Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-05-23

thence crawl forward toward the bar
| ricade. where our men We're warned
not to fire upon US, tie Il rope around a
mule, slip back toward the moat and
| drag the mule after us and down into
the moat. where it could subsequently
be covered with Kerosene oil and
burned. With ten volunteer coolies, all
| dressed in dark clothes and warned not
to speak or even whisper. 1 undertook
i the task.
We reached the position on the wall
! street without incident, and was con-
graduating myself that we would sue
4 coed without the Chinese discovering
us. when one of the coolies unfortun-
ately struck his foot against tin can
and sent 1t rafting across the road
! Instantly Nolley was fired upon us
from the Chinese barricade only fifty
yards distant. and perfect hail Of
bullets struck all about us. Drop on
I your face and lie still" l commanded
I in hoarse Whisper which was
l about fifteen minutes. Then sent one
4 coolie crawling on toward the nearest
mule only ten yards away. and he soon
4 had the moose slipped over his head
and returned. We dragged the animal
I quietly enough until Just at the cor
+ ner of the bridge where a lot of tins,
! bottles and refuse had been dumped in
the early days of the siege and before.
the Chinese had obtained their present
position by driving the Germans from.
the wall in the rear of their legation.
When the animal passed over these OBJ
=stacles loud grating. rafting noise
was made and a second Nolley poured
down from the wall But this time the
corners of the stone bridge protected
us and we We're in no danger. After
another wait of fifteen minutes, during
Ia 1,
returned and repeated the operation on
the second mule. dragging his fragrant
carcass alongside the first and COM
plotting our work under q third volley
quite harmless. ] received the thanks
of Mr.. Squiers and the entire marine
guard for this service, as 1T rendered
their position much more bearable
thereafter and fully repaid me for the
danger incurred.
Directly across n moat leading from
the imperial city to the southern wall
of the Tartar city of Picking. opposite
to the British legation, is large COM
pound known in the local mandarin
tongue as the palace of Prince Su. This
prince only Inherited the title from his
father two years ago. He is q young
man of rather pleasant appearance,
about 80 years of age. l have dined
with him twice at the residence of his
next younger brother, who was a pa
i tient of mine last winter This COM
pound is surrounded by q stout brick
wall from twelve to fifteen feet high.
Lying as the place does. in between the
British and Austrian legations. 1T was
decided to take possession of 1T for the
thousand odd Christian refugees. most
ly Catholics. who had claimed the pro-
lection of their teachers, the mission
aries, when the cathedral and mission
NjSoc IA.
ing this originated With Mr.. +. II.
James. who was killed ON the bridge by
kansu soldiers only n few days after
the occupation. DIR. G. Il. Morrison
warmly seconded 1t, and the plan was
carried out without opposition from
Prince Su or his retainers, as actual
warfare had not yet broken out. This
palace consists of a lot of rather fine
(for Chinese buildings) edifices. all of
one story, arranged In series of
courts. and Il considerable park on the
west side facing on the moat dividing
the palace from the British legation
AS less than a hundred yards space is
taken UP by the width of the moat and
the roadway on either side it will be
readily seen that to hold this compound
was to protect the entire east side of
the British legation from the Chinese
fire. Colonel Shba. the Japanese COM
mandant, with his twenty-five soldiers.
was first placed in charge, but later on
he was reinforced from time to time by
detachments from the Austrians. Ital-
ians. British and French marines, and
by the young men of the customs SER
vice. known as the customs volunteers
The most determined efforts of the
siege have been made by the Chinese.
troops and Boxers to obtain possession
of the palace-frst. doubtless. because
ii commanded the entire east wall of
the British legation at short range and
secondly. because they desired to exter-
inmate the thousand odd refugees men.
women and children. harbored there.
consequently, the loss of life of our de-
Tenders and the number of wounded
\ brought from the Su Wang Su into the
hospital has greatly exceeded that of
any other one place. To Colonel Shiba
its heroic defender. is due the greatest
credit. inasmuch as he held the place
for weeks after the other commanders
had prophesied 1T would have to be
given up in twenty-four hours.
This he has been enabled to do nv
building barricade after barricade in
the rear of his first line of defense. at
often less than fifty yards distance, and
when one barricade Was shelled abso-
lutely untenable. retreating to the reXt
strong position In his rear
4 Colonel Shiba also enlisted all the
japanese civilians in the city, and even
trained twenty-five of the native Cath
olic converts into very steady soldiers,
4 arming them with rifles taken from the
bodies of dead soldiers of the enemy.
In addition to the military officers who
arrived with the legation guards, there
happened to be in Picking at the COM
mencement of the siege two English
captains, one to study Chinese, the
other representing q concession syndi-
cate, Captains Poole and Percy Smith.
Both of the gentlemen have rendered
efficient and valuable service. and since
4 the death Of Captain Strouts have been
on regular duty. a curious fact, inter-
4 asting alike to English and Americans.
4 is that on the Fourth of July. after
/ Captain Meyers was wounded in the
/. sortie on the city wall the previous
night, Captain Percy Smith command
ed the American marines in the trench
on the wall all day, under hot fire from
cannon and rifles. and the marines
/ speak in the highest terms of his bra
/ very, GOODNESS and care for their COM
4 fort and safety.
Mr.. E. Won Strauch. formerly first
lieutenant In the German army but
I now a member of the customs service,
has also rendered valuable service in
relieving the officer in charge at all of
! the various posts. such as the city wall,
held by the Americans; the Su Wang
Flu held by Colonel Shiba; the Hanlin
Yuan, held by the British, and other
points outside the legation. The men
also express the highest regard for him.
So much for the outside officers.
Among civilians deserving credit are
many who have daily and faithfully
done the work apportioned to them in
capacities where they have been un-
noticed, but where their work has con-
tributed much to the general comfort,
and some of them at least should be
noticed. Messrs. Allardyce and Brazier