The Portland daily press., 1900-09-25
ACROSS COBB DESERT.
Flight Of American Mis-
sionaries.
Driven From Province Of Chi Lii
China By Boxers.
They Were Chased to
Siberian Border.
Uniform Kindness of Russian
Officials.

London, September 24.-The American
missionaries, j. H. Roberts, Mark VIII
liams, William Sprague, Mrs. Sprauge.
and Miss Virginia Murdock, who es-
capped from Malgan, province of Chi Lii,
China, in June, were chased across the
Cobb desert Thence they travelled by
way of Siberia and have Just reached
London in good health.
The missionaries Will proceed immedi-
ateIy to the United States.
Mr.. Williams, who has worked In China
Tor "a years, gave a representative of
the Associated Press an interesting story
OF his experiences. 1t appears that the
first assault on the mission compound at
Kalgan was made during the night Of
June 10, when a yelling mob attempted
TO batter down the gate with stones.
Seeing the uselessness OF remaining the
missionaries in the course of the night
evacuated the compound and proceeded
to the magistrates Yamen. The follow
ing afternoon they were ordered to leave,
the magistrate declaring that he feared
not only for the missionaries' safety, but
also for his own yamen If he continued
to protect them.
After allowing the Americans to draw
their money from the native bank, the
magistrate furnished them with so sold
iers as an escort through the gate in the
wall into Mongolia.
'We had no idea then of the terrible
journey which awaited us, TcontinuedNIr.
Williams. 1--WE had no notion of having
to escape across to sSiberia and only pro-
posed to remain in some place of safety
and return after the crisis. Wherever
we attempted to stop, however, the of1ic-
ials ordered us to leave forthwith, decIar-
ing the Boxers were on our heels. Final
ly reaching a Mongolian encampm ent at
Harasua, we saw that flight across the
great Cobb desert was inevitab bic. We
| started June %. just before starting,
seven Swedish missionaries, with their
families, who had just escaped with
their lives, joined US. One lady had hor-
rible experiences. She had been almost
dubbed to death, while some of the men
were frightful spectacIes, being covered
with blood.
Our caravan consisted of 90 cameIs, 10
horses and camel carts, for the ladies
and children. For eight days we trav-
elled over nothing but sand. The air was
like that Of an oven ana the suffering
was intense. The animalsshad no grass
and no water and marching In the day
time was impossible. at the few isolated
wells MongoIs were encamped in the vi
cinity and they refused to allow US to
draw water, fearing we would poison
the wells.
After 38 days of terrible anxiety we
reached Urga, on the other side of the
desert. We presented a sorry spectacle.
The Russian consul general was most
kind. He gave up to us IA rooms in the
consulate. But to our dismay the con-
sui told US we must leave forthwith, as
there were 2, 600 Mongol soldiers in the
neighborhood who might be hostile. He
also warned us that tens of thousands
Of Mongols were gathering for reIig-
ious festival and that ii we valued our
safety, we had better clear out without
delay. A fortnight later, August 13,
we reached Kiakhta and remained there
till August q. In the meantime Mr..
Tower, (Mr. Charlemagne Tower, U. S.
am bassador to Russia), obtained permis-
sion from the authorities at st. Peters
burg for our journey over the Siberian
railway. Arriving at Irkutsk, Sep
tember 2, we took traiI ana reached
ST. Peterpurg, September 1S.
1t is impossible to speak too highly of
the great kindness OF the Russian off1c-
iaIs. Everything possible was done for
us by them, even to Offering us money. |
ON the trans-Siberian railway, though |
it was ohoked with troops and closed to |
civilians, the authorities provided re-
served car for us. We passed immense
numbers of troops, apparently conscripts, |
hastily collecting together. They wore
no uniforms and some had no guns. All
Of them wore straw hats. At the United
States legation in ST. Petersburg, we
expressed the opinion that Russia was
preparing to seize Manchuria, but we
we're informed that the American legs-
lion had been assured that Russia had
40 such Intention" !"