The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1900-10-12
TILL OF P[K|NG'S HORROR
A Chicago Woman and Her Daugh-
ter Arrive in San Francisco
from the Orient.
WERE THE GUESTS OF MINISTER CoAGER
Attempted to Get Away Before
Trouble Began, But Did Not Sue
ceed-Describes Privations the Lee
gatiOners Had to Endure-Ail i'm
PerIIous Plight, and All RcalizedIt.

San Francisco, Oct. Mrs. NJ. S.
Woodward and her daughter lone, of
Chicago, were among the passengers
on the steamer Coptic, which arrived
from the orient. Mrs. Woodward and
her daughter were guests of Minis
ter Conger at Picking and were in the
two months siege with the members
of the legations. Mrs. Woodward
said:
Two Awful Months.
"It is difficult to describe ones feelings
during an experience such as we went
through during those awful two months at
Picking. We were all in a perilous plight
and we all realized it, but we did not dare
to think of our danger. AS you may know,
we started to leave Picking on June s. but
we were one day too late. Accompanied
by a small guard that was placed at our
disposal by Minister Conger, we went tic
the railroad depot on the morning of that
day and waited from seven o'clock In the
morning until IL o'clock at night for
train to take us to Tientsin.
The Train Never Came.
"But the train never came. Train con-
nection with the outside world had been
cut off the day before. So we all went
back to the legation and prepared for the
we
mob of Chinese at the railroad depot and
made our way back to Legation street
with much difficulty, although none OF the
Chinese offered to do us bodily harm. 1t
was not very long thereafter that the serf-
Gus trouble began, however. The very next
day the missionaries from the burned Cath
Ollie cathedral at Nantung came to the le-
cation for protection and we had our hands
full looking after their wants. There
were hundreds of MANNED, bleeding and
native Christians who had barely escaped
the wrath of the mob with their lives. I
saw little children with spear wounds all
over their bodies and many others, old
and young, bleeding and burned. l be-
came a nurse with other ladies at the le-
cation and was assigned to duty every
other night.
Barrfcades Erected.
AFTER we all took refuge in the Brit
ish legation elaborate plans for our de-
Tense were undertaken. We experienced
no difficulty in getting to the British le-
cation, although constantly harassed by
the Boxer mob. The Russian legation
stood between the American and British
legations. The men cut through the in
tervening walls and then made our retreat
as secure as possible by erecting barri-
cades. s
Continual Fighting.
after this there was continual fighting
day and night. The Boxers were not want
ing in diligence and one night captured
the wall held by our forces. 1t was the
wall of Picking that separated us from
the native city. We regained it, however,
through the heroism of Capt. Jack Myers,
of the Oregon, and 20 of the Newark's
men. With his score of brave lads he
made dash for the wall and captured it
without scratch. Shortly after that Capt.
Myers received spear wound and on top
of that suffered an attack of typhoid fever
that threatened his life.
No Scarcity of Food.
cat no time was there any scarcity Of
food, although it was not of very de-
sirable quality. There were plenty, of
canned meats, vegetables and preserves on
hand and liberal supply of wines, SO
that the injured and invalids did not want
for proper nourishment or delicacies The
need of fresh meat, however, necessitated
the slaughtering of horses and mules. At
the beginning of the siege there were 100
animals at the legations. When the res
cue force arrived only ten were left. Some
of the horses were priced highly as sad
die ponies by their owners, but they had
I to be killed to fill the needs Of the lega-
TONERS"