The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-12-04

VINO is at Home in Topeka on a Fur
Tough.
| The same day we reached Tien Tsin
| and on the fourth the relief expedition
| started for Pekin. we had heard of
| course what we were there for, and ev-
| cry man of us knew what it meant to
| the people in the besieged city, uncer-
| tain as we were whether We should lind
| them alive or dead.SOur marches were
forced marches, through corn fields I'M
der burning sun. and finally at night
we would lie down in the open very
often in a driZzling rain. Major Lee OF
the Ninth afterward said that he had
never seen such hardship among troops,
and he is an old campaigner-
"Our first fight was at Piet-Sang, IL
miles from Tien-Tsin where a bonn
bardment was begun at O'Clock on the
morning of the 9Th. The American
troops were held in reserve here, and
after a hard fight in which the Japa-
nese English and Russians lost heavily,
the city was taken at noon We started
from there the next morning and on
that day the Fourteenth met its first
hard fight. Reaching the town of
Yang-Tsan about IL o'clock we were
confronted with a heavy fire of rifle and
artillery from the columns of the Chi
nese boxers. They are big men physl-
cally, We're well armed both in small
arms and artillery and stand well be-
fore a fire. The only thing lacking was
the quality of the ammunition which
was very bad. Ii half of the shells
which they threw among US had been
discharged the number of casualties on
our side would have been very mucn
greater than it was. At this place they
were strongly intrenched and the battle
lasted until p. m. The Fourteenth
was in the worst position of any of the
allied forces, being exposed all the time
in an open corn field where the enemy
could see us plainly Finally after we
had determined that nothing else would
do, Col. Daggett of the Fourteenth or
dered US to charge. We did so for a
OF Of txE0 "A heavy
fire. with men falling all around in our
ranks But we finally routed the box
ers and captured much of their artil-
lery. Our loss was about 80 men, the
heaviest of any single battle of the
campaign.
After burying the dead and prepar-
ing to send our wounded back to the
American hospital at Tien-Tsin, we left
there on the morning of August for
Pel<in. 1t is about 81 miles distant, but
the way we took made it almost 20.
On the night of August Is we reached
the outside of the city of Pekin. The
next day we stofmed the walls and at
ter hard fight drove the Chinese away
1t was during this battle and about
noon of that day that Bug1er Edward
Titus scaled the wall, which | should
say was about so feet high, and there
planted the American flag, The eolofs
of the Fourteenth infantry and the first
flag of the allied forces to be placed
on the walls of the beSieged city II
is here that Tasker shows now proudly
he cOntemDlateS the Work OF MS FeSf-
ment, the fact that of the $4,000 forces
composing the relief expedition the col
ors of his own should be the first to
float above the Chinese city. Titus, VINO
performed the feat, formerly lived at
Wichita and is now a cadet at West
Point He and Tasker are particular
friends and are in regular correspond
ence with each other
In speaking of the actual relief of the
besieged foreigners and Chinese Chris
tians, Tasker said: 1T was about
O'Clock of the same day that we re-
Heved the legations. We had no guide,
and for long time were at a loss to
know which way to proceed Ali we
had was a map of the city. But finally,
after hard fighting through the streets
of the Tartar city, and amid the
joicing of all the foreigners we marched
into the English legation, where the
Americans had fed after the destruc
ton of their own The scene there is
indescribable. Men and women leaped
about and shouted for joy that they
had been released from the siege, which
they could have withstood only few
days longer at best When the Amefi-
can soldiers marched in Minister Con-
ger stood out apart from the rest and
grasped cordially the hand of every
man In the Fourteenth Women with