
that have drifted in through occasional reports
from captives or deserters from the enemy's
troops.

The optimist beHeves that our enemies are
discouraged, are short of ammunition, are fight-
ing among themselves, are firing high purposely
not to injure us ; that the relief force is very
near, that flashes of heat lightning are search-
lights of our friends, etc.

The pessimist believes the powers are fighting
among themselves to prevent relief until no one
power has more troops in the relief than any
other; scouts the idea of search-lights ; says that
the provisions are nearly exhausted ; sees new
barricades erected by the enemy every night ;
recounts the fatal casualties, increasing each day,
and notes the diminishing strength of the re-
mainder, and, moreover, fully believes and con-
stantly asserts that we are only staving off for a
little while an inevitable general massacre.

One must admit that to know that eleven of
the powers of the world are kept away, or are
staying away, from relieving their ministers, with
their families and nationals, for two months, at
a distance of only eighty miles from navigation
by large vessels, is a circumstance rather calcu-
j

146

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

A WOMAN OF NORTH CHINA

It is not easy to obtain pictures of the
women of the upper classes of China.
The beautiful cape with the elaborate
embroidery, the little feet mounted upon
pedestals, and that sign of high no-
bility, the long finger nails, shown by
nail protectors on the third and fourth
fingers of the left hand, are evidences that
this woman is of China's "four hundred."

lated to increase
pessimism.

Before the siege
began I heard the
United States min-
ister say that if the
Boxers destroyed a
single station on the
Peking-Hankow rail-
road, known popu-
larly as the Lu Han
road, they would
have a horde of Cos-
sacks protecting the
line within a fort-
night. Yet of the
15,000 Russians re-
ported to have been
in Port Arthur, when
the entire Lu Han
line and the Peking-
Tientsin railroad was
destroyed, not a man
has as yet (August
13th) reached Pe-
king. The Boxers
are still seen from
our loopholes, and
make our nights

PROPHETS WITHOUT HONOR 147

hideous with their horn-blowing and incessant
rifle-fire.

We were also told by those wiseacres, the
foreign ministers, that Japan could and would
have 50,000 men in Peking if one member of
their legation was injured. Their second and
third secretaries have been killed, their legation
guard has been almost annihilated, and we see,
as yet, no new Japanese faces.

Again, Captain Myers assured us the Ameri-
cans could easily spare 10,000 men from the
Philippines, who could reach Peking in, at
longest, two weeks; but two months have now
gone by, and they have not materialized.

The people who have, on the whole, stood
the *siege best are the missionaries. They have
been more crowded than any others, all the
Americans being compelled to occupy the Brit-
ish legation chapel, where they are, indeed,
closely packed, while the English missionaries
occupy part of the first secretary's house.

The Americans have formed into two messes,
the Presbyterians and Methodists eating at one
time, the Congregationalists, who are in the
majority, at another. They brought in with
them considerable provisions in the way of
tinned stores, but have been compelled to draw
from their commissariat their supply of rice and
cracked wheat every day.

148 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

The foreign ministers guaranteed the three
shopkeepers of Peking, Messrs. Krueger, of
Kierullf & Co., Imbeck, and Chamot, the
amount of their stock if they would turn it
into a commissary's hands for distribution to
the entire community as needed. This was at
once done, and a commissary department ap-
pointed to take charge.

Many of the besieged owned ponies or mules,
which were also placed under a committee,
consisting of Messrs. Dering, Allardyce, and
Brazier. One or two of these animals have been
killed each day, and each person (foreigner) has
been allowed to draw half a pound of meat.
Many at first could not be persuaded to even
taste horse-meat or mule-meat ; but after several
weeks of siege-life there were very few who did
not daily go to the butchery for their supply.

The meat has been inspected every day by a
physician, and a certificate of healthy flesh given
to the butcher before the meat was allowed to
be dispensed. One of the British marines, Wil-
liam Betts, of the Royal Marine Light Infantry,
had been a butcher previous to enlistment, and
his services have been most valuable to the
entire community.

The Chinese coolies are fed with soup made
from the bones, the head, and cleaned entrails.
Not an ounce of the flesh has been wasted.

A PEKING BELLE

Perhaps, after looking at this picture, there will not be so much
wonder that occasionally a Caucasian selects a Chinese girl for a
wife. That there are very attractive Chinese girls this picture evi-
dences. The clothing, the ornaments, and the surroundings are
all typical.

150 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Many of the ponies that took part in the
Peking spring meeting as racers, last May, have
since served us with juicy steaks or toothsome
sausages. The mule-meat is considered to be
better, on the whole, than horse-meat, and in
this opinion I fully concur. As we have only
one donkey in the compound, none of us has
as yet tried donkey-flesh ; but the Chinese assure
us it is even better than the larger animals.

Several days since one of the two cows in
the compound, having gone dry, was killed for
food, and a notice was placed on the bulletin
board at the bell-tower that applications for
portions of the meat would be received from all
women and children, but that only such men as
were wounded or ill could, upon a physician's
certificate, receive a portion.

Every one wanted some, expecting to highly
enjoy a taste of fresh beef and a change from
horse. The result was most disappointing.
The cow was old and tough, and her flesh in-
finitely inferior to the regular ration of horse or
mule.

The Chinese Christians, supported by us in the
Su Wang Fu, having been for weeks upon noth-
ing but cracked wheat or "hao Hang" gruel, were
longing for some animal food, and begged they
might be given some of the dogs that continued
to come from all over the city to feed each

CANINE FOOD PARTAKEN OF 151

night upon the refuse in the moat between the
Su Wang Fu and the British legation.

A few foreigners with shotguns, therefore, sal-
lied forth yesterday and killed eight good-sized
specimens of the canine race, that were forthwith
handed over to the hungry converts for their
consumption. Dog-hunting as a food supply
will not be neglected in the future.

As after July i8th the shelling ceased, and
some of the enemies' soldiers, with an eye to
business, brought a few eggs to the Japanese
barricade for sale, a market department was es-
tablished and placed under the care of Messrs.
A. D. Brent and J. M. Allardyce, where eggs
could be obtained pro rata for numbers of
women and children in a household, compared
with the supply on hand. These eggs were sold
at four cents each. But often the supply only
admitted of one egg being sold to a household
of women or children. At other times an egg
each could be obtained daily. But alas ! the
Chinese soldiers soon found out what their sol-
diers were doing, and promptly stopped it, so
that after August 6th the market was obliged to
close from lack of eggs.

On July 20th, two days after the shelling
ceased, the tsung-li-yamen sent a present to the
ministers of one hundred watermelons, seventy
eggplants, sixty vegetable squashes, and one

152 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

hundred cucumbers. Some few of the besieged,
besides the diplomats, thus obtained the first
taste of fresh vegetables they had enjoyed for a
month.

The ministers' request to the yamen that
vegetable-venders be allowed to come to the
barricades or the great gate, however, was de-
nied, and we have since had no further supply.
It is hard to know that within half a mile of us
in any direction there is an abundance of fresh
fruits and vegetables, and yet, owing to the
closeness of our investment by the hostile
troops, we cannot obtain a cent's worth.

On August 5th, while I was standing talking
with a Japanese sentry, on an outpost barricade
of the Su Wang Fu, a Chinese soldier in full uni-
form walked quickly up the narrow lane our
barricade commanded toward us. I called on
the Japanese to fire on him, but he remarked :
"Let him come on ; he has no gun, and may
want to sell something."

True enough, just before reaching us he held
up his hand in front of his face to indicate that
he wished to speak, and so was allowed to come
around the corner of the barricade. He was a
young man of not over twenty-five, but showed
the marks of being a confirmed opium-eater.

"I have brought you some eggs," he re-
marked, hastily exposing ten of the precious

EGGS EAGERLY SOUGHT 153

ovules to view. The Jap counted out forty cents
and gave him, and advised him to clear out,
which he speedily did, remarking as he left: ^'I
will lose my head if I am caught at this." As he

Chinese gentleman entertaining a friend with an opium pipe

could buy the eggs in the market for five cents,
his percentage of profit was very handsome.

After the so-called truce of July i8th, the na-
tive soldiers occupying the wall to the east of
the American marines' barricade strictly observed
the terms of the truce, and never either enlarged
their barricade nor fired another shot.

154 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

These were the only ones, however, who did
so. From all the other barricades we were fre-
quently fired on, and every night or two a vig-
orous attack would be made upon us, during
which the Chinese would expend many hundred
rounds of ammunition, firing their rifles into our
barricades or the roofs of our houses, and scarcely
doing any damage, as we would all seek shelter
until the enemy were tired out.

Only once or twice did they actually come out
from behind their barricades with the intention
apparently of rushing us ; but upon receiving a
volley, and having several killed or wounded,
they would hastily bolt back again to cover.

One night the author was selected by Adjutant
Squiers to lead a company of ten coolies in an
attempt to remove the stinking carcasses of two
mules that had been lying festering in the rays of
the summer sun for several days, directly under
the noses of the American marines entrenched
at foot of the city wall. The stench they emit-
ted was overpowering, but there seemed to be
no way to remove them, as to show a head, even,
at the barricade was certain to bring a volley from
the Chinese on the wall to the east, just beyond
the moat. The situation having grown unen-
durable, it was necessary to risk life even to re-
move them, and had to be attempted.

Mr. Squiers formed the plan to have ten

A TRYING TASK

155

coolies, under a foreigner, go quietly at night
through the alley-ways and court-yards that had
been cut through to communicate with the
American legation,
to the moat directly
under the Chinese
on the wall. From
thence we were to
crawl forward to-
ward the barricade,
where our men were
warned not to fire
upon us, tie a rope
around a mule, slip
back toward the
moat, and drag the
mule after us, and
down into the moat,
where it could sub-
sequently be covered
with kerosene oil
and burned.

With ten volunteer

coolies all dressed in ^ comer in the reception room of a wealthy
1 f 1 1 , Chinese srentleman, in Peking

dark clothes, and

warned not to speak or even whisper, I under-
took the task.

We reached the position on the wall street
without incident, and I was congratulating myself

156 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

we would succeed without the Chinese discovering
us, when one of the cooHes unfortunately struck
his foot against a tin can and sent it ratthng across
the road. Instantly a volley was fired upon us
from the Chinese barricade, only some fifty yards
distant, and a perfect hail of bullets struck all
about us.

"Drop on your faces and lie still," I com-
manded in a hoarse whisper, which was promptly
obeyed.

We lay still for about fifteen minutes. Then
I sent one coolie crawling'on toward the nearest
mule, only ten yards away, and he soon had the
noose slipped over his head and returned.

We dragged the animal quietly enough, until
just at the corner of the bridge, where a lot of
tins, bottles, and refuse had been dumped in the
early days of the siege, and before the Chinese
had obtained their present position by driving
the Germans from the wall in the rear of their
legation.

When the animal passed over these obstacles
a loud grating, rattling noise was made, and a
second volley poured down from the wall. But
this time the corners of the stone bridge pro-
tected us and we were in no danger.

After another wait of fifteen minutes, during
which time all became quiet again, we returned
and repeated the operation on the second mule.

FILTH REMOVED 157

dragging his fragran,t (?) carcass alongside the
first, and completing our work under a third
volley, equally harmless.

I received the thanks of Mr. Squiers and the
entire marine guard for this service, as it ren-

SOUTHERN WALL OF TARTAR CITY

This picture gives an idea of the vastness of the ancient defenses
of Peking and of the unhygienic character of its surroundings.
Across the canal are to be seen the straggling buildings of a Tartar
village. Immediately in the foreground lie the stagnant waters of
the canal and piles of reeking filth.

dered their position much more bearable there-
after, and their gratitude fully repaid me for the
danger incurred.

Directly across a moat leading from the Im-
perial city wall to the southern wall of the Tartar
city of Peking, opposite to the British legation,
is a large square compound, known in the local

158 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

mandarin tongue as Su Wang Fu, or in plain
English as the palace of Prince Su.

