Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-04
Bombardment of Taku Ports by Al
lied Powers.
SKETCH BY REV. DR.. ROBT. COLTMAN
Bravery of the American Marines
IN lien Ism.
TIL RILLING EXPERIENCE

The recent bombardment of the Taku
forts by the allied powers, exclusive of
the United States, and the scenes tmme-
-daateiy before are graphically described in
a letter to a friend here from an eve wit
ness. Rev. DIR. Robert Coltman. whose wife
was a former resident of Washington. DIR.
and Mrs. Coltman. who are now travelling
on the Pacific coast. went to China sew
eral months ago to visit their son and
daughter. the former a civil engineer in
Pekin and the latter the wife of Prof
Clifford of the University of Pekin A
part of what DIR. Coltman wrote follows:
I've were in Pekin early in May, leaving
there early in the month to go to a sea-
side resort. which however. we did not
reach because of the Boxer troubles. While
in Pektn dined with Minister Conger,
and we had some talk over the situation
that time were drilling right in the streets
OF Pekin. and 1 was very apprehensive of
danger. Mr.. Conger considered the danger
as not particularly threatening, and SEEM
ed to place great credit in the assurances
OF the tsung II yamen. told him l did
not agree with him, and he assured me
there was no danger. One of the men,
bers of Minister Conger's household is
Mrs. Woodward of Chicago. who accom-
panied us to China and remained to vicit
Mr.. Conger's family.
Over a month was spent by us at Tien
Tsin-that Is. until June 16. The Boxers
were more and more threatening. and ma
tive Christians from all parts of the coun-
try began to flock to the mission com
pounds at Tien Tsin. They were in mortal
fear of the Boxers. and. with all their
worldly possessions tied In small bundles.
went from gate to gate imploring the for
etgners to protect them. 1t was a pit.able
eyes, What shall we do when you go
away? We shall all be killed
ION either side of the Taku road lie the
compounds Of the foreign missions. Each
compound Is a rectangle. surrounded with
a brick wall about ten feet high. Gates
are cut through these walls. that per-
sons In extremity can fly from one to the
other. and reach the British French
The British concession is laid out like any
ordinary British American city. with
excellent buildings and good streets.
Arrival of Marines.
EARLY in June American marines to the
number Of 1o7 came to the American board
OF foreign missions compound and en-
camped. Captain Bowman H. McCalla was
in general charge OF the forces on land,
and the marines in the compound were
under the command Of Ensign d. W.
Wurtzbaugh, who had been in command
of the gunboat Albany in the Philippines.
Both McCalla and Wurtzbaugh inspired
admiration among the Americans for their
courage and discretion.
''On the night of Saturday. June q, word
having teen received from the legations
at Pekin that help must be had at once.
meeting of consuis and commanders was
held at Tien Tsin. Capt. McCalla was the
spokesman for the Americans. The Rus
sian consul must have had the most ade-
quate conception of the troubles ahead. for
he declared that he would not undertake
to reach Pekin with less than 5000 men.
The British officers were silent When
Capt. McCalla was called on for advice
he said he had advices that the lives of
Americans were in jeopardy in Pekin, and
that he intended to start the next morning
for their relief. whether the other force
went or not. Then the British command
ers and others agreed to go. and the re-
suit was the Inflated expedition under Ad-
miral Seymour.
After the departure of Capt McCaIla
and the forces matters became rapidly
worse at Tien Tsin. The air was filled
with sinister rumors and business came to
standstill. Ensign Wurtzbaugh kept his
American marines ready for any emer-
gency. Finally. the night of June 10. soon
after midnight. the Boxers rose en- massc
and set fire to the native chapels. the
French cathedral and many other build
ings. There was a terrific uproar among
the Chinese and foreigners-a reign of ter
ror. The American marines We're reused
to arms, and all night stood ready to de-
fend the foreigners in the compounds The
fire was confined to the native city to the
westward. and the line of flame seemed
to be about a mile long We could hear
musketry and shouting in the distance, and
flre after fire sprang up. until we thought
the whole native city was going up in
smoke.
Beginning of HostiIities.
"Detachments of the foreign forces hur-
rfed here and there during the night pro-
tecting lives and property. The Boxers
attacked the railroad and tried to burn
it and the station. but were driven off by
the Russians Nothing more than a desul-
tory attempt WAS made to attack the COM
pound where We're. The fighting and
fire were confined mostly to the native
quarter. where native Christians were
killed.
THE next morning the bodies of about
100 Boxers were found lying here and there
saw numbers of bodies being devoured
by dogs. Trenches We're hastily dug and
the native authorities gathered up the bod
les by tying ropes around their legs and
dragged them off to burial. That morn
ing hundreds Of poor native Christians
huddled into the mission compounds and
begged for shelter. The foreign non-com-
batants were all In a fever of apprehen-
sion. and most of them determined to get
away by the first possible means. The
native Christians, learning this, begged
on their knees to be saved from the saw
agery OF the Boxers. On the morning of
the 18th we accidentally learned that
military train was to leave for Taku in
forty-five minutes. Permission was obtain
ed to board this train. and we hastily pack
ed our belongings and reached the train.
The Chinese engineers. firemen. brakemen
and station men had deserted in terror,
leaving the trains standing idle. We final
~ arrived at Taku and the same afternoon
boarded Chinese steamer which lay at
anchor ready to sail for Shanghai
I'VE could not sail that night, for some
reason or other. and lay in company with
other merchant vessels al anchor At 1915
o'clock the morning of June II the bonn
bardment of the foreign gunboats by the
forts began. The gunboats returned the
fire Immediately. We were lying up the
river, with the gunboats between US and
the forts. Whenever the Chinese in the
fcrts fired too high their shells went
screaming over us OF struck the water
about u.s. We were directly in the line of
the fire. There was a panic on board in
tensified by the fear that the native crew of
the steamer might prove treacherous
Duel of Shells.
beginning with a few desultory but
fairly well-directed shots. the firing on both
sides soon developed into tremendous
duel of shells. Shell after shell screamed
over our heads. Some exploded on the river
surface. sending up a column of water.
Others skipped over the water and struck
ha Uh ~