The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-28
OWE LIVES
To PRAYER
Lord Delivered Ten
Tsin Christians.
DR. C. P SMITHS BELIEF
He Denies Alleged Killing q
v ounoed by Seymour in
Emphatic Terms.

Twas nothing but the power Of al I
mighty God that kept US all from being
in Tien-Tsin,'' said Dr. G. p.
Smith aboard the City of Picking last
night. DIR. Smith spoke as a man who
was simply stating well known fact
that he himself knew to be
a fact. He was sincere in what he said.
He was helping those in charge of the
military hospital at Tien-Tsin until !
July and was presep. in the suburbs
of that city throughout tn entire bonn
bardment of the English settlement.
AS the doctor told the story Of the +
dread experiences through which he I
has so recently passed, he seemed to .
live over again the scenes of confusion |
and long, terrible days of anxiety. He |
spoke earnestly and told his story |
graphically and yet with the utmost re-
gard to truth even in the smallest
details. He is an enthusiastic man, |
man without pretense, thoroughly
manly and thoroughly sincere.
II must deny most emphatically the
wicked report of Admiral Seymour hav-
ing killed his wounded in order to save
the uninjured of his force. There was
no such thing. There could never be
any such thing. Soldiers do not kill
their wounded and leave them, no mat
ter what terrible treatment awaits
them. No! Soldiers stand on the battle
field with the wounded and fight and
die with their disabled comrades rather
than forsake them. 1t is a shameful lie
and the man who spread the report, the
man who is responsible for the lying
dispatch should be shot and probably
will be shot or hung when he is dis
covered.
II saw the column when it arrived.
1 attended the wounued. / helped to
care for them. Every wounded man
was brought back. Not man was left
behind-except the bodies of those kill
ed by the Chinese themselves.
1.-THE only case L know of where wound
ed were left behind was when two wound
ed marines were left in a safe place while
the English force moved away some dis
lance for an advantage; then men were
sent for the two wounded-but it was TOO
late: they had been horribly mutilated
by the brutes. This case is mentioned in
4
concerning Seymour. Never would sol
der be guilty of such cowardice.
Some two thousand of Us in the set
! tlement-Aye! and many more, / venture
to say-realizing our dangerous position
and having no guns at first to reply TO
the guns of the Chinese, made up our
minds to pray-and we prayed. Nothing
but prayer saved us. 1t was perfectly re-
markable.
Listen and I win tell you. We were
not in Tien-Tsin proper, remember: we
were in the sett ement in the suburbs. The
city of Tien-Tsn, Ike all Chinese cities,
IS built in the form of square. the sides
facing the carulnal points of the COM
pass. A mile or two east OF the city is
the settlement. North of the city is a
large fort and a pagoda; near to it is
the old Catholic Church which was de-
lstroyed in the massacre of 1870 and after
wards rebuilt. The Chinese had a long
Tom mounted in this fort. All day long
they fired at tie settlement The women
and children Were seeking refuge in the
cellars of the Gordon house. Long Tom
was continually aimed at this building
The first shot ,hey fired at 1t went toe
low: then they altered the sight and got
1t too high, SO that the shens went flying
high over the roof. The next day they
got the range, but the shells burst around
it and Up against t and never reached
|
provdential?
IT saw Admiral Seymour's relief col.
umn start out for Picking, as I said be-
fore: i saw 1T return. We thought it ha6
been lost. We saw the Rattle from afal
from our towers, at the Hsi Gu, and we
thought the Chinese were firing on Sey
mour's force. Little did we know tina
Seymour had captured the Hsi Gu and
was firing upon the Chinese with then
own guns. We got together another re
lief expedition of 1900 men and they
vert out after Seymour's force.
They all returned together bearing
|, the wounded. they We're all carrying tn,
| wounded. You can see now what Ii,
that report was about Seymour shootins
the wounded. The 1900 that we sent on
and Seymours force had all they coulC
J do to bring in the wounded. There wer,
lots of wounded. I don't know how many
How we cheered them when they arrived
How slowly they returned. 1t was like
funeral march. And so solemn. We naC
J all we could do to attend to the wound
ed.
when our relief went out after Sey
mour. the British officer In command said
See that your magazines are empty d,
} not shoot before you are ordered to d.
I so. Many a good show has been spoil
hv some ass letting his gun off befor
7 time
Il can still hear shells whizZing owe
} my head. / didn't mind after we secure
! guns hearing our own shells splitting tn
4 air. but l didn't relish those of the en-
envy.
D ''On June 10. you know, the Boxer
erected a standard outside the south gat
OF Tien-Tsin and all bowed down an
worshipped 1t. Three Catholics We're ex
ecuted here. We knew then that In a fe,
days We would be attacked.
we sent out our spies-Christian spie
and discovered their plans. We mad
our plans then as best we could. On Jun
IA, about midnight, the Chinese burne
three chapels of ours in the city proper
We heard that two more were to be burn
ed the next night. We saw the flames
, the distance. 1t was an awful fire. The
J repeatedly tried to burn the Catholic c.
thedral-at last II also blazed
THE Boxers attacked the railroad sta
g ton: they wanted that point badly. TIL
Russians bravely kept them off with r
fies, killing many. On the 18th all wa
quiet. Then we heard that the TAX
forts were to he taken. You know III
rest of that affair.
Tuesday June 10, was the most crit
cal day of all those terrible days. w
had about 1000 men working night an