Evening star., 1900-10-09

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ton under siege was: Whites. about 45O:
marines and soldiers, 450: Chinese ser
wants, 400; Protestant refugees, native, 800:
Catholic refugees, native, 1,s00; total, $500
The Message to Conger.
"On July II we received a message from
the outside world that said Communicate
tidings bearer There was TO date and no
signature. Mr. Conger sent it to the tsung
Ii yamen, with the request that it be made
plain. He received in reply copy of Min
lister Wu's dispatch, which stated that the
United States government demanded word
from Minister Conger in cipher. That mes
sage made our hearts jump with joy. Con-
ger sent his reply at once.
That night before relief arrived we heard
the rattle of the machine guns at a dis
tance, and it was sweet music Every
body got up-it was about 1 oclock-the
women made coffee, and there was no more
sleeping that night. The next day. as the
Americans came in, went down and shook
hands with each man he staggered in
through the water gate"
Mrs. Woodward's Story.
Mrs. M. S. Woodward and her daughter
were guests of Minister and Mrs. Conger
during the siege Mrs. Woodward safd in
describing her experiences:
"As you may know, we started to leave
Pekin on June 5, but we were one day too
late. Accompanied by a small guard that
was placed at our disposal by Minister
Conger, we went to the railroad depot on
the morning Of that day, and waited from
O'Clock in the morning until IL o'clock
at night for train to take US to Tien Tsin.
But the train never came Train connection
with the outside world had been cut off the
day before. So we all went back to the
legation and prepared for the worst. We
were surrounded by a bowling mob of
Chinese at the railroad depot and made our
way with much difficulty back to Legation
street, although none of the Chinese Of
fered to do us bodily harm.
1t was not long afterward that the seri-
Gus trouble began, however. The very next
day the missionaries from the burned
Catholic cathedral at Nantung came to the
legation for protection, and had our
hands full looking after their wants. There
were hundreds of manned, bleeding and
burned native Christians who had barely
escaped the wrath of the mob with their
lives. l saw little children with spear
wounds all over their bodies and many
others. old and young, bleeding and burned.
1t was an awful sight and impressed us
with the fear of a worse fate for ourselves.
With two children al home and a daugh-
ter with me 1 was afraid to think, l did
what 1 could for the immediate comfort of
the suffering ones under our care. / be-
came a nurse, with other ladies at the lega-
ton, and was assigned to duty every other
night.
W
After we all took refuge in the British
legation elaborate plans for our defense
were undertaken. We experienced no diff
Guilty in getting to the British legation,
although we were constantly harassed by
the Boxer mob. The Russian legation
stood between the American and British
legations. The men cut through the inter-
vening walls and then made our retreat as
secure as possible by erecting barricades.
Sewing SILK Sand Bags.
There was plenty of work for the wo-
men. We sewed sand bags for the barri-
cades, and the world never saw such mag
nificent sand bags. Our forces made a
sortie, captured the establishments of
number of rich Chinese merchants, and
appropriated enough silks and rich stuffs
to clothe an army in raiment rich as Solo
mons. This all went for sand bags We
made the bags out of costly silks and ihe
richest embroidery fabrics to be found in
the realm of the dowager empress. No one
ever saw such barricades before and never
will again. 1t seemed awful extrava-
gance, but cheaper material was not at
hand and the silk cost nothing but an ef-
fort.
After this there was continual fighting
day and night. The Boxers were not want
ing in diligence. One night they captured
the wall held by our forces. 1t was the
wall of Pekin that separated us from the
native city. We regained it, however,
through the heroism of Captain Jack My
ers of the Oregon and twenty Of the New
arks men. With his score of brave lads he
made dash for the wall and captured it
without a scratch Shortly after that Capt.
Myers received a spear wound, and in ad-
dition suffered an attack of typhoid fever
that momentarily threatened his life.
1.-The siege developed may heroes. Sir
Claude Macdonald, the British minister, was
made commander-in-chief of the allied
forces. and Secretary Herbert E. Squiers of
the American legation his chief of
staff They planned and carried out the de-
fense of the legations, with the advice and
cooperation of the other ministers. Our
men made their own ammunition when am
munition ran short. Bullets were nodded
in the ground. We captured lots of Chinese
powder.
Gunner Mitchell's Exploit.
Joseph Mitchell, a gunner of the New
ark, was one of the most active men among
the American forces, and, In fact, among
the entire force of allies. Let me tell you
what he did. He captured an old English
gun that was made back in 1860 mounted
it on an Austrian carriage, loaded 1t with
Russian ammunition and Chinese powder,
and fired it day and night throughout the
siege. He went through the trying ordeal
without a scratch to the very day the re-
lief forces arrived, when he was shot in the
arm. The brave fellow was taken to Tien
Tsin. and when we left 1t was feared he
would lose the injured member
I'VE called that gun the International
day the last shot was fired. Mitchell made
himself a hero in other ways. He cap
tured Boxer flag from Chinese barricade
in q shower of bullets and won the earnest