The National tribune., 1900-08-23
BESIEGED IN TIEN TSIN..
Events Described, from the Standpoint Of
II
the Missionaries.

diary Rept by FREDERICK NJ. 1'yRe, the ~
year-old son of MrgPyke, describing events
in Tien Tsin from June 10, when the sit
uatioD there began to look perilous, tc
June %, when sufficient re-enfOrcements
arrived from Taku to put the Boxers and
the rebellOus Chinese troops for time on
the defensive. The elder Mr.. Pyke has
been in China for % years, part of the
time as President of the Methodist school
at Pekin. When the present crisis came
on he was stationed at Tien Tsin with his
wife and three children, of whom Fred
| erick is the youngest.
The diary is an interesting addition to
the history of Tien Tsin's time of anxiety
prior to the arrival of the reinforcements
from Taku.
He begins his writings on Sunday, June
10, by saying that war seems inevitable
and that Minister Congcr had telegraphed
| the day before that unless troops could
reach Pekin by the following Tuesday it
would be too late.
I'm consequence of this and similar tele-
grams to European Powers" he writes, "a
thousand men started from Taku this
morning for Pekin. When the train
reaches this place % men will disembark
to take the place of the 100 American sol
diers here. They are to go on up with the
allied forces from Taku. The other Pow
ers will probably do something similar to
| this. At this moment the whole west
front of the settlement facing the plain is
| unguarded. the Americans having left to
| the last man. Something like 1000 must
be going up to-day. All the Sikh police
men are armed with rifles and are stand
| ing on guard all over the place.
AT II o'clock i went to see the soldiers
| off. They had two carloads of ties, COW
cred with Cinnamon, to mend the track,
| and Is carloads of solders-British, Rus
| SLAMS, French, Japs and Germans. We saw
no Americans, although there must have
been some. If they have to fight their way
into Pekin there will be war. If they
| bring away our people and all the foreign
ers, that means war. War thus seems alb
sOlutely certain now, unless the Govern
ment backs down, which they probably
will not do, as they have gone too far.
They are desperate. The Chinese soldiers
taken as individuals are very polite and
quiet, but taken as body they are, with
out exception, insulting and threatening.
| They are armed with the latest Mann
lichers and Mausers. and know how to
handle them. The only serious danger is
that they may join the Boxers and sweep
down upon Tns in overwhelming numbers.
ulic I.-N Y ne" )
last night to the effect that 5000 Ger
mans and British, were landed at Taku
waiting to come up, Besides the troops
who went up yesterday morning, 800 Ger
mans went up in the afternoon, raising
the number of allies in Pekin and march
ing to PekiD to nearly or quite 1900. The
Taku forts are wide awake and had their
guns trained on the British gunboats in
the roadstead. If their guns fire, the mel
ancholy boom of the cannon will sound
the deathknell Of China as a nation. There
are 1000 Russians at Tei-Hai- HO, and
their commanding officer is lodging in our
new house. Two wild stories have been
widely spread, which are most probably.
not true. One is that the Dowager has
fled to the Russian Legation for protection,
and The other is that 5000 Russians are
marching overland to Pekin. There is no
question but that Russia wants al! this
corner Of Asia.
1.-THE Boxers are spreading rapidly
southwark again. The only hope for the
missionaries down that way is to retreat
overland to Shanghai. Two hundred Amer.
leans are expected to-day. All the mis-
sionaries in Pekin are gathered in our
compound there and protected by from 10
to 10 marines. The British are not pro,
tecting theirs, so the Americans are pro-
tecting both British and American mis-
sionaries. i have learned how to handle
shotgun, rife, pistol and revolver, SO l can
help
TUESDAY, June 1.-THE allied troops
that went up on Sunday got ont of sup
plies, at least the Americans and English
did, and had to send back for more. When
these men left the fort they had reached
Lob Fab, 81 miles from here Last night
| didn't get to bed until after IL O'clock
There was a good deal of racket up toward
the city. j called Mr.. Martin out once
rot nncn nf L
glasses worked at night, to hear the noise
and get what he thought of it. This was
about . O'Clock. A little afterward the
Satekecper came and spoke to papa in
whisper. Mamma caught the word 'jang'
Ito yelD and thought the assault had be.
gun.
I'VE all rushed into the yard and sure
enough there was .janging.' Tin pans,
gongs, bells, men, dogs, drums, etc, joinen
together, made very respectable noise
We could hear something that sounded
like a great drum coming nearer steadily.
Now and then the wind waited the CON
fusion of sounds down upon us, bringing
Increased volume with it, and we were
able to distinguish the beating of gongs. |
the ringing of bells and even the shriIi
yelling of the boys, who formed more than
80 per cent of the Boxers and who are
always placed in front in an engagement |
by the cowardly men. l was very much |
excited and was very happy as long as
chance of a fight was imminent, but the
gatekeeper, poor man, was very white and |
frightened. didn't realize until we seemed |
to be actually favored with an attack |
what it might mean to tine poor Chinese.
1T was beautiful night. The siIyery |
and almost full moon lit up the trees and |
buildings with a soft clear light, almost as |
bright as day, but without that glare so |
annoying and so well known to residents
in China. Gradually the sound began to |
die away. The moon, reaching her zenith |
shed her peaceful light over the scene, now
quiet with the exception of the distant roll |
of the watchman's rattle, and the far off |
and occasional crack of the guards rifle
alps WELL
After taking turn up and down the
road past our compound with the United
States marine patroIling there, we turned
in and spent q perfectly peaceful and rest
full, though s8mewliat short. night. AIRS
We'll this morning, though expect there'Il
be another alarm Tonight. The story that
there were 1900 Russians ut Pei-Hai-Uo
is a myth, thoiigh there is some prospect of
them landing there and the Chinese are
uneasy. The story Of troops going to Tong
shue is also a alfabrication.
"Wednesday, June 13.-Yesterday noon
we went to the train to meet the people
from TshunIau While over there before
the train arrived we had a talk with two
United States marines who had come down.