This prince inherited the title from his father
only two years ago. He is a young man of
rather pleasant appearance, about thirty years of
age. I have dined with him twice at the resi-
dence of his next younger brother, who was a
patient of mine last winter.

This compound is surrounded by a stout brick
wall from twelve to fifteen feet high. Lying, as
the place does, in between the British and Aus-
trian legations, it was decided to take possession
of it for the thousand -odd Christian refugees,
mostly Catholics, who had claimed the protec-
tion of their teachers, the missionaries, when the
cathedrals and mission premises were burned.

The idea of doing this originated with Mr.
F. H. James, who was killed on the bridge by
Kansu soldiers a few days after the occupation.
Dr. G. E. Morrison warmly seconded it, and
the plan was carried out without opposition from
Prince Su or his retainers, as actual warfare had
not yet broken out.

This palace consists of a lot of rather fine
(for Chinese buildings) edifices, all of one story,
arranged in a series of courts, with a considerable
park on the west side facing on the moat dividing
the palace from the British legation.

As less than a hundred yards' space is taken

SHIBA HOLDS THE COMPOUND 159

up by the width of the moat and the roadway
on either side, it will be readily seen that to
hold this compound was to protect the entire
east side of the British legation from the Chinese
fire.

Colonel Shiba, the Japanese commandant, with
his twenty-five soldiers, was first placed in charge,
but later on he was reinforced from time to
time by detachments from the Austrians, Italians,
British, and French marines, and by the young
men of the customs service, known as the Cus-
toms volunteers.

The most determined efforts of the siege have
been made by the Chinese troops and Boxers to
obtain possession of the palace — first, doubtless,
because it commanded the entire east wall of
the British legation at short range, and secondly,
because they desired to exterminate the thousand-
odd refugees — men, women, and children — har-
bored there. Consequently, the loss of life of
our defenders and the number of wounded
brought from the Su Wang Fu into the hos-
pital has greatly exceeded that of any other one
place.

To Colonel Shiba, its heroic defender, is due
the greatest credit, inasmuch as he has held the
place for weeks, after the other commanders
had prophesied it would have to be given urp in
twenty-four hours.

i6o BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

This he has been enabled to do by building
barricade after barricade in the rear of his first
line of defense, at often less than fifty yards' dis-
tance, and when one barricade was shelled until
absolutely untenable, retreating to the next strong
position in his rear.

Colonel Shiba also enlisted all the Japanese
civilians in the city, and even trained twenty-
five of the native Catholic converts into very
steady soldiers, arming them with rifles taken
from the bodies of dead soldiers of the enemy.

In addition to the military officers who arrived
with the legation guards, there happened to be
in Peking at the commencement of the siege
two English captains, one to study Chinese, the
other representing a concession syndicate — Cap-
tains Poole and Percy Smith. Both of the gen-
tlemen have rendered efficient and valuable ser-
vice, and, since the death of Captain Strouts,
have been on regular duty.

A curious fact, interesting alike to English
and Americans, is that on the Fourth of July,
after Captain Myers had been wounded in the
sortie on the city wall the previous night. Captain
Percy Smith commanded the American marines
in the trench on the wall all day, under hot fire
from cannon and rifles, and the marines speak
in the highest terms of his bravery and coolness,
and his care for their comfort and safety.

OFFICERS AND CIVILIANS HELP i6i

Mr. E. von Strauch, formerly first lieutenant
in the German army, but now a member of the
customs service, has also rendered valuable ser-
vice in relieving the officer in charge at all the
various posts, such as the city wall, held by the
Americans ; the Su Wang Fu, held by Colonel
Shiba; the Hanlin Yuan, held by the British, and
other points outside the legation. The men also
express the highest regard for him.

So much for the outside officers. Among
civilians deserving credit are many who have
daily and faithfully done the work apportioned
to them in capacities where they have been un.-
noticed, but where their work has contributed
much to the general comfort, and some of them
at least should be mentioned.

Messrs. Allardyce and Brazier in the meat
supply department, Mr. S. M. Russell in the
commissary department, Mr. Stell in the coolie
supply department, Dr. Chauncey Goodrich and
Messrs. Walker and Whiting in the coolies' food
supply, together with Messrs. Tewkesbury, Ho-
bart, and Norris, all have steadily worked for the
common good, often both day and night.

It has been noticed bya great many English-
men and others that the Russians besieged with
us have been of uniformly gentlemanly and cour-
teous bearing. They have won golden opinions
from all, with the exception, perhaps, of one

1 62 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

intensely biased newspaper correspondent, who
reads in the most commonplace saying some
deeply-concealed meaning, and some unkind in-
tention toward the British interests. A Russian
gentleman is a perfect gentleman, and uniformly
a marvelous linguist.

I have several times been present in a room
with a Frenchman, a German, and an Italian,
with whom several Russians carried on animated
conversations, addressing each man in his own
language, and apparently with equal fluency.

From M. de Giers, down through his whole
legation, the professors of Russian in the Im-
perial University and Tung Wen Kuan, the offi-
cers and clerks of the Russo-Chinese bank, one
can find none who are not perfect gentlemen
and most agreeable companions.

Baron von Radew, the captain in charge of the
Russian marines, has been a most devoted officer,
and every point of his defenses has had his con-
stant personal supervision. He has never un-
dressed to sleep in the last two months, but has
taken the broken rest he has obtained lying in a
steamer chair in one of his barricades. He has
lost greatly in flesh, and is but a skeleton of his
former self, but remains the same courteous
officer and gentleman under circumstances that
have altered the dispositions of not a few.

If the diplomatic corps in Peking could only

HOUSE BOATS

Used for interior travel on Chinese rivers. Families pass their entire
existence on these boats. Some are fitted very comfortably.

i64 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

have heard the many and varied contemptuous
remarks made about them by their own nationals,
both before and during the siege, they would
perhaps have a new idea of what their titles of
"envoys extraordinary" meant. As I heard one
gentleman remark: "After this lot are disposed
of, I hope they will send us a set of ' envoys
ordinary' — common - sense kind of men, who
have eyes and ears."

It is certainly marvelous that with the infor-
mation so readily obtainable as to the Boxer
movement, its aims and intentions, and after hav-
ing it forced almost upon them, as the British,
American and French ministers certainly have
had by their missionaries and others, the diplo-
matic corps should have blindly allowed them-
selves to be penned up in Peking with only a
handful of guards, to endure treatment as dis-
graceful as it has been unpleasant.

True, M. Pichon urged his colleagues early
to send for legation guards, and wanted them in
larger numbers, but even he, after constant as-
surances from Bishop Faner (who was perfectly
informed as to the gravity of the movement and
the Imperial sanction) , declined to act indepen-
dently and allowed the situation to proceed to
the utmost extremity before he believed the priest
true and the tsung-li-yamen false.

A very blue lot they have been during the

LOW ESTIMATE OF ENVOYS 165

siege. Although better fed than the unfortunates
— the results of their credulity — compelled to
suffer with them, they have not been pleasant
company, and have been allowed to flock together
as birds of a feather, and discuss at length the
utter neglect of their home governments in not
speedily rescuing them.

The rest of us poor mortals have long since
come to the conclusion that our governments
have found out their true value, and have decided
they are not worth a rescue.

The Belgian minister having arrived only a few
weeks before the siege began, is not to blame
for the position, and he wonders as much as the
ordinary mortal how his colleagues could have
allowed it to come to pass.

Is it possible that England and America, if they
had been informed of the true state of affairs by
their representatives, would not have requested
their ministers to notify all the foreign women
and children to leave the country?

When a foreign war is inevitable, even in a
civilized country, it is a necessity for non-com-
batants to leave. In a barbarous country it means
murder, often with torture, to remain; yet our
missionaries in Paotingfu and places inland were
not warned that their district troubles were not
local, but general, and that they should hasten
to the coast, to be nearer protection.

i66 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Some of the wiser English people among us
assert that " so far from being blamed by their
government for the siege, and loss of life ac-
companying it, their minister will be praised for
bringing us safely through it, and receive a higher
decoration if not a baronetcy; just as he was re-
warded before for failing to keep his govern-
ment informed of the Russians being the real
owners of the Fu Haw railroad, receiving at that
time some alphabetical additions to his signature."

John Brown is much improved by being called
Sir John Brown, P. I. G. — which may mean "per-
fectly independent gentleman."

Posterity, however, will read of this siege with
amazement, and wonder how so many blind and
deaf men came to be appointed to the same post
at one time. Truly a remarkable coincidence.

CHAPTER VII

ffORK DURING SIEGE DONE BY RUSSIANS — WORK BY
AMERICANS

THE Russian lega-
tion is situated on
the north side of
Legation street, directly
opposite the United
States legation, one
hundred and fifty yards
west of the moat that
runs northward from
the city wall to the wall
of the Forbidden City;
between the British
legation and the Su
Wang Fu. Consequently, the Russian legation
is directly south of the British legation, and sepa-
rated from it only by a small street containing
shops of the humbler sort.

Immediately upon a state of siege being de-
clared, the foreign guards took possession of
this street, drove out the inhabitants, barricaded
both ends of the highway, and so made it possi-
ble to go with safety directly from the position
held by the American marines on the city wall,

(167)

YOUAN CHANG

Beheaded August 9, because he fa-
vored making peace with foreigners.

i68 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

through the American legation, across Legation
street, also barricaded, through the Russian lega-
tion, and on into the British legation — one con-
tinuous foreign occupation. This was a necessity
for our protection, and to secure for the Ameri-
can and Russian marines a safe retreat into the
British legation in the event of their own loca-
tions being no longer tenable.

At the beginning of the siege the following
persons resided in the Russian legation : His
Eminence M. de Giers, envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary, his wife, daughter and
son, and Miss Edith Miller, a governess in his
family ; B. N. Kroupensky, first secretary ; B. N.
Evreinow, second secretary ; P. S. PopofT, inter-
preter; Mme. Popoff and five daughters; N. F.
KolessoflF, second interpreter; A. T. Beltchenko
and H. P. WulfT, student interpreters; V. V.
Korsakoff, M.D., surgeon, wife and daughter;
N. T. Gomloyeff, postmaster; A. Polyanoff, clerk
in post office ; the Rt.-Rev. Father Archimandrite
Innocent Figuroflfsky; the Rev. Father Abraham,
Deacon Basile, Messrs. OsipoflF and Piskimoff,
ecclesiastical students. This comprised the lega-
tion personnel.

There was also the staff of the Russo-Chinese
bank, consisting of the following persons : D. D.
PokotilofT, company manager for China and
Japan, and his wife; D. M. Pozdneeff, his wife

OUR RUSSIAN FRIENDS

169

and child ; R. T. Barbier, wife and child ; Mile.
C. Titoff ; E. Wihlfahrt, cashier; F. Vavier, book-
keeper; Messrs, Brackmann, Mirny, Alexandroff,
Wasilieff, Brauns, and Kehler; and Mr. A. W.

I Hi ■■■

-•# \^

Russian Minister and Staff of Legation and their families

Borodavkine, professor of Russian in the Im-
perial University.

The Russian guards were sailors from the
battleships Navarine and Sissoi Veliku, to the
number of seventy-two men, under Naval Lieu-
tenant Baron von Rahden and Sub-Lieuftenant

170 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Carl von Dehn, with seven trans-Baikalian Cos-
sacks.

Captain Jean Wroublevsky, who was on lan-
guage-leave, also resided in the legation, and
acted with Baron von Rahden alternately as
commander of the forces. Captain Wroublevsky
belongs to the Ninth Rifle Corps, stationed at
Port Arthur.

Some of the staflf of the Russo-Chinese bank
served in the British legation under the orders
of Captain Strouts until his death, and thereafter
under Sir Claude MacDonald, who assumed
command, but Messrs. Kroupensky, Evreinow,
Kolessofif, Beltchenko, Dr. Korsakoff, and Pro-
fessor Borodavkine constituted themselves Rus-
sian volunteers, and remained by their legation
throughout the siege, never becoming a part of
the so-called international volunteers serving in
the British legation.

