Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-01-23
Life During the selge oi Pokln.

BY far the most realistic story of
the siege of the legations in Pekin
has comesfrom a woman, whose ex-
periences must have been thrilling
enough to do her for life time.
Among the women imprisoned
within the fateful inclosure was
Miss Mary Condit.Smith, who un-
Willingly made $4,000 by her fore
sight in keeping diary. The facts
which she has made public are SO
tragic and realistic that it is doubt
full if there is parallel for them in
history. The women were early
made aware of the dangers to which
they were subject, and readily
agreed to the alternates Of suicide or
death at the hands of their comrades
on. lack of courage to fire the fatal
bullet. "We grew to be horribly
expert in pistol PRACTICE" says Miss
Smith. "Every woman in the lega-
tion was provided with pistol and
the vital spots where we'll directed
bullet would kill instantly were
pointed out to her. For hours every
day we practiced target shooting and
firing, most horrible of all, with
blank cartridges at ourselves, to
steady our nerves and acoustom us
to the use and subject of a pistol.
At sight of the first Boxer scaling
the wall or forcing the gates of the
legations we were to place the muz-
zle of the pistol in the mouth and
blow off the top of the head. Should
any woman's courage fail her, the
men Of the legation, down to the
lowliest, ...ere solemnly pledged to
shoot the women until not one
should be left alive when the Boxers
took possession of the place." An
unpleasant alternative, surely, yet
regarded as happy escape from the
possible fate attending capture by
the Boxers. The writer thus con-
tinucs:
"On one never-to-be- forgotten oc-
casion we were actually lined up
with the men in solid line in front
of us, for it was momcntarily ex-
pected that the Boxers would gain
possession. Had they done 80 at
that time, not one woman would
have been alive, for at a given signal
from those on the watch the men
were to turn and shoot us down 40
we stood.
81 remember on one occasion how
Mrs. Conger made us laugh by say
ing that actually all through the
siege she was more afraid of her
husband than of any Boxer who
ever was born, for Mr.. Conger was
in such All overweight condition
she was mortally afraid he might
shoot her dead on some false alarm.
'.For q long time we had but two
spoonfuls of rice day for each man,
woman and child upon which to sub
sist for twenty-four hours. 1t was
at such a time when, in our weak
ened, starving condition, there came
a present from the Dowager Empress.
With the horses and mules came
long sacks of flour which happily
were ordered first examined by a
chemist who happened to be among
the legationers. Two of these sacks
were found to be absolutely good,
but every one of the others was
mixed with horrible poisons."
From these disclosures will be seen
how inconsiderate it was to leave
Minister Conger at Pekin TO con-
duct negotiations. With the Incl
dents of the siege in his head, it
would be more than human for him
to assume the deliberative attitude
required in diplomacy. His action
in signing the joint note with the
retention of the word "irrevocable, !"
while opposed to the policy Of. the
government, is perfectly excusable.
He has cause of grievance, and natu-
rally seeks revenge. The govern
ment should have sent new man
to the scene, whose mind was not
enraged by the horrible scenes at
tendant upon the siege.