The Topeka state journal., 1900-08-25
SIEGE OF ten TSIN
Thrilling Description of That
Event by Eye Witness.
Frederick Palmer Writes Amid
Bursting Of Shells.
WORK OF JAPANESE.
How They Made Things Lively
For Boxers.
Dashed Through Lines Slashing
Right and Left.
WORK OF JAPANESE.

Fredrick Palmer, special correspon-
dent of Golfers Weekly in China, writes
at length of the siege of Tien Tsin- The
following extracts from his article are
reproduced by permission of Golfers
Weekly:
July 5-We were awakened at five
this morning by the booming of guns
We could discern that they were fired
from our side. and that was extremely
comforting. Beyond and above all things,
we need guns which will carry as 1ar
as those of the Chinese. The d1nerent
forces which are here all expected
route march to Pekin and came equip
ped ordingly-without heavy guns.
We have seen the result of the attempt
of the japanese battery three days ago
with their little mountain guns to silence
the eight guns which the Chinese placed
on our flank at the railway bridge, there
by making life tenable on our pontoon
bridge, in the railway roundhouSe and
the limits of our line across the river
only under cover. The MikadO's men
are very brave. They handle their nne
little brass guns jauntily and well-but
their shells did not reach the enemy,
while the enemy's shells put thirteen of
their sixty gunners out of action before
the japanese had used up their ammunl-
ton and had to give up the position.
They placed their guns in the open
where the Chinese gunnerS could dis
LlDSulSn the ngureS OF the arIlIle1yISNf
while the Chinese guns were well masked
behind mud embrasures. That is not
characteristic of the Japanese alone
The average foreign officer can not ac-
custom himself to the idea that once
a shot is fired at him the Chinaman is
going to run away
The guns. whose full-throated voices
uShered in the dawn were the same r.
Founders which helped to save Lady
smith The blue jackets who man them
have painted on their improvised car
riages, which Captain Percy Scott de-
signed, Prom Ladysmith to Pekin.
They were placed at the foot of the west
wall. on the other side of the town from
the Chinese batteries at the railway
bridge. If the TerribIe's gunners could
not see their target. they had the advan-
tage of being out of the enemy's reach
as. well as his sight. The gunners were
given the range from the signal tower
of Gordon Hall. the highest building in
town. After every shot, the flag passes
the word as to how many yards and in
which direction the shell had gone
astray-
Meanwhile, the Chinese guns by the
railway bridge attended strictly to their
knitting. They could not fire at the 12-
FOUNDER when they did not know where
II was, and so they kept on firing at the
railway station whenever they could see
anything worth a shell Wandering to
the Bund, which is the thoroughfare
along the quay here, I saw sixty or
seventy white women and children en-
barking in an old lighter for Taku, where
they will take transportation to any
place of refuge they can reach. Then
went up to the pontoon bridge which
supplants for military purposes the
bridge that was destroyed during the
siege of Tieu Tsin before it's relief This
is the region of the French concession
You took rickshaw along the Rue
de Chemin de Fer in the old days, when
the traders of Tien Tsin sold modern
arms and ammunition to the Chinese
ana thought that one white man could
lick the empire with stick. Now you
go up the Rue de Chemin de Fer on foot
with bullets from the snipers in the salt
pies across the stream smacking against
the brick and stone walls of the houses
which are uninhabited ruins honey
combed by shells and fragments of
shells After their gunnery, the greatest
enlightenment that has been vouchsafed
us about the Chinese by recent events
Is the great availability of pagodas for
signal and watch towers. From the
pagoda beyond the railway bridge the
heather lookout man can see any move
ment of Importance by our troops.
During the bombardment. Admiral
Seymour happened to be going the
rounds of the defences just as I was
crossing the pontoon bridge He came
through hole made in the rolIndhouse
by Chinese shell. Three or four per-
sons were not enough to attract the at
tention Of more than the snipers.
Shortly after the admiral came a. part
OF the Br1tsh-Chinese regiment which
has been recruited and drilled at Wei
bagging. and the Chinese gunners sent
some shells after their countryrneu
from Shan Tung in short order
They burst beautifully over the bridge.
out little too late, for the target
was already on the other side
by TINS time I was inside the round
mouse at the railway station, looking at
tne rents which had been made by
shells from the railway bridge hsttar-5
There was not square yard of wall
toward the batteries which had not 4
fracture had Just stepped outside
and sat down to chat with one Of the
officers In command of the Hong Kons.
native Indian regiment, when banes
srnash' went a shell against the other
wall. and fragments of shell and h~iclr
We're driven through the tin roof, al
ready as full of holes as q pepper cover
Barring the dust and noise. we were NOT
Bnconvienienced, as the shell had not
enough force to carry it through fhe
second wall after bursting upon con-
tact with the nrst. Then, on top of the
other. bang-sma came a second ~
nearly the same spot. We were NOT
though we decidedly seemed to he
nearer TO death than the man who
looks down into the street from one If
New Yori's skyscrapers Her mai
estys big Pataans and Punjaubis were
lying under the shade of mating shell
tiers behind their works, some chatting
anu some sleeplng, the standing order
to all British troops being not TO fire
unless there Is a general attack THE
day DeTore, two OF the Indians ahd been
killed and four wounded, all by snip
ing Flf1e nre, when they exposed them
selves either in going or coming az, an
errand or unnecessarily. On the other
hand. it seems to be a matter Of CON
science with the French to fire aVav
their ammunition as quickly as they
can The regular French troops here
nref rom Saigon in Indo-China ana
without exception the iirtfest thar Ne
have. A Turk or ragamuf1n of the