These Russian volunteers did splendid service
in the defense of the Legation street west en-
trance, in the Mongol market to the northwest,
and in the various posts and barricades on the
city wall, in conjunction with the American
marines.

The Russian sailors and the American marines
fraternized at once ; but the sailors were quite
pleased to find their duties did not often bring
them into contact with the British marines, for

A GROUP OF DEFENDERS

171

■*
^'^.

■s- ^

•

IKpl

WK^^^j

VOLUNTEERS OF THE RUSSO-CHINESE BANK

This picture was not taken during the Siege, as these gentle-
men had something else to do during that time. It was not even
taken after the Siege, and it is a question whether they will ever
be as happy and free from care again. One has passed away for-
ever, the gentleman in the chair to the right, who was killed in
an engagement with the Boxers. After hard fighting, in which a
number were killed, the Boxers carried away his body.

whom they felt a natural antipathy. Not that
there has been the slightest disagreement or
open bad blood between those two nationalities,
but they seem to have been mutually pleased to
remain apart.

The Russian sailors did much more manual
labor than any others of the besieged. The

172 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Americans, English, French, Itahans, etc., were
quite satisfied to have all their barricades built
for them by the Chinese Christians, working
under their missionary teachers or a foreign
interpreter; but the Russian sailors pitched in
and built, as well as manned, all their own
barricades.

Their commander. Baron von Rahden, stated
that upon his arrival his men were mostly green
farmers, recently enlisted as sailors, and very few
of them had had any military experience or even
knew the proper handling of a rifle ; but after
■ association for a few weeks with the well-trained
American marines under constant fire, they had
developed wonderfully fast, and he felt, at the
end of the siege, that he had a body of men
under him well trained, steady, and cool.

A detachment of these sailors accompanied
the American marines in the expedition to the
south cathedral, and assisted in the rescue of
three hundred native Catholic Christians. At this
place they killed seventy Boxers and took ten
prisoners that they afterward handed over to the
Chinese authorities for punishment; but, doubt-
less, instead of being punished they were well
rewarded.

While these ten ruffians were confined in the
legation jail, one man succeeded in getting his
hands free and loosing one other. Being dis-

NERVE OF THE SAILORS * 173

covered, they assaulted their sentry with a brick
and attempted to make their escape ; but one
being promptly shot and killed, the other sur-
rendered and was again bound.

During the many heavy attacks by Tung Fu
Hsiang's soldiers at the we^t end of Legation
street, these sailors behaved with great courage,
and with their American marine companions
never failed to drive the Kansu ruffians back,
until finally the Chinese became discouraged at
their lack of success in rushes, and settled down
to a policy of sniping from behind their heavy
barricades.

They were such poor marksmen, however,
that not one in a thousand of their rifle shots
took eflfect, and the Russian losses all told
amounted only to four killed and eighteen
wounded.

Their outposts commanded the entire Mongol
market, overlooking the southwestern wall of
the British legation, and they alone commanded
this district until August 5, some weeks after
the active shelling had ceased, when Lieutenant
Von Strauch took up a new position in the
extreme north of the Mongol market, and drew
some of the snipers' fire in another direction.

The Chinese, early in the siege, planted a
Krupp gun on the Chien Men or main gate of
the city, and from this position of vantage

174 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

shelled the minister's house and other buildings
of the legations very severely ; but their aim
was so bad that many of their shells passed not
only over the Russian legation, but over the
British legation and Su Wang Fu as well, finally
falling or exploding among their own people
more than a mile away from their intended
target.

Doubtless more Chinese have been killed by
their own shells and rifles than we have killed.
As they always fired high, and completely sur-
rounded us, the balls that have constantly
whistled over our heads for two months must
have fallen among themselves.

They attribute to our good shooting a large
mortality that we know is a result, certainly in
part, of their bad shooting. In the sortie made
on the city wall the night of July 3d under
Captain Myers, which resulted in capturing the
Chinese barricades, several banners, and some
ammunition, the Russian sailors ably seconded
the United States marines.

Captain Wroublevsky on one side found it
impossible to pass in, and joined the marines in
forcing entrance into the other side. In this
sortie Baron von Rahden was struck on the
head with a brick and two sailors were wounded.
Of the Americans, Captain Myers was severely
wounded and two marines killed.

DOWN WITH THE WALLS!

175

Some of the best work of the Russians was
that done in burning many native houses and
then pulling down the walls in the Mongol
market that concealed sharpshooters of the enemy.

ON THE TOP OF CHINA'S GREAT WALL

Wall destroyed by the Russians after the Boxers got it. This
picture gives a good idea of the width of the Great Wall, and
looks almost like a field with vegetation growing, and the block-
house or fort erected upon it. The method of reaching the top of
the wall is shown by the driveway up the side, which it will be
observed, is completely commanded by the block-house. This wall
extends several thousand miles, and is said to represent the sacri-
fice of millions of lives, and labor beyond comprehension.

Had this not been done, the entire southwestern
part of the British legation would have been
under a constant sniping fire, such as they really

176 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

were exposed to during the first few days of
the siege, and until the Russians made a dash
into the Mongol market, drove out the Chinese,
and burned down their cover.

The Russians also joined in an unsuccessful
sortie, during which an attempt was made to
capture a cannon in the Su Wang Fu, but
owing to incorrect information as to its where-
abouts, the Italian officer commanding led his
men in the wrong direction, and after having
several men wounded, the party returned with-
out having accomplished anything.

In the fortification of their own legation they
have been untiring, and besides loop-holing and
building barricades, have dug a very deep trench
all along inside their west wall, or only exposed
side, which effectually prevented underground
mines from being undetected.

Russian sentries have, all through the siege,
been posted on the moat bridge at Legation
street, commanding the water-gate under the city
wall. Curiously enough, no attack has ever been
made from this quarter, yet to a foreigner it
appears a most advantageous opening for attack.

The Russo-Chinese bank was held by the vol-
unteers as long as it was possible to hold it, but
after the Chinese built a high barricade on the
wall just over the bank, it grew too hot to hold
and had to be evacuated.

RUSSIAN HEROISM 177

Mr. Wihlfahrt's house, directly under the wall,
was made a Chinese fort for a while, and the
Americans lost several men from snipers posted
there, until, finally, a rush was made and the
place destroyed.

The Russians have several times gone to other
places to assist in repelling serious attacks, on one
occasion to help Colonel Shiba in holding back
the Boxer forces at the Su Wang Fu. On this
occasion one man was seriously wounded. An-
other time they were called to help the German
legation. They have always cheerfully rendered
any assistance when called upon, and Baron von
Rahden, his fellow officers, and all the volun-
teers are highly thought of by the besieged.

Few people are aware that when all the troops
had left their outposts and retired into the Brit-
ish legation, owing to a mistaken order, four
Russian sailors still remained alone at a barri-
cade commanding the Mongol market, and by
keeping the Chinese soldiers from being aware
of the general retreat into the legation, made it
possible for the guards to return to the Amer-
ican, French, and German legations and the wall,
which otherwise could only have been done at
a frightful cost of lives.

The United States legation, usually spoken of
as the American legation, is pleasantly situated

178

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

UNITED STATES LEGATION
Dr. Coltman's rooms were at the left, Minister Conger's to the
right. The yard or "compound" is paved, with openings for the
trees and vegetation. The most attractive part of the house, as is
the case with nearly ail Chinese houses, is that which looks upon
the compound instead of the street.

on the south side of Legation street. It is, how-
ever, a very small compound. There is only one
building in it of foreign style of architecture,
utilized as a business office. The second secre-
tary had his residence in the upper portion of
this building.

PERSONNEL OF THE LEGATIONS 179

At the commencement of the siege the fol-
lowing persons were residing in the compound:
His Eminence E. H. Conger, minister, his wife,
daughter, niece, governess, and two lady guests
from Chicago, Mrs. and Miss Woodward; Mr.
H. G. Squiers, first secretary, his wife and four
sons; Mr. W. E. Bainbridge, second secretary,
and his wife; Mr. F. D. Cheshire, interpreter.
These comprised the legation staff.

There were also the following refugees, who
had been obliged to abandon their residences
and seek legation asylum : Dr. W. A. P. Martin,
president of the Imperial University and author
of the "Cycle of Cathay," "Hanlin Papers," and
other works, both in English and Chinese; Dr.
Robert Coltman, Jr., professor of surgery in the
Imperial University, author of "The Chinese —
Medical, Political and Social," with his wife and
six children; Mr. William N. Pethick, secretary
to Li Hung Chang, and three American mis-
sionary ladies, Mrs. Mateer, Miss Douw, and
Miss Brown.

In Mr. Squiers' family there was also a visi-
tor of distinction — Miss Condit-Smith, a niece
of Chief Justice Field, of the United States Su-
preme Court — as well as a French and a German
nursery governess.

The marine guard of fifty men was under the
command of Captains Myers and Hall, who, with

i8o

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Surgeon Lippett, consti-
tuted the officers of the
detachment. Captain
Hall, with twenty ma-
rines, had been for sev-
eral days at the Metho-
dist mission compound,
east of the Hatamen or
extreme southeast gate of
the city, but on June 20,
when it was decided to
abandon that compound,
and have the American
missionaries all move into
the British legation, Hall
and his men returned to
the American legation and
thereafter served there.
The fatigue endured by the United States ma-
rines in their constant service on the city wall
and in their barricade under the wall, as well as
the barricade at the western end of the com-
pound in Legation street, was simply killing.
That the men did not succumb is a marvel.

To Mrs, H. G. Squiers, more than any one
else, is due the credit of sustaining them with
cof?ee and biscuits sent out hot and refreshing
at midnight and at various times throughout the
day. Indeed this lady has acquired, by her hos-

Inside one ut the United States
Legation rooms

GRACIOUS HOSPITALITY

i»i

pitality and unfailing kindness, the affection of
not only her own nationals, but the regard of
every one besieged within the city. Many poor
fellows wounded in the hospital have blessed her
with their fevered lips for a cooling drink or a
nourishing broth prepared by her own hands.
Her well-furnished storeroom was placed at the
disposal of every one who was in need of food,
either as a necessity for the healthy or a deli-
cacy for the sick. The author has to express
his own unbounded gratitude for many a tin of
peas, tomatoes, or oatmeal that has helped to
render palatable the daily ration of horse-flesh
and rice that has
been his own and
his family's susten-
ance throughout our
imprisonment.

Under the most
trying circumstances
Mrs. Squiers has pre-
served a cheerful de-
meanor, and, assisted
by the ever calm and
always sociable Miss
Polly Condit- Smith,
has daily entertained
at her hospitable
board the officers.

A corner in the United States Legation

l82 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

civilians, diplomats, and missionaries with the
same cordiality.

When Dr. Velde, the able German surgeon
in charge of the hospital, was worn out with
fatigue and unable to find a quiet place for a
night's rest, he was provided by Mrs. Squiers
with a comfortable pallet, covered with a mos-
quito curtain, in a little closet room, usually
occupied by the German nurse, and so enabled
to obtain a rest that was an absolute necessity
to his continuing in service.

All of the American ladies have worked with
patience and perseverance, constantly making
the sand-bags which have so efficiently protected
the soldiers and the entire community from the
unceasing fire of bullets from the enemy. Every-
thing in the line of cloth has been used for this
purpose. Handsome linen table-cloths, rich silk
draperies, towels, gowns and dress materials
have been freely sacrificed to provide for the
defense.

When the wounded became numerous in our
quarters, and were nightly worried by those in-
fernal pests, the mosquitoes, the ladies cheer-
fully sent all their mosquito curtains to the
hospital to be used by their brave defenders to
alleviate their discomfort.

Every one realized when we became besieged
that we were in a position that only divine help

^•5L-^.- -

Mr. F. D. Cheshire
Interpreter

Mr. H. G. Squiers
First Secretary

Mr. E. H. Coneer

Minister

Mr. W. E. Bainbridge
Second Secretary

The United States Legation Staff

i84 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

and a speedy rescue could avail us. Surrender
under any circumstances now could only mean
butchery. We had seen the survivors of the
massacre at the south cathedral come among
us with little children almost hacked to pieces
by the cruel knives of the fanatical Boxers, and,
knowing their hatred for us, we well knew that
if the men were overcome, the women and
children must suffer a horrible death or worse.

