The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-08-11

NEW YORK, Aug. 11.-The China mail.
| which arrived here yesterday, brought a
number Of interesting letters from the land
! of Boxers and treachery One relates.
more briefly than might be desired, how
| the captain OF a United States warship re-
| fused to allow a Russian gunboat to seize
a Chinese gunbcat. because the Chinese
| commander had protected American mis-
sionaries from mob violence.
The American commander took the Chi
nese guRboat under mis- protection, and.
the letter implies. told the Russian to
| sheer off or suffer the consequence. The
| Russian sheered. The missionary gives
the name of the American warship as the
| Oregon, but in this he must be mistaken,
as the Oregon was not at that time any
where nglr that region
Another letter gives an incident which
! tells graphically how the Russians need
! lessly exasperate the natives and Torment
| their hatred against all foreigners.
| third graphically describes the burning
and footing of the Presbyterian mission at
| Weihsien. by Boxers, and the narroq es-
| cape from death which befelI the Rev. f.
| II. ChalfaEt, the missionary, who, practi-
| caliy unaided. held a mob OF fully 1.C00
| Chinese ruffians a t bay for hours b. fore they
| surrounded him set the buildings On fire
and thus forced him TO flee with the wom-
! en- of the mission and few faithful SER
! wants Mr.. Chalfant himself tells this
| thrilling story IN a letter which he writes
| under date Ct June 81, from Fangtzs, which
| is nine miles south Of Weihsien, where he
| found refuge at some German coal mines.
He says, in part:
Won IaIl
cable from Chefoo under date of yesterday
| that Weihsien is a ruin and that all the
| missionaries escaped. The compound was
| burned and looted at p. m. on Monday
| June %. On June 10 | was to hav= escort
! ed my wife and Mrs. Crossette and my
! nine-year old son Ned from Tsingtau back
| TO Weihsien. On the eve of the starting
| came the news of the bo.nbarding Of Tien-
| tsin and the fight at the Taku forts at the
mouth OF the Pei-Ho This caused
| US to decide it unadYisahIe to take the wo-
! men 10 the interior, so l returned myself
| Tn the 18th in company with a German en-
! sineer, Mr.. Ayt who was coming to this
| place (FangtzeD- Those Of Us at the station
! decided it was expedtent TO leave Mr.
Fitch volunteered to escort the women and
! children then on the place, leaving on Sat
arday- The plan was TO go direct to
! Tsingtau-ope hundred miles
AT that date no alarming kilograms nor
! other messages had reached Weihsien other
/ than the news brought by me- At 10
| o'clock on Friday a special messenger came
/ from Mr.. Cornwen. who was in charge of
/ ship sent by our efficient co2suI Mr.
! Fowler, to the junk port Of Yang Kiao-
/ kaG, nifty miles northwest of Weihsien.
/ This message urged the immediate coming
/ Of our people TO tie steamer We decided
! the first party should GO there. and they
/ started on Saturday at a. N. Meanwhile
| we had despatched special couriers to re-
| call the Misses B5ughtCn and HAYES and |
| remained alone TO escort these women and
i TO attend to the thousand and ere euer-
| gencies likely TO arise
| Attacked by II EEob.
| "On Saturday Miss Boughton arrived, and
| on Sunday We had the usual Chinesa se--
vice-fated to be our lasc at Wefhsien for
many a day At daylight On Monday Miss
| HAYES came. having Travelled all night
| We three then worked hard 10 pack the
| most valuable small belongings and to pro-
! vide Tor the various departments Of or
| large mission plant. The schooIs-boys'
and girls high schOo}s-zlad already teen
! dismissed "a thing most proyid ntia1 We
| sent away the few remaining school girls
| to their homeS-these had stayed over. f-r
! the vacation. By this time ugly ruuoT>
| were afoat. and our Christians and hep
| ers advised US TO leave. This was Colsol-
| ing, for usually they are very avarse 10
| the foreigners all leaving At D. n one
Of our native pastors, Ii Ping 7. came with
| a cart to take some goOLs OF his own and
/ others. While loading the cart an f7ur11Iy
! crowd pushed in at our gate. The gate
/ man sent for ne, saying he could not re-
/ STRAIN them. ! took a cane and went IN
| supposing I could get them to behave.
/ By that time they had attacked our
/ wall and smashed the tile work o. c,fIna
how
/ mostly small boys-aud he'd The gateway
/ TIL MIR Lis cart went out. 1T once thzv
/ attacked the cart, and in a moment staia
| everything in it. I could not no hing ort-
side. and so shut the large gate aeailsL
| the mo5's return.
Meanwhile. seeing the sudden turn in
AFFAIRS l had despatched letter TO the
Hamen asking for few soldiers 10 PRO
tect the place. Returning to our houses
ADVISED the women to so TO my house
as the most secure. and wait for me. I
ran back TO find the dispensary windows
smashed and bowling mob on the higher
ground TO the northwest storming the
place with bricks and tiles. I ran back.
took from the safe taels 10 of sycee and
81 III MeXlcanS. as provision against flight
locked the safe. and returned to try TO
keep back the mob until help should come
from 1amen- The lives Of many depended
upon keeping back the mob. ran forward
amid a shower of bricks and tiles. and at
twenty PAGES warned them back They
1eered at me-
"A brick hit my foot, slightly injuring
but not disabling the defending garrison
The mob fell back. and Just then a cavalry
man appeared brandishing his gun He
was from the Yamen. I saIuted him cor
daily and asked him to help. | then on
ened the wicket gate and our large gaze
Conly large enough for one person 10 en-
teri and ran out to the northwest corner
OF the compound, whence the mob had
withdrawn. The horseman. started around
the compound, presumably to see if there
was attack the other side He never
again appeared, and soon the crowd. cow
ed for the while by the arrival of the SOL
der, began to boot at me and say the
Yamen would not help US I feared the
man had returneds and my fears were cor
rect. ! afterward learned that he had not
been sent out to help, but was casually re-
turning from other business.
1T was now about p. m. and being at
time of longest day the sun was still high
My hope and prayer then was to keep back
the mob until sunset so that we could es-
cape under cover Of darkness I took I'D
my position at the corner of the compound
outside. They stood still, and soon saies.
Let's scatter They were undecided VIVA
TO do, and at this point the presence of one
soldier from the Yamen would have avert
ed the calamity. No human help came
stood my ground quietly and waited They
said, Move forward. A few started toward
me. but they skunk back. AT 7.45 they made
an onset. Some had erept along the bank of
the stream near our place ard euaroad ba