Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-08-30
EACH MAN A HERO.
Capt. McCalla Reports ON the Sey-
more Expedition.
First Effort TO Relieve Legations Was
Composed Of Marines Of Eight Ma
tiOnaiities-Fighti Was Com
tinuous and Of the Most Des-
perate Character.

/
| Of Capt. McCalla, who was in COM
mand of the American contingent Of
| the international column under Adj
| miral Seymour that, on June 10, made
| the first move in the relief of Pel<in,
but which was cut off by the Chinese
| troops on the road and forced to turn
| back from Nangtsun, being in danger
| of complete annihilatiCn before com
! ing in touch with the reinforcementS
| sent out to meet them from Tien
Tsn.
The force of which Capt McCaila $
command was part was made up of
eight nationaIities, British, Russian,
| German. Austrian. Italian, Japanese,
| French and American marines and
blue jackets. It's aggregate strength
was 2.07S officers and men, Of which
| one-half were the Ncwark's men.
| These forces were all acting with
nominal independence. bur were tacit-
| ly under the command of Admiral
Seymour and operated as one body.
1t is interesting to note Capt. Ne
| Calais description of how the various
commands co-operated, how the Brit
ish and Russians in turn helped to
| shift the Newark's three-inch rife
from one position to another when
| the American guns crew was made
urlat To transport il: how the Ameri-
cans led the advance up the railway
and protected the rear in the re-
| treat. and how. during the repeated
attacks of the Chinese on the TiCn
| Tsin arsenal. British Russians and
| Americans in turn would spring into
! the breach to defend TIE hard-preSS-
| ed outposts of some other national
| itv that was bearing the brunt of the
attack The cooperation of the en-
tire force seems to have. been perfect,
and Capt. McCalla has nothing but
the warmest praise both for Admiral
SEYMOUR and all the other officers
who participated in the expedition.
The start Of the international col
umn for reliin was inaugurated after
the receipt of urgent messages from
| both the Pritish and American lega-
tions in Pekin. The allied force was
| furnished with railroad transporta-
ton bv the Chinese authorities III
rien Tsin. start was made on June
10 and from that time on the advance
was made under constantly lncreaS-
ino difTiculties. Whole sections Of
track were torn up, bridges and cul-
yerts were found wrecked. stations
burned. and pumping appliances at
The water tanks were destroyed. The
first attacks on the column were by
parties of Boxers. but these'Soon were
ioined bv regular Chinese troops, and
the little column had to fight its way
forward. repairing the track almost
rail by rail with f1anl;ing parties ouJ
to protect the construction tram,
while other detarhments fora2cd the
surrounding country for supplies.
The advance continued up to tie
10Th and was met by TWO messengers
at different times bearing urgent re
quests from the besieged legationerS
for relief Capt. NcCalla and his MA
rincs finally were put in charge or
| the construction train by admiral
Scvmour's direction. and the worf
| pushed rs far as the city of Yang
| tsun. From this point the railroad
was so badly crippled that evidently
il was impracticable 10 advance mr.
| her by train. ard the international
| oIumn secured the country for
| horses and carts, hoping to make
orced march to Pekin by road. The
resistance encountered 1T Lang Fang
amounted to pitched battle and re
suited in the killing of seven and
wourding of 40 of the allied forces.
That 400 Chinese were killed in this
engagement was little consolation 20
| the allies since. with a large number
| of wounded on their bands, and the
constantly increasing force of Chi
ncse. in both front and rear, ii was
evidently impossible TO make the
| forced march as contemplated. The
news from the direction of Tien Tsin
| showed that the railroad had been
DESTROYED in their rear and after IL
meeting of the commanders, it was
| decided that a retreat must be made
| by way of the river.
Fortunately, at this point German
force from the column captured four
| large iunks. while Ensign WurtH-
| baugh and Cadet Courtney, with par
| ties of the Newark's men. gathered
| in four large sampans. This little
| tiotilla was distributed among the
allied forces and the whole column
embarked on the 10Th for the return
| 10 Tien Tsin. The sailors from the
modern warships at first made slow
| work of navigating these unwieldv
| Oriental craft, but they made fair
progress. The retreat was slow, how
ever.
The resistance to the party iEcreas-
| ed steadily on the trip down the river
| until they came in the vicinity of the
| Chinese arsenal, where rhc little COL
umn cleared out the Chinese occupy
| ing the walled enclosure. and took
| shelter in positions that the Chinese
| had evacuated. Here the American
gun was mounted on a parapet, Il
| commanding road leading into the
| arsenal, and an all-day fight occurred.
| Three of the Newark's men were
| killed and Is wounded, while the per
| centage of loss among the British
aud Germans was about the same. 1t
was here that the commander of the
! Kaiserin Augusta was killed while
| directing the defense from the west
| elm rampant.
Fee Paints "a Gloomy Picture.
New York, Aug. 24.-Thc commit