Many of the men had resolved that at the
last fight they would themselves kill their wives
and daughters to prevent their suffering at the
hands of the incarnate devils that surrounded us.
My own wife never allowed me to leave her
upon a night-attack without first giving her my
revolver for the purpose of using it as a safe-
guard to herself and daughters in the event of my
non-return, and the overpowering of our forces.

The American marines led in the expedition
to the south cathedral to rescue the Catholic
Christians being killed there, and were accom-
panied by a Russian detachment and by civilians
W. N. Pethick and W. J. Duysberg. Here they
rescued over three hundred Christians, and
brought them safely to the American legation,
where their wounds were dressed by Drs. Lip-
pett, Korsakoff, and Coltman, and they were then
sent into the Su Wang Fu to be fed and cared
for until the end of the siege.

THREE NATIONS JOIN IN DEFENSE 185

The American marines also took part in the
expedition to the Boxer rendezvous temple, north
of the Austrian legation, in which fifty-six Boxers
were cornered and killed. Their bravery and
endurance has been noted by all. Their main
task — that of holding the city wall — should ren-
der their fame immortal. True, they have been
ably helped in this task from time to time by
both Russian and British marines, but the post
was theirs, and to them belongs preeminently
the glory of holding the position that, like the
Su Wang Fu, was a key to the place of last
stand — the British legation.

In the brilliant sortie on the night of July 3,
led by Captain Myers, both Russian and British
marines took part, and, although the credit has
usually been attributed to the Americans, Eng-
lish and Russians are equally deserving. When
on the point of springing over our barricade to
attack the Chinese position. Captain Myers ad-
dressed his men with ringing words of encour-
agement.

The Chinese had their first intimation of his
movement when they were saluted with a deaf-
ening yell directly under their barricade, for our
little force gave a tremendous shout, as instructed,
as they rushed around the one open side and
clambered over the breastwork.

Many of the Chinese fled, but the remainder

i86

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

poured a hot fire into the ranks of the invaders,
Privates Turner and Thomas of the Americans
being instantly killed by bullets, as reported, and

Robert Coltman, jrd, i654yrs. Rev. R. Coltman Dr. R. Coltman, Jr.
Eva D. Coltinan, If yrs. Chas. L. Coltman, 9 yrs. Alice C. Coltman, 13 yrs.

Mrs. R. Coltman Mrs. Dr. R. Coltman. Jr.

Wm. P. Coltman, 1% yrs. Mary O. Coltman, 4 yrs.

FAMILY OF THE AUTHOR

All of the persons in this group, with the exception of the au-
thor's father standing in the center, and his mother at the left,
suffered in the Siege.

Captain Myers severely wounded by a spear.
Corporal Gregory of the British marines was
also shot, and two Russian soldiers were wounded

WE HOLD THE WALL 187

by bullets; but the position was captured, and
the retention of the post on the wall assured, as
henceforth it would be possible to ascend the
ramp without being exposed to Chinese fire.

The Chinese fled to their second barricade,
a few hundred yards nearer the Chien Men,
which they have held ever since, and, although
they have shelled the American position captured
from them for days, they have never been able
to dislodge our men.

When the United States minister and his
family left the legation and sought refuge in the
British legation, they were given the house of
the British legation physician. Dr. Poole, for a
residence, and into this six-roomed house were
crowded four men, ten women and nine children.

Mr. Squiers, Mr. Cheshire, and Mr. Pethick
continued to remain at the United States lega-
tion. The legation building was peppered with
bullets the livelong day, and shelled at intervals
with three-inch shells from both city gates, east
and west, until all the roofs were full of holes,
and the gatehouse completely demolished, the
flagstaff being cut through and the flag falling
to the ground. It was speedily picked up, how-
ever, and nailed to a tall tree near the gate-
house, from which it still floats, though riddled
with holes.

Dr. Lippett, the surgeon of the guard, re-

i88 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

ceived a bad wound of the thigh, fracturing the
bone and completely disabling him, on June
29, and has been in the hospital ever since.
Dr. G. D. Lowry, a medical missionary of the
Methodist mission, immediately took his place.

Sergeant Fanning, Corporal King, and Privates
Kennedy, Tutcher, and Fisher have been killed
in the barricades, and Privates Silva, Shroder,
Mueller, and Hall vv^ere wounded early in the
siege. The Americans killed were all buried in
the Russian legation compound just across Le-
gation street.

There were no American civilians serving as
volunteers with the American guard, but Dr.
Coltman, his son, Robert Coltman, 3d, and Mr.
W. E. Bainbridge served guard-duty in the
British legation among the international vol-
unteers.

Mr. H. G. Squiers, who was elected by Sir
Claude MacDonald as his chief of stafif, and sec-
ond in command after the death of Captain
Strouts, has been indefatigable in his service, not
only at the American legation, but in general
oversight of the situation at all points. That
the United States government will recognize his
unusual ability by a promotion in the diplomatic
service, for which he is so well fitted, and to
which he has devoted his talents, is sincerely
hoped.

OUR LEADER'S VIGILANCE 189

He it was who conceived the plan of occupy-
ing the city wall and insisted on its being re-
gained when abandoned. This, as a key to the
whole position, was recognized in its full impor-
tance by Mr. Squiers. He, too, with Captain
Wroublevsky, forced a way down the wall to
the Chien Men, and let in the first Sikhs that
came through the gate.

CHAPTER VIII

fFORK DONE BT STAFF OF IMPERIAL MARITIME, CUSTOMS,
AND BRITISH LEGATION STAFF

AT the same time
that the tsung-
li-yamen sent
dispatches to each of
the foreign ministers
requesting them to
leave Peking within
twenty -four hours,
they sent a commu-
nication to Sir Robert
Hart, Bart., inspec-
tor-general of cus-
toms, notifying him
of their communica-
tion to the ministers.

TYPICAL CHINESE LION

As represented by them. One of a pair

guarding a temple entrance.

One would have supposed that the customs
stafif, being employed by the government to col-
lect their own revenues, would have either been
given a place of safety and separated from the
foreigners who were to be attacked and extermi-
nated, or their safe escort out of the country
guaranteed.

This should also have applied to the staff of

(190)

SCANT ACCOMMODATIONS 191

the Imperial University, but beyond a simple
notification to Sir Robert Hart, no further ac-
count was taken of them, and they were left to
seek either the protection of their respective
legations, or remain together in the offices of the
inspector-general, where all had gathered upon
the entrance of the Boxers into Peking, and at-
tempt to defend their lives and those of their
families as best they might.

As the Austrians had been driven out of their
legation before any of the others had yielded, and
as their compound overlooked and commanded
the inspectorate-general compound, however, that
place had become untenable by June 20, and
Sir Robert Hart reluctantly retired with all his
staff and their families to a building allotted to
them in the British legation.

This building is situated just within the main
gate of the legation, north of and adjoining the
gate-house, and consists of three fair-sized and
three small rooms, with an out-house kitchen.

Into this narrow accommodation the following
stafif were obliged to crowd themselves: Sir
Robert Hart, inspector-general; Mr. Robert E.
Bredon, deputy inspector-general, his wife and
daughter. Miss Juliet Bredon ; Mr. A. T. Piry,
commissioner, his wife, governess, and four chil-
dren; Mr. J. R. Brazier, his wife and two children;
Mr. G. H. Brewit-Taylor and wife; Mr. C. H.

192 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Oliver, sister, and two children; Mr. S. M. Russell
and wife, and Mr. C. B. Mears and wife, besides
the following single gentlemen : Messrs. P. von
Rautenfeld, J. H. Macoun, J. W. Richardson, E.
Wagner, E. von Strauch, N. Konoralofif, B. L,
Simpson, H. P. Destelan, H. Bismarck, U. F. Win-
tour, J. H. Smyth, J. W. H. Ferguson, L. Sander-
cock, A. G. Bethell, L. de Luca, C. L. Lauru, R.
B. de Courcy, C. O. M. Diehr, W. S. Dupree,
E. E. Encamacao, J. de Pinna, P. J. Oreglia, and
S. Sugi.

As it was simply impossible for all these people
to sleep within such narrow quarters, Messrs.
Brazier and Brewit-Taylor and their families se-
cured rooms with some friends at other houses.
The remainder all messed together, excepting Mr.
Bredon's family, in which were included Messrs.
B. L. Simpson and C. L. Lauru. The single men
slept in blankets on the narrow brick veranda
when not on duty at one of the many posts.

With the exception of Sir Robert Hart, whose
advanced age prevented his doing military duty,
and Mr. R. E. Bredon and Mr. C. H. Oliver, all
the others regularly enrolled themselves as a volun-
teer corps known as the customs volunteers, and
did most excellent, arduous, and effective work.

Mr. E. von Strauch, having served as first
lieutenant in the German army for some years,
was given command, and Mr. Macoun was made

OUR ENGLISH NEIGHBORS

193

second officer. After Macoun was wounded, and
until again able to go on duty, Mr. B. L. Simpson
acted as second officer.

Adjoining the British legation on the north lies
the Hanlin Yuan, a large yard full of many build-
ings, containing one of the most famous libraries

SIR ROBERT HART

And members of the Customs Staff and their families, with one
or two others, who lived together in the house immediately behind
the group during the siege.

extant, the Hanlin library. By the Chinese this
library has always been regarded as one of their
most valuable possessions. Here were stored
thousands of volumes of Chinese history, essays,
and records of the various government boards

194

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

that had collected for centuries. North of this
Hanlin Yuan, separated only by a wide street
known as the Chang An Chieh, is the wall of the
Forbidden City.

The Boxers and Imperial troops early took pos-
session of the northern end of this compound,

CUSTOMS VOLUNTEERS

Who, throughout the siege, fought in defense of the legations.
This little band did excellent service. Brave, cool and deliberate,
they made themselves felt wherever their services were called for.

and in their efforts to dislodge us from the British
legation, ruthlessly set fire to their sacred library
and destroyed the priceless collections of ages.

CHINESE THROW BRICKS 195

A large part of the defense of the southern half
of the Hanlin Yuan- has been performed by the
customs volunteers, and there has been no more
trying military service in the siege than at that
place. We early took possession of the southern
end, and built a barricade of bricks and sand-bags
running completely across the compound.

Our barricade and the Chinese barricades are
so close that often the Chinese have thrown half
bricks over at us, as their rifle-bullets cannot pene-
trate the barricade. Several of our men have
been injured by stones and bricks in this way.

In addition to the members of the customs staff
given above as enrolled members of the customs
volunteers, there have been attached to the corps
for duty at various times Messrs. Barbier, Flicke,
and Hagermann.

Messrs. E. Wagner and H. P. Destelan were
soon called to serve at the French legation, as the
fighting had been very hot there, and men were
needed to take the places of those who had fallen.
They barely joined their fellow-nationals at their
perilous post, and there on July i Wagner was
struck by a shell in the head and instantly killed.
A few days later Destelan had a miraculous escape.
The Chinese across the narrow lane, known as
Customs lane, had undermined the street, and
placed a mine under the wall and eastern buildings
of the legation. When they exploded it, Destelan

196 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

and several others were buried in the ruins ; but a
second explosion almost imnrediately blew several
of them out again, among them Destelan and Von
Rosthorn, the Austrian charge cCaffaires^ who was
on duty in the French legation after the surrender
of his own legation to the Chinese troops. Only
two Frenchmen lost their lives by this mine, while
the Chinese acknowledge they lost twenty of their
own men by the explosion.

The sad death of Wagner threw a deep gloom
for many days over his young comrades in arms.
He was so intelligent, bright and cheerful, always
willing to undertake any service, and always in
the front, that he has been sorely missed. Mr.
H. Bismarck was obliged by the necessities of
the German legation to join his nationals there,
as was also Mr. Diehr.

