The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-10-13

MlSS.TILl
LINCOLN CITY, Sept. 15.-For the
student of history and current events,
China has been an interesting study in
the last two years. A few weeks after
my arrival in Tien-Tsin the coup d'etat
took place at Picking and from then on
events have occurred so rapidly that
one who wished to grasp the situation
| had very little time to do anything
other than watch the public drama.
| From the autumn of 1898 (the time
referred to above) there has been mani
fest in North China a spirit of discon-
tent. But no one thought that it would
| terminate as it has. Really the for
eigners thought that they were gaining
ground, especially when the Empress
received the wives of the foreign am
bassadors late that year.
! 1 was in Picking, visiting at the Brit
| ish legation, and saw the party start,
saw them return, heard them tell where
they had been, how kindly they were
treated and finally saw the presents
they received.
Time went rapidly by. Often the
| boy would come to me with face as
pale as it could well be, and tell me of
some cruel thing that some Chinaman
had done to foreigners and he would in
variably ask me if l was surely going
home early in the spring of 1900. / can
understand 1T now. The servants liked
! me and they were calculating on my
getting away from Tien-Tsin in good
time.
Late in May, this year, the same
boy" came to me and said, Suppose
Missile Lilly VANITY go America, more
letter maky quick" That night Box
ers,' of whom we had heard, but whom
we thought we had no occasion to fear,
destroyed a part of the railway be-
tween Peking and Tien-Tsin.
1t was repaired and by the time that
the troops from the European and
American ships arrived-that had been
sent for when this occurred-all was
quiet, and about six hundred men went
to Picking on the train (the Chinese I'm
periaI Railway We also had guard
of about this number at Tien-Tsin, ar
rived May 2Sth and 18th.
/ am sure we rested well from this on
until the night of the 9Th of June That
night We were told that large bands of
Boxers were lowering around and that
we would probably be attacked. Need
less to say that / did not sleep that
night, remained dressed all night long.
and looked out of the window a great
many times. 1 could see the natives
slip along in the shadows of the walls
and finally past the sentry when he was
at the farthest end of his walk
Yes, we had sentries all around the
settlement, and on the still night air /
could hear them call out, when they
happened to get glimpse of the native
trying to pass, Halt wer da''
from the German or Austrian We
also had mounted guard of
civilians of Tien-Tsin who had
organized themselves into a volun-
teer corps, and after they had dashed
past the house to the corner of the
block, which was only one door away,
1t always gave me a sensation of peace
to hear their ''all's WE'LL" These were
usual occurrences and nothing unusual
: happened that night. Everyday things
looked more and more warlike at Tien-
Tsin. The sentries were doubled and
guns were mounted on the mud wall
which is merely a ridge of earth eX-
tended along one side of the settlement
just back of the house in which / lived
But the attack did not come until the
night of June IA. After short slumber
about 1880 o'clock / awoke suddenly
and saw a strange light shining into
/ the glass Of some picture frames on the
opposite wall from the windows NV,
: What a sight greeted my eyes, The
whole sky was red. / stood there until
1 determined that the fire was in the
, native city and possibly across the
! river. So did not think it was neces-
sary to awaken the other people in the
house. l had not been standing there
t long when the relief guard (who always
went by at IL o'clock passed running
l thought, that means something "
So 1 dressed. Before I finished how
ever. the mounted guard went by, stop
ped and held hurried consultation al
the corner and then dashed away with
out the accustomed "all's we'll"
BY this 1 thought they surely expect
ed trouble. The fire ragged fiercer and
closer. yet waited. Before calling any
one wished to hear the first alarm
tnat mad been agreed upon to sound in
lease OF actual attack and had almost
grown weary when at 23O a. m. on the
sun air came sound. did not permit
1T to horribly me for it might be only a
can TO the soldiers. In a moment a
man on horseback came almost f1vine
around the corner and blew several
blasts on his bugle. Then 1 heard
bugles in several directions. That was
the alarm; we were attacked, and
these signals meant for all to prepare
for the worst, then wait for the signal
that would tell them whether it was
wise to leave their homes. At A O'Clock
that signal came, the church bell rang
like fire bell, and all of us and the