Bismarck has had his hat shot off and his
clothes perforated several times, has been in
several sorties and all sorts of dangers, but has
wonderfully escaped.

Mr. L. de Luca received a painful, but not
serious, wound of the forearm, which partially
disabled him for a time ; but, as soon as possi-
ble, he was again serving at the various posts.
For a time he was on Captain Wray's staff as
aid in the commissary department, but in this
place there was no danger to be incurred, and
he joyfully relinquished it to Mr. C. H. Oliver.

ILLNESS, WOUNDS AND TROUBLE 197

Mr. J. W. Richardson was the first of the
customs volunteers to be disabled, having re-
ceived, early in the siege, a flesh-wound of the
shoulder. He, too, made a rapid recovery, and
was soon acting as assistant steward in the hos-
pital, but when entirely in health returned again
to guard duty.

Mr. A. G. Bethell became ill from overwork
and fatigue, and was obliged to go into the hos-
pital for several days, but recovered under rest
and appropriate treatment and returned to duty.
Mr. U. F. Wintour, while excavating a deep
trench in the Hanlin Yuan as a countermine to
the Chinese mining attempts, badly sprained his
knee-joint, which has since resulted in a severe
synovitis, compelling him to remain with his leg
fixed in a plaster-of-paris cast for some weeks.

Messrs. Sandercock, Bethell, and Ferguson,
although barely nineteen years of age, have en-
dured the fatigue and hardship of the watches,
and have been as cool under fire as old veterans.

Especial mention should be made of the con-
spicuous bravery and gallantry of Mr. W. S.
Dupree, or, as he is familiarly and affectionately
called by his comrades, "Little Willie," This
young man, in times of peace, is a postal clerk
of very aflfable manners, but in the siege he has
been a doughty warrior. Although only eigh-
teen years of age, he has taken his full share of

198

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

the work. He accompanied the first expedition
of the American, British, and Austrian soldiers
in the attack upon a Boxer rendezvous in a
temple north of the Austrian legation, in which
fifty-six Boxers were killed. He has also served
in the Hanlin Yuan, in the Su Wang Fu, and in

Chinese barber and liis outfit

the latest achievement of the customs volunteers,
— the capture and holding of a new and val-
uable strategical position northward of the Rus-
sian position in the Mongol market.

On the night of August lo this intrepid
youngster crept out from behind the fortification
in the Mongol market, and crawled across the

A LAD'S ADVENTURE

199

moonlit common, directly in front of and up
to the Chinese barricade. Here he heard one
of the soldiers exhorting his comrades to follow
him and make an attack upon the foreigners.
"Why should we hesitate?" he urged. "We
have so many and they so few success is sure

Chinese barber at work

and failure impossible." Dupree hurried back
and warned his companions in time to prevent
a serious rush, for a few moments later the
Chinese actually left their barricade and at-
tempted a rush upon our works ; but on a volley
into them, which killed one and wounded sev-
eral others, their short-lived courage left them,

200 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

and they precipitately bolted back again behind
shelter, from which they peppered our barricade
vigorously for the next half hour without doing
any damage.

The customs mess, in spite of their exceedingly
narrow accommodations, was eminently a hospita-
ble group, and cheerfully allowed Messrs. E.
Backhouse, G. P. Peachey, Dr. J. Dudgeon, and
J. M. Allardyce to eat with them, they turning the
stores they possessed on entrance into the com-
mon storeroom. The meals were well managed
under the efficient care of Mrs. Russell and Mrs.
Mears, whom all of the customs volunteers will
ever remember for their constant, untiring efforts
to render palatable the daily ration of horse-meat
and rice which has constituted their principal food.

Sir Robert Hart, the I. G., as he is generally
spoken of by his staff, as well as many outsiders,
has endeared himself to all his young soldiers by
his sharing with them without complaint and
unvarying cheerfulness the meager diet of the
mess. He has never allowed any delicacy sup-
plied to him that the others did not partake of,
but has acted on the principle of share and
share alike throughout. He may in time have
a successor in the service, but he can never
be supplanted in the affections of those mem-
bers of his staff who have endured with him
the trials of the siege in Peking.

BRITISH LEGATION HOUSEHOLD 201

Mr. J. H. Smyth entered the British legation
when he was convalescing from scarlet fever, and
was placed in quarantine for some weeks. Conse-
quently he was prevented from taking any part in
the early proceedings of the siege, but as soon as
allowed out he at once went on duty. Mr. Origlia
came down with scarlet fever also on July 10, and
thereafter could render no military service.

The staff of the British legation who were actu-
ally in the siege consisted of the following per-
sons: Sir Claude M. MacDonald, G. C. M. G.,
K. C. B., envoy extraordinary, etc., his wife, two
children, and sister-in-law; Herbert G. Dering,
secretary; Henry Cockburn, Chinese secretary,
and wife ; W. P. Ker, assistant Chinese secretary,
wife, and child; Wordsworth Poole, M.D., sur-
geon; B. G. Tours, accountant, wife, and child;
D. Oliphant, consular assistant; W. Russell, con-
sular assistant; Rev. W. Norris, acting chaplain;
Rev. R. Allen, curate, and the following student
interpreters. Messrs. T. G. Hancock, A. T. Fla-
herty, H. Bristow, T. C. C. Kirke, H. Porter,
W. M Hewlett, A. Rose, R. Drury, L. R. Barr,
H. Warren, L. Giles, W. E. Townsend. Captain
F. G. Poole, who was living with his brother, the
doctor, while on language-leave, was also consid-
ered of the legation household, as well as several
guests, Mr. Clarke-Thornhill and the legation
keeper. Sergeant R. Herring.

202 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

The military guard consisted of Senior Captain
B. M. Strouts, Captains Halliday and E. Wray,
Sergeants J. Murphy, A. E. Saunders and J. Pres-
ton ; four corporals, one bugler, one armorer, and
one hospital steward, with sixty-eight privates.
They had one Nordenfeldt quick-firing gun. The
greater part of the civilians serving as volunteers
also served under Captain Poole in the British
legation.

When the siege commenced, the western side
at the south end of the compound, which ad-
joined a lot of Chinese buildings, was a most
vulnerable point, which the natives readily dis-
covered, and a number of vigorous attempts to
set fire to the legation were made by firing these
buildings, so that a fire-brigade was organized
under B. G. Tours and Tweed, of the volunteers,
to fight this dangerous form of attack.

During one of these fires in the first few days
of the siege, Captain Halliday led a brilliant
rush through a hole knocked in the wall, and
drove oflf the attacking party, killing over twenty
of them. Unfortunately Captain Halliday was
severely wounded by a shot through the lungs,
which rendered him helpless, and lost to the be-
sieged the services of a brave and kindly officer.

The British marines took part in the expe-
dition to the Boxer rendezvous and the taking
of the city wall, where Sergeant Murphy distin-

DEADLY CONFLICT 203

guished himself as the leader after the fall of
Captain Myers. Brave Captain Strouts, who was
much loved by his men, was shot and mortally
wounded in the Su Wang Fu on July 16, while
on a tour of inspection. Dr. G. E. Morrison
was injured by the same volley, and Colonel
Shiba, who was with them, narrowly escaped,
several bullets passing through his clothing.

The British legation compound being of such
dimensions, necessitated a larger guard for look-
outs than any other one place. Notwithstanding
this, men were daily detached for duty with the
Americans on the city wall, and to help Colonel
Shiba in the Su Wang Fu. A barricade was
built across the moat connecting the legation
with the Fu, and thus the men could cross with-
out being seen from the north bridge just under
the Forbidden City walls, where a strong force
of the enemy was posted. To replace these de-
tachments sent out, the civilian volunteers were
largely called upon, and rendered excellent ser-
vice.

Sir Claude MacDonald, after the death of
Captain Strouts, assumed command of the gar-
rison, and directed some of the outposts of other
nationals; but the French and Germans denied
his authority at their outposts, and controlled their
own movements. Captain Poole was in charge
of the international volunteers within the British

204

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

legation and had command of the north stables,
north wall, Hanlin Yuan, and students' quarters.
He led one expedition into the carriage-park, a
large tract of land which came close to the
legation on the northwest side of our enclosure.

^-^ S»t«T

GROUND -PLAN OF THE FOREIGN LEGATIONS IN PEKING
This will serve to locate the various buildings pictured elsewhere.

As will be seen from the accompanying dia-
gram of the British legation, the eastern side
and the southern side required no watches kept
so long as the Japanese retained possession of
the Su Wang Fu and the Russians and Amer-
icans held the wall and Legation street. But
the Hanlin Yuan in the north and the entire

SHORT RANGE SAVED US 205

western wall covered long stretches of space
that required a constant watch to be kept, as
the Chinese were intrenched in numerous and
heavy barricades in their front, from which they
maintained a constant fire from rifles, Krupp
guns and smooth-bore cannon.

Until the i8th of July the cannons boomed
from morning until night, sending their solid
shot and shrieking shells into our midst, tearing
the brick houses to pieces, and crushing the
tiles on the roof to fine powder, at the same
time sending their fragments in every direc-
tion. The very shortness of range prevented
their dropping with any force, and saved us
much damage ; and when the muzzles of their
pieces were raised to pass over the first row
of buildings, which they had failed to batter
down, the projectiles flew harmlessly over our
heads.

The building that has suffered most has been
the constable's house, in the south stables. This
place has borne the brunt of most of the attacks
made upon the British legation and is literally
converted into a sieve.

Under the direction of Mr. F. D. Gamewell
all the walls of the legation have been so
strengthened, often to a thickness of eight feet,
that one is perfectly safe behind them, except
at the loopholes, and in these large bricks are

206

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

kept, except when the openings are being used
for observation or firing.

The Chinese have been remarkably bad marks-
men, and have usually fired by holding their
guns up so that the point barely projected above
their barricades, and then, pressing the trigger,
immediately withdrawing the gun, having never

ventured their lives
in the least. But this
method of firing does
no damage. Thousands
upon thousands of bul-
lets have been sent
whistling far over our
heads. Doubtless when
we hear the history of
the outside we will
learn of hundreds hav-
ing been killed and wounded a long way from
the legation district.

On July 5 Mr. David Oliphant, of the lega-
tion staff, while serving in the Hanlin Yuan, was
shot in the abdomen and died from shock and
internal hemorrhage in about an hour. Brief
mention of his death has previously been made.
He was born on July 12, 1876, and had been
three years in the consular service. Passing
first in his examination, he soon showed a special
aptitude for acquiring the Chinese language, so

A Chinese cart

SKETCH OF DAVID OLIPHANT 207

much so that when he finished his term of
student interpreter he was retained to work as
consular assistant in the chancery of the British
legation.

Here his services have been appreciated most
highly by those under whom he worked, and
his loss is a most grievous blow to all those who
came officially in contact with him.

He was one of the most promising of the
younger members of the British consular ser-
vice, with which he was further connected in
the person of his uncle, Mr. R. M. Mansfield,
H. B. M. consul at Amdy. During his stay in
Peking, David Oliphant had endeared himself to
all who knew his exceptionally even temper,
readiness to oblige, and active mind. In sport
he was the leading spirit and manager, and he
will be practically impossible to replace in this
capacity.

When the siege began he was among the
first to go forward in the defense of the lega-
tions. Untiringly he worked at fortifications,
vigilantly he watched at night. When a portion
of the Hanlin Yuan was occupied he was spe-
cially detailed for service there, and took part
in several brilliant raids in connection with the
occupation.

It was while cutting down a tree here in an
advanced position that he was struck down by

2o8 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

the enemy's bullet, and his promising career
cut short. He died in the arms of his elder
brother, Nigel Oliphant, of the Imperial Bank
of China. He is deeply and sincerely mourned
by all who knew him.

Another young man, Mr. H. Warren, stu-
dent-interpreter, while on duty in the Su Wang
Fu, on July 16, was struck by a shell in the
face ; he was very badly injured and died in a
few hours.

CHAPTER IX

WORK DONE BY AUSTRO-HUNGARIANS — MR. AND MRS.
CHAMOT

August F. Chamot

THE Austro-Hungarian
detachment consisted of
thirty bluejackets from
the cruiser Zenta. They
arrived in Peking on June 3
by the last train, together
with the German detach-
ment. Lieutenant T. Kollar
was in command, with Mid-
shipman Baron R. Boyne-
burg von Lengsfeld and T.
Mayer. With the detachment arrived also Cap-
tain Thomann von Montalmar and Lieutenant
Ritter von Winterhalter, so that there were five
officers and thirty men at Peking. When com-
munication was cut Captain Montalmar took
command himself.

In the legation there were only Dr. A. von
Rosthorn and Mrs. von Rosthorn, the minister
having left on leave in April and Vice-consul
Natiesta being sick at Shanghai. His successor,
Mr. Gottwald, tried to come up in the relief
expedition under Admiral Seymour. The de-

N (209)

210 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

tachment guarded also the Belgian legation until
the Belgian minister left there, and came to the
Austrian legation on June i6.

On June 13, a Boxer attack on the new mint
and the Imperial Bank of China was checked
by rifle-fire from the east corner of the lega-
tion. A second attack was made at night and
was also repulsed. During the search following
the unsuccessful attack, several Boxers were
killed a few hundred yards to the north on
Customs street.

The next day the traffic on the Chang An
street crossing Customs street was stopped by
an outpost, and later on by a wire fence, in
order to prevent the smuggling of disguised
Boxers into the legation quarter.

During the night the guard at the Belgian
legation was attacked, but beat of? the Chi-
nese. A patrol caught some suspicious people,
who were handed over to the Chinese authori-
ties. A part of the French detachment assisted
them in their night watches at the barracks.

On June 20, the detachment was ready for
marching, to escort Dr. and Mrs. von Rosthorn,
as no notice had been given to Dr. von Ros-
thorn of the ministers' new decision not to
leave. On arriving, about 3 P. M., at the French
legation. Dr. von Rosthorn was shown by Mr.
Pichon a letter from the tsung-li-yamen to the

AUSTRIANS IN GREAT DANGER 211

ministers, promising them protection. Upon this,
Dr. von Rosthorn returned with the detach-
ment to the Austrian legation.

While all the posts were being reoccupied,
and the bluejackets began to re-erect the fortifi-
cations, which had been pulled down before leav-
ing to prevent the Chinese from using them,
Tung Fu Hsiang's soldiers, who were well hid-
den in the neighboring houses, opened a fierce
firing from two sides at about 3.30 P. M.

The Austrian legation being entirely exposed,
and untenable against any serious attack, it had
been understood that the charge d^'affaires and
the detachment were to retreat to the French
legation. This was done under a galling fire,
but there was only one man wounded.

The Austrians immediately hastened to a
position in the barrier erected by the French
some one hundred yards south of the customs
compound. From that day they defended with
the French the French legation.

The Austrian legation, after having been
looted, was burned by the Chinese on June 21.
On June 22, the fire extended to the houses on
both sides of the barricade, and the latter had
to be left. Another one was built near the
corner of Customs and Legation streets com-
manding Customs street.

On June 22, owing to a false alarm, the Ital-

212 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

ian, French, and German legations were left,
but were almost immediately reinhabited, with
the exception of the Italian legation, which was
already burning, as was also their wall of defense
commanding the east end of Legation street.

From that date Captain von Montalman di-
rected the fighting of both the French and the
German legations. Sir Claude MacDonald hav-
ing at that time been elected by the ministers
as their commander-in-chief.

The attacks on the French legation were,
from the beginning, extremely vehement, as the
Chinese fully recognized the high importance
of its position. Had it been lost, the German
legation, the Hotel de Peking, and the Su
Wang Fu would have been no longer tenable.
The Austrians shared in all the various services
which the garrison of the French legation had
to perform. A strong barricade was built to
command East Legation street, and a sort of
blockhouse was erected at the main gate.

Together with the French and Germans
several successful dashes were made in the
neighborhood, killing and wounding a number
of Chinese each time.

On June 24 a detachment under Midshipman
William Boyneburg took part with the Germans
in storming the city wall, which enabled the
Americans to reoccupy their former position on

CHINESE BREAK OUR DEFENSES 213

the top. The Austrians constantly reinforced
the Germans on the wall-front to the east, and
after the 26th of June constantly had five men
assisting Colonel Shiba at the Su Wang Fu.
Their machine-gun did excellent service as long
as the position behind the barricades could be
maintained, and after this was given up it was
sent from time to time to Russian, German,
and English legations as needed.

When the French legation was under the
hottest fires from north, east, and south, only
the western side being protected by the other
legations, the French took the northern and
the Austrians the southern line of defense, and
were each under constant rifle-shot at only
twenty-five yards' range. This they endured for
weeks. On June 29 the Chinese succeeded in
making a break in the eastern wall on Customs
street, and set fire to the French legation sta-
bles; but they had not sufficient courage to
follow up the advantage gained with a rush.
But this necessitated relinquishing the barrier
in the southern end of Customs street and east-
ernmost line of cover in Legation street, the
garrisons being under rear and flank fire.

The Chinese were gaining daily, or rather
nightly, in making the breaches in the eastern
wall larger and more numerous, until they had
nearly razed the entire structure. Yet they

214 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

gained no great advantage, owing to the
breaches being so well covered from the win-
dows of buildings and temporary defenses in the
western part of the compound.

The fatigue endured by our people was most
extraordinary. From July i daily shelling was
endured, which riddled the roofs and walls of
every building in the compound, until the prin-
cipal building and main gateway, an imposing
structure, were utterly demolished and became
a pile of ruins.

On the 8th of July the Chinese brought into
position at about eighty yards' distance a three-
inch Krupp gun, from which they commenced
to pour in a destructive fire on the eastern wall.
Captain Von Thornburg, with Captain Labrousse
and Lieutenants Darcy and Kollar, all anxious to
locate this gun exactly, left their main barri-
cade and proceeded to a spot behind a low
loopholed wall in their front, but had scarcely
arrived when a shell burst in their midst, a frag-
ment of which pierced Von Thornburg through
the heart, causing him to fall dead into the
arms of his friends. He was sorrowfully car-
ried to the rear, and at 2 P. M. was buried with
military honors, although the bullets were falling
thick around those who were thus honoring
their comrade and leader. The tears of sym-
pathy on this occasion evidenced the sorrow of

MINES BENEATH US 215

the men, and the general esteem in which the
fallen had been held.

After the death of Captain Von Thornburg,
the command of the Austrians devolved upon
Lieutenant Von Winterhalter.

On July 13, at 6:45 P. M., the Chinese made
a furious attack, commencing vv^ith rifle-fire and
shouts of "Kill! Kill!" This w^as intended to
draw all the defenders into their positions, and
nearly succeeded, for after a few moments the
rifle-fire suddenly ceased and two mines ex-
ploded with a great report, blowing up Mr.
Morisse's house, where Dr. Von Rosthorn, Lieu-
tenant Darcy, and Mr. Destelan, with four
French sailors, were stationed. Two of the
sailors were never recovered, but all the others
were able to extricate themselves from the ruins
with but slight injuries.

Earth, stones, and dust were thrown high
into the air, clouds of heavy, sulphurous smoke
rose from the hole in the ground, poisoning the
dust-laden air, and, at the same moment, to add
to the horror of the situation, two three-inch
guns opened up on the main gate house, send-
ing in their contingent of iron hail from a dis-
tance of only eighty yards.

This explosion compelled both the Austrians
and French to retire about thirty yards eastward
behind a cover they had already partly erected

2i6 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

in preparation for a stubbornly contested retreat ;
but upon the shell-fire ceasing, the combined
forces made a rush later on, drove the Chinese
out of the main gateway, and reoccupied it.

Never in history has there been a more stub-
bornly contested few acres than those occupied
by the Austrians and French in the French lega-
tion compound. The buildings, however, taking
fire, the French were compelled to retire again
behind their intrenchment in the western part
of the garden, the Austrians retreating to the
chapel and earthworks connecting with the Pa-
vilion des Etrangers^ a small building with very
thin walls. One small house was burned by the
Austrians to prevent the Chinese from using it
against them.

At first this entire new line of defense was
very weak, but it was rapidly strengthened by
adding bricks and sand-bags. Yet even to the
end all visitors considered it a very precarious
defense. One American marine remarked, "Our
place is bad enough, but this is worse."

As the Chinese barricaded themselves in the
western part of the legation captured by them,
they also made use of the shrubbery and trees
to shield their force, and these the Austrians had
to clear away under hot fire. Until July 17, day
and night, the enemy in the opposite barriers
poured in a steady fire, which the Austrians only

UNSEEN PERILS 217

returned by an occasional shot, as their ammuni-
tion had to be husbanded.

The so-called truce did not last very long, for
on the 23d the firing was nearly as bad as be-
fore, and at night often worse. To cut oflf any
further mines, a trench sixty yards long and ten
feet deep was dug in front of the Pavilion des
Etrangers. As was afterward seen, the Chinese
had really attempted two further mines, but for
some unknown reason had given up before they
were completed.

On the last night of the siege the firing in
the French legation, as everywhere else, was
exceedingly hot, and, although two shells burst
in the chapel, no one was injured.

The Austrians lost: killed, one officer, three
bluejackets ; wounded, three officers, eight blue-
jackets. Of the 10,000 rounds of ammunition
brought to Peking 2,000 were used by the men,
and 2,000 by the machine-gun. The shield of
the machine-gun shows the marks of having
been struck by rifle-balls some fifty-odd times.

No story of the siege in Peking would be
complete without mention of the work of August
Chamot and his heroic wife. He is a Swiss, and
in Peking has charge of the Hotel de Peking
for Messrs. Tallieu & Co. His wife is a San
Francisco girl.

ai8 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

When every other woman in Peking left her
home and repaired to the British legation, Mrs.
Chamot remained by her husband, with a rifle
in her hand, and took her regular hours of watch-
ing at the loopholes of the barricade erected
across Legation street, between the Hotel de Pe-
king and the German legation. Mr. Chamot
started a bakery in his hotel, and daily had the
Chinese bake hundreds of loaves of good brown
bread, with which he supplied many hungry
mouths at the English, French, and German
legations.

There is no building left standing in Peking
that has as many shell-holes in it as the northern
two-story building of this hotel. Any one vis-
iting the structure immediately after the relief,
and before the debris had been at all cleared,
would scarcely believe that a brave American
woman had lived there for sixty days unharmed.
Her hairbreadth escapes were every-day occur-
rences. When the Belgian party were surrounded
in Chang Hsin Tien, before the close siege com-
menced, Mr. and Mrs. Chamot, with a small
party armed with rifles, went out from Peking
and rescued them.

They were in several sorties to the north
cathedral before the close siege, and in many
more after the close siege had begun. Every
day they were under fire in crossing the bridge

Madame Chamot, the heroine of the siege

220 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

between their hotel and the British legation, as
they brought over the bread that was so eagerly
looked for.

After some shells had burst in the baking-
room, and killed one and severely wounded
others of the Chinese bakers, Mrs. Chamot, rifle
in hand, held the coolies to their work while
her husband served with the guards.

Mr. Chamot was wounded in the hand by a
Boxer spear, but never lost ten minutes' work
on that account, going around with his hand
tied up, and yet using it whenever occasion re-
quired. His bravery was to the point of reck-
lessness, and the wonder is he was not killed.
That his country and other nations, especially
the French, will substantially recognize his ser-
vices is surely to be expected.

CHAPTER X

EDICTS ISSUED BY THE EMPRESS DURING SIEGE, WITH A
FEW COMMENTS THEREON

An attendant to a Confucian priest

HILE we were
besieged in
the legations
we were quite un-
aware of anything
going on in the city
outside of us until
July i8, after the so-
called truce, when
we paid a native a
large sum to smuggle
into the compound
copies of the Peking
"Gazette," the gov-
ernment organ, of
the dates of June 13
to July 19, inclusive.
The translations of

such parts as relate to the Boxers or foreigners
that follow show: first, the duplicity of the Em-
press in apparently trying to suppress the Boxers
prior to the declaration of war, June 19; second,
her open encouragement in edicts from that date

(221)

222 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

until the defeat of her armies at Tientsin under
Generals Sung Ching, Ma Yu Kun and Nieh
Shih Cheng, July 17; and third, her immediate
turning around and attempting to curry favor by
denouncing the Boxers in the edicts of July 18
and 19. While trying her best to murder all
the foreign ministers, she was having her own
ministers abroad inform the countries to whom
they were accredited that the foreign ministers
were perfectly safe here.

The edicts speak for themselves, and are an
eloquent appeal to the foreign powers never to
allow this most treacherous woman, or any other
Manchu for that matter, to occupy the throne
of China.

"June 13 — Edict: Two days since a member
of the Japanese legation, the clerk in chancery,
was murdered by desperadoes [her own soldiers
in government uniform] outside the Yung Ting
gate. We were exceedingly grieved to learn of
this.

"The officials of our neighboring nations on
duty in Peking should receive our protection in
every possible way, particularly in such times as
the present [when we are planning to kill them
all at once], when every exertion must be used,
because desperadoes are as thick as bees.

"We have repeatedly commanded the various

EVIL CHARACTERS TO BE ARRESTED 223

local officials to secure the most perfect quiet in
their districts, yet in spite of these orders we
have this case of murder of the Japanese chan-
cellor occurring in the very capital of the Empire.

"The civil and military officials have been too
remiss in not clearing their districts of bad char-
acters, or arresting the proper persons, so we
hereby set a limit of time for the arrest and
punishment of such criminals [time not stated].
Should the time expire without a successful
search for the guilty, then the responsible offi-
cial will be given a penalty. [In other words,
if the murderer of the Japanese is not discovered
before we drive all the foreigners out, and the
plot fails because of this premature murder giv-
ing it away, somebody will have to pay for it.]"

"Edict No. 2: The Boxer desperadoes have
recently been causing trouble in the neighbor-
hood of the capital, and finally Peking has
become involved.

"We have a number of times issued edicts in
explicit terms ordering the mihtary commanders
on duty near the capital to put an end to these
disturbances. Notwithstanding which, cases of
murder and arson are reported, and bad charac-
ters are circulating malicious rumors under pre-
tense that they are only revenging themselves on
converts.

"The result is that our good soldiers have

224

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

become involved, and do not hesitate to disre-
gard our commands; at the same time they be-
lieve these men leagued together to commit

ENTRANCE TO THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF PEKING

Among the notable buildings that were destroyed by the Box-
ers was the Imperial University of Peking. To the noble work
performed within its walls can be attributed much of the rapid rise
of the " progressive" or " New China" party, with whom the Em-
peror seemed to be so thoroughly in accord until his power was
subordinated to that of the Empress.

arson and murder, and suffer themselves to be
misled by them.

"Good citizens most of all desire to stimulate
patriotism, and one would like to know when
in the history of the world has there ever been
a strong nation made so by condoning anarchy

BOXERS SHOULD DISBAND

225

among the people. We know, since investiga-
ting, that among the ranks of the Boxers there
are many bandits and desperadoes, who have vied

IMPERIAL PAVILION

The Hall of Classics, in the Forbidden City, Peking —

a beautiful building

with one another in disgraceful acts of looting
and robbery.

"We have already ordered Kang Yi and others
to proceed to the various country districts, and
acquaint each and all with our virtuous inten-
tions, so that there may be tranquillity. Let
Boxers who have already entered into league
disband and be quiet. It is obvious that the
o

226 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

various cases of robbery and murder which have
occurred are the work of traitors.

"We shall believe no man a bad citizen un-
less caught red-handed in crime. But really bad
characters must be rooted out, and from now
on no mercy will be shown such. We order
General Sung Ching to command General Ma
Yu Kun to come with all speed to the capital,
and make strenuous efforts to arrest all desper-
adoes in the region about Peking. It is impor-
tant that only ringleaders be seized, but the
subordinates may be allowed to scatter.

"It is strictly forbidden that the military make
use of this as a means of causing trouble. Our
hope is that the land may be cleared of traitors,
and the country be at peace."

This edict really means that Ma Yu Kun
was to come to Peking, to seize converts, and
his soldiers were to avoid any conflict with the
Boxers.

"June 19: Recently there has grown up much
dissension between the people generally and the
Christian converts. Rumors of all kinds have
been rife, and irresponsible people have seized
the opportunity to burn and rob.

"It is certain that the foreign ministers ought
to be protected. [Which means the rumors

EMPRESS ORDERS PROTECTION 227

were that they were to be murdered with gov-
ernment sanction.]

"Yung Lu is ordered to detail his own sol-
diers and exert his authority in person in east
Legation street and vicinity to secure their pro-
tection. He must not be lax.

"Should the foreign ministers and their fam-
ilies prefer to temporarily retire to Tientsin, he
must see they are protected en route [when
Baron von Ketteler left the legation walls the
following day to visit the tsung-li-yamen he was
murdered by these 'protection guards']; but as
the railway is not now in working, and if they
go by cart-road it would be difficult to secure
their safety, they would do better perhaps to
abide here in peace as heretofore [we had been
under fire for six days at intervals] until the
railroad is repaired, and then act as they see fit.
Respect this."

"June 21. — Edict : From the foundation of this
dynasty, foreigners in China have always been
kindly treated. [A tremendous lie.]

"In Tao Kuang and Hsien Feng's time they
were granted the privilege of trading, and they
then asked permission to propagate their relig-
ion, which request was reluctantly granted. At
first they were submissive to Chinese control,
but for the last thirty years they have taken
advantage of China's forbearance to encroach

228 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

on our territory and trample our people under
foot while demanding our wealth.

"Every concession made by China only in-
creased their reliance upon force. They con-
stantly oppressed the people, insulted the gods
and sages, and so caused the most burning
indignation among the populace. Hence came
about the burning of the chapels and slaughter
of converts by the patriotic militia [the Boxers].

"The throne was anxious to avoid conflict,
and issued edicts ordering the protection of the
legations and enjoining pity for the converts.
Boxers and converts were declared equally the
children of the empire in our decrees, in the hope
of obliterating the existing feud between them.

"Extreme kindness was shown to the foreign-
ers from a distance. But these foreigners knew
no gratitude, and increased their demands.

"A dispatch was yesterday received, sent by
the French consul, Du Chaylard, calling on us
to deliver into their care the Taku forts, other-
wise they would take them by force. This
threat showed their aggressive spirit.

"We have in all matters of international in-
tercourse always shown ourselves courteous in
the extreme. But they, calling themselves civil-
ized states, have disregarded right and are rely-
ing solely upon force.

"We have reigned now nearly thirty years,

FAMOUS TEMPLE

229

treating our subjects as our children, and being
honored by them as a deity, and, too, we have
been the constant recipient of the gracious favor
of the Empress Dowager. [This edict pretends to
come from the Emperor alone, evidently.]

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, WHERE THE EMPEROR PRAYED

One of the most imposing temples of China; perhaps the most
important, since it was the Emperor's place of worship before he
abandoned the capital.

"Moreover, our ancestors and the gods have
answered our prayer, so that there has never
been as at present such a universal manifestation
of loyalty and patriotism.

230

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

"We have, with tears, announced a war in
our ancestral shrine, because we feel it is better
to commence a struggle than to seek further
means of self-protection, involving as it does
eternal disgrace.

"All our officials, high and low, are of the
same mind, and there have assembled without

IBI

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...-- ..^

Taouist Temple of ten thousand gods in Nanking

our call several hundred thousand patriotic mili-
tia [Boxers], with many who are yet but chil-
dren, glad to carry a spear in defense of their
country [young ruffians who looted and mur-
dered all the respectable native residents as well
as officials who did not fly from Peking before
the Boxers entered in any numbers].

"The foreigners rely upon crafty schemes, but

EDICT AGAINST LOOTING 231

our trust is in heaven's justice. They depend
on violence, we on humanity [such as killing
women and children by the hundreds at the
south cathedral], not to speak of the righteous-
ness of our cause.

"Our provinces are more than twenty in
number, our population over 400,000,000; so it
will not be difficult to vindicate our dignity."

The decree further requests people with money
to subscribe assistance, promising official recog-
nition for it, and also ofifers large rewards for
those who distinguish themselves in action, as
well as threats for those who are dilatory or
cowardly, urging all to exert themselves con-
tinually in the good work — exterminating alike
foreigners and converts.

"June 24. — Decree : Yesterday shops and resi-
dences in Tung Tan Pailou street and Ch'ang
Au street were looted by militia with arms
[Boxers]. This is a serious matter, so we or-
dered Yung Lu to depute officers to arrest the
offenders. Eleven from one division and twenty-
three from another division were arrested and
executed on the spot, the public witnessing the
executions.

"We now command the general officers of
the various divisions to give strict orders to

232

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

their subordinates that the braves are to be kept
in order. Should these occurrences be repeated,
martial law will be declared. If the officers
commanding screen the offenders, instead of
rigorously enforcing the laws, they will be ex-
amined, and if found
guilty severely pun-
ished.

"The military gov-
ernor of the city is
hereby commanded
to arrest all despera-
does creating disturb-
ances and execute
them on the spot.
Show no mercy."

A second decree,
same date, says :

"The board of
revenue is hereby or-
dered to give Kang Yi two hundred bags of rice
as provisions for distribution among the Boxers."
A third decree :

"Members of our people comprised in the
Boxer organization are scattered in all parts of
the region around the metropolis and Tientsin,
and it is right they should have superintendents
over them. We appoint, therefore. Prince
Chuang and Assistant Grand Secretary Kung

Typical Peking beggars

MONEY DIVIDED AMONG SOLDIERY 233

Yi to be in general command, and also order
Ying Nien brigade-general of the left wing, and
Tsai Lan, temporarily acting as a brigade com-
mander of the right wing, to act in cooperation
with them.

"We command Wen Yui, adjutant -general
of the Manchu army, to be a brigadier-general.

"All members of the Boxer society are ex-
erting their utmost energies for the imperial
family, so we must not be behind them in har-
boring hatred and revenge for our enemies. It
is our confident hope and desire that the wishes of
each and all may be successfully consummated,
and to this end it is important that every energy
be put forth, nothing lacking. Respect this."

"June 27. — Edict: An edict appeared yester-
day directing, as a stimulus to exertion, discrim-
inating rewards to be given to the various army
corps that have distinguished themselves [by loot-
ing?] in the metropolitan district. Now that the
left wing of the army, under command of Sung
Ching, have in sectional divisions marched to
the capital, let 100,000 taels be equally divided
among the men, and let the men be fully in-
structed that they are to keep good order in
the capital."

An edict was also issued commanding the
viceroy of Chihli to retake if possible the Taku

234 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

forts, and to prevent the foreign troops (the
alHed armies) from creeping northward. Also
another ordering the distribution of 100,000 taels
each to the Boxers and troops throughout the
Metropolitan district.

"June 28. — Edict: A censor of the central
city memorializes the throne requesting the dis-
tribution of government rice. He observes that
the patriotic Boxers had recently been slaying
and burning the converts, and that the markets
are greatly disturbed, so that not only the lower
classes have lost their means of livelihood, but
some of the middle classes are also suffering
want. Rather than allow the ranks of the crim-
inal classes to be swollen, let a distribution of
food be made by imperial bounty.

"Referring to various precedents, he asks im-
perial authority for the issue of rice, and that
2,000 taels silver be allowed for expenses.

"He states that on the night of the i6th of
June there was a fire in the neighborhood of
the Chien Men, accompanied by pillage, and
much alarm created. Officials took to flight
and shops closed. On the 21st of June an inn
in the native city was robbed, and nine persons
were caught and beheaded on the spot. On
the 25th (Sunday) , villains pretending to be
soldiers surrounded an official's residence in

MURDER AND PILLAGE

235

MARQUIS TSENG'S DAUGHTER AND HER HUSBAND

In their wedding finery. The familiar geranium between shows that
the Chinese have our flowers.

Second street near the inspectorate-general o f
customs [probably Marquis Tseng's] and entirely-
stripped it, shooting wantonly three servants.

"Memorialist and his colleagues will do their
best to keep order ; but he requests that the
throne direct the imperial princes and high
officers in command of the Boxers to order ar-
rested any brigands committing robberies. And
that the same princes and high officers who
command soldiers should see that amongst their

2j6 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

corps also there are no false soldiers acting in
their true character as bandits, committing acts
of pillage."

"June 28. — A censor having complained of
acts of brigandage in the capital, we hereby
command the princes and ministers in command
of the Boxers to instruct their subordinates to
arrest all guilty parties and execute them on
the spot."

"July I. — Edict: General preparations are be-
ing made for war. Owing to telegraphic com-
munication being interrupted, the courier service,
which has fallen into disuse, must be revived.
Yu Lu, viceroy of Chihli, is directed to send
out courier spies in every direction to obtain
exact information of the movements of our
enemies."

On the same date a second edict says :

"The members of the Boxer society began
by taking as their motto, 'Loyalty and courage.'
We consequently expected they would do great
service in expelling the oppressors. But Peking
and vicinity has witnessed many acts of wanton
pillage and murder by bad characters pretend-
ing to be Boxers. If no strict distinction is
drawn, internal dissension will be added to for-
eign war, and the state of the country will be
unenviable.

"Tsai Hsun, in charge of the Boxers, is

SCHEME TO ENTRAP CONVERTS

237

hereby ordered to keep the members of his
organization in strict subjection to discipHne,
and to expel pretenders who are in the ranks
only to make trouble. Bodies of brigands, of
no matter what name, must be dealt with as
brigands and have no mercy shown them."

"July 27. — Edict : From the time of the prop-
agation of foreign re-
ligions up to the pres-
ent, there has been
much ill-feeling be-
tween converts and
non-converts. This
is all the result of
faulty administration
on the part of the
local officials, which
has given rise to last-
ing feuds.

"The fact remains
that converts are still '^'^ ^'"^ing girU of Peking

the children of the empire, and among them are
undoubtedly some good, worthy people, only
they have been led into error by false doctrines,
having been misled by the missionaries, and have
committed many misdeeds. They still hold to
their false beliefs, and an irreconcilable hatred
has sprung up between the people and the
converts.

238 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

"The throne is now recommending every
Boxer to render loyal and patriotic service against
the enemies of his country, so that the whole
population may be of one mind.

"We now state that the converts are, equally
with Boxers, subjects, and must follow the rules
laid down for all or be destroyed. If they will
change their tenets and recant, we can see no
reason why they should not be allowed to escape
the net. The viceroys and governor-generals
are therefore enjoined to issue the following
proclamation : ' All converts who recant their
former errors, and give themselves up to the
authorities, shall be allowed to reform, and the
past shall be ignored. The public must be
notified of this and each case will be settled by
the local officials, according to regulations to be
promulgated later on.'

[A nice trap to find out all the converts and
exterminate them.]

"As hostilities have now commenced between
China and the foreign nations, the missionaries
must be driven away at once, so that they may
give no trouble. But it is necessary that they
be granted protection en route. The provincial
authorities must attend to all such within their
jurisdiction. Let this be done speedily and with
no carelessness."

"July 8. — Edict: The posts about Tientsin

LI HUNG CHANG IN POWER 239

are of extreme importance, and troops are being
massed there for their defense. The seventy-two
fire companies, aggregating over 10,000 men, all
animated by a spirit of patriotism, would, if
united to the Boxers, greatly swell the strength
of our opposition and surely turn the edge of
the enemy. Respect this."

"July. — Edict : We appoint Li Hung Chang
viceroy of Chihli and superintendent of northern
trade [the G. O. M.'s old post]. As the guard-
ing of Tientsin is now of utmost importance,
we direct that until Li Hung Chang's arrival
Yu Lu, in concert with Prince Ching, consult
as to the best measures to be taken. Pending
the change of officials, there must be no slack-
ening of responsibility."

The edict of July 12 relates the conduct of
General Nieh Shih Cheng, commanding the
foreign-drilled troops from Lu Tai, and censures
him, but states he died bravely at the head of
his soldiers on July 11.

On July 15 Tung Fang, acting governor of
Shansi, in a memorial, quotes the following de-
cree transmitted to him by the privy council on
June 20 :

"A quarrel has broken out between China
and foreign nations, and it is difficult to see

240

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

how matters can be arranged. The viceroys
and governors have all been the recipients of
imperial favor, and it is now their manifest

PASSENGER WHEELBARROW

This picture shows the common method of transportation in
vogue in the Chinese cities of to-day; but with the opening of
China to western influences the modern electric car will doubtless
supersede this conveyance, and, like many other picturesque but
antiquated features of the country, it will be relegated to the past.

duty to use every efifort to make return, and to
lay before us the detail according to the respec-
tive circumstances of their several provinces,

EMPRESS UNWILLING TO WAGE WAR 241

schemes for the selection of generals, drilling of
soldiers, and plans for properly paying them.
They must also suggest plans for safeguarding
the borders of the country from the aggression
of foreigners, as well as see that reinforcements
be sent to the aid of the capital in order that
no harm befall the dynasty. It is very plain
that the situation hinges on the zealous united
cooperation of the viceroys and governors that
the situation be saved. It is our earnest expec-
tation that full assistance will be given, as is
needed in a crisis of this importance. This de-
cree must be published everywhere with the
speed its nature demands."

^'July 18. — Edict: [Commencing now to hedge,
and to negotiate with the foreign ministers still
penned up in the British legation. This is after
the defeat of the imperial armies at Tientsin].
The reason for the fighting between China and
foreign nations sprung from a disagreement be-
tween the people and the Christian converts.
[That is, the Christian converts objected to
being murdered and pillaged wholesale by their
heathen neighbors.]

"We could but enter upon war when the
Taku forts were taken. Nevertheless, the gov-
ernment is not willing lightly to break off the
friendly relations which have existed. We have
repeatedly issued orders to protect the ministers

242

BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Native wheelbarrow — Tientsin

of the various countries, and have also ordered
the protection of missionaries in the various
provinces.

"The fighting has not yet been very extensive,
and there are still many merchants of the various

countries within our
domains. All alike
should be protected.
"It is hereby or-
dered that the gen-
erals and governors
shall find out wher-
ever there still exist
merchants or mis-
sionaries, and still protect them according to
the provisions of the treaties without the least
carelessness. [For nearly a month after this the
Empress kept ministers, missionaries, and mer-
chants under the almost constant fire of her
troops within two miles of her residence, where
she could not but hear every gun fired at them.]
"Last month the chancellor of the Japanese
legation was killed. This was most unexpected.
Before the case was settled, the German minis-
ter was killed. Suddenly meeting this affair
caused us great grief. We ought rigorously to
seek the murderers and punish them.

"Excepting the fighting at Tientsin, the prefect
of Shun Tien Fu, with the governor-general of

CONDEMNATION OF BOXERS

243

this province, must command the officers under
them to examine what foreigners have been
causelessly killed, and what property destroyed,
and report the same, that all may be settled
together.

"The vagabonds who have been burning
houses, robbing, and killing these many days
have produced a terrible state of chaos. We
order that the viceroy and military officials
clearly ascertain the circumstances and unite in
reducing confusion to order. Promulgate this
decree in such manner that all may know."

"July 19. — Extract from a memorial by Chang
Shun: 'Your slave has examined into what has
happened recently in
the whole region
south of the imperial
domain in stirring
up trouble that has
resulted in the de-
struction of railways
and telegraphs, and a
morbid chaotic mad- ^'°"p ""^ "^*^^^'' ^" ^•'^^ Gardens
ness seems to possess the masses. Lately a tele-
gram arrived saying warships of all nations had
arrived, opened war, captured the Taku forts,
and Tientsin was in extreme peril. The Boxers
are responsible for all this trouble. The whole
world has witnessed our sorrowful condition,

244 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

troubles alike within and without. The hundreds
of millions of taels of silver gathered from three
provinces to erect the railroads have been wiped
out completely in the destruction of the road
by the Boxers in the twinkling of an eye. Who
is responsible for the Boxers?" [Answer — The
Empress Dowager and Prince Tuan, both be-
fooled by General Tung Fu Hsiang.]

"July 28. — Yung Lu is granted the privilege
of riding in a sedan chair with two bearers
within the walls of the imperial palace and in-
side of the Wan gate."

CHAPTER XI

NOIV WHAT?

AND now what?
Peking has
been reHeved,
the city is full of
soldiers of the allied
armies, the Empress
and her court have
fled westward, and
the capital has fallen.
Will China be
partitioned and di-
vided among her
conquerors, or will
she be allowed to
exist as China under
another monarch ?
Russia undoubtedly wants immediate posses-
sion of Manchuria and Chihli, with, very likely,
Shansi and Shensi. Japan is quite amenable to
further additions to her own territory, and Eng-
land, although disclaiming any covetous feeling,
is believed by a great many of her friends, and
all of her enemies, to desire control of the
Yangtze valley.

(245)

One of the many famous temple gates
with which China abounds

246 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

Germany, France, and Italy are all discussing
the slice that they desire, and only Uncle Sam
has finished his task and wants to go home.

But is his task, finished? What about the
missionaries murdered in Paoting Fu ? Since
being relieved, we have heard of the murder,
with shocking mutilation, at Paoting Fu, of Mr.
and Mrs. Simcox and their three children, of
Dr. George Yardley Taylor, of Dr. and Mrs.
Hodge, of Mr. Bagnall and his family, of Mr.
Pitkin, Miss Morrill, and Miss Gould. Is Pao-
ting Fu to be allowed to remain on the face of
the earth ?

And what about Yu Hsien, governor now of
Shansi, who had all the foreigners in his prov-
ince brought into his yamen and murdered be-
fore his eyes ? Is he to live ? No, never. If
there exists in America to-day one individual who
counsels the return of the troops until the aton-
ing blood of all the leaders and instigators of
this awful crime has been poured out, may he
be cursed forever.

The work is not yet complete. The Empress
Dowager, Prince Tuan, Prince Chuang, Yu
Hsien, Tung Fu Hsiang, Chung Chi, Chung
Li, Hsu Tung, Kang Yi, Chi Hsiu, Duke Lan,
and Na Tung must each and all be brought to
the block, with as many of their followers as
possible, before the blood of innocent American

THE TASK OF REFORM 247

women and children will cease to cry from the
ground for vengeance on their savage, bloody-
murderers.

Then and only then let America claim in-
demnity for the property of her citizens that
has been destroyed, and retire from the carcass
that the other nations will undoubtedly fight over.

If China is to be partitioned, it may injure
our trade or it may increase it, but it is not worth
our fighting for, when we shall be sure to obtain
a great deal of it under any circumstances. It
may be best that our troops should remain here
during the discussion of the question, but they
should not be used in any event.

It is easier to say what should not be done
than what should. A few "should nots" like
the following will indicate perhaps what might
be done :

1. Boxer leaders should not be pardoned.

2. Indemnities should not remain unpaid for
years.

3; Manchu banner pensions should not con-
tinue.

4. Manchu sovereignty should not remain.

5. Manchu governors should not continue in
or hold office.

6. Tribute rice should not be received.

7. Imperial maritime customs should not at
present be changed.

248 BELEAGUERED IN PEKING

8. An entirely native cabinet should not exist.

9. Women's feet should not be bound.

10. Cues should not be worn.

11. Christianity should not be forced on the
people.

12. Priests and pastors should not be allowed
in yamens.

13. Arms and weapons should not be im-
ported, manufactured, or allowed to be owned
by natives.

At the present moment Boxers are practicing
in all directions at a distance of from twenty-
five to thirty miles from Peking. All of the
leaders of the movement are at large, and Prince
Ching has returned to Peking to try and arrange
a peace. Now what?

UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITr

A 000 939 937 9

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