The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-16
FOR BRAVERY AT PEKING
DECORATIONS AWARDED TO MR..
AND MRS. A. r. CHAMOT.
PIuckicst Woman I'm the Besieged
Garrison Came from San Francisco
killed Hundreds of Boxers.

San Francisco Chronicle.
Two of the most notable defenders Of
the besieged legations in the Chinese capt.
tai during the Boxer outbreak were Mr.
and Mrs. August F. Chamot. who arrived
here Saturday on the steamship City of
Picking. The Chamots have been notified
that many decorations have been conferred
on them by European rulers for their serv-
ices rendered during the siege. and they
will cross the Atlantic to receive these to-
kens of honor. Mr. Chamot said that the
money rewards which had been given to
him by European governments amount TO
$4,000 in United States gold coin. His
claim against China for $4,000 for the de-
struction of his property in Peking has
been Endorsed by nine governments, he said.
and he was confident that compensation
would be. granted to him eventually. In
addition to his hotel, which was mentioned
in accounts of the siege, he owned a silk
factory, cloisonne factory, a carpet fac
tory and store for foreign goods. The
factories and store were burned and the
hotel and it's contents were destroyed by
1.s47 shells that exploded in and around
it.
d
from Pope Leo XIII, who sent them the
badge of the Order of Gregorius and also
a portrait of Pope Leo on enamel The Pope
invited Chamot to visit him at Rome, and
the invitation will be accepted Chamot
will leave for his native country, Switzer-
land, in about six weeks, and will then go
with his wife to the capitals of other
nations for the ribbons and medals, as
well as the sums Of money, that await
him. The decorations that Mrs. Chamot
cell rf,cr rffaVS-
The Legion of Honor of France, the Double
Eagle of King Leopold of Belgium, the
Order of Stanislaus of Russia and the Or
der of Isabella of Spain. Mr.. Chamot's
list of decorations is as follows: The Grand
Gordon of Russia, the Order of the Garter
of England, the Legion of Honor of France.
the Black Eagle of germany. the iron
Crown of Austria, the Double Eagle OF
the Queen of Holland. the King of Italy
and the King of Spain. Mr.. and Mrs
Chamot have won these honors while
young. His age is thirty-five. Mrs
Chamot was Miss Lizzie Mccarthy,
and she has a host of friends and
acquaintance in San Francisco, her birth
place. Chamot is a mandarin of China,
that rank having been conferred on him
by Ii Hung Chang.
A gentleman VINO was in Picking said:
Mrs. Chamot was the heroine of the
siege. She could shoot and ride and would
heed no advice that tended to keep her
prise that he undertook. She was at his
side and a valued member of his party in
the rescue expeditions headed by him, and
Wher ii came to the defense OF her home
and the rest of the legation group she had
place in the front rank. The Picking
Hotel which Chamot owned, was struck
hundreds of times during the siege and
after the French legation was wrecked by
a mine and abandoned the hotel bore the
brunt of the constant Chinese attack from
the east side. Legation street was barri-
caded at that point and the defense of the
harricade was in the hands of the members
of the German and Japanese legations and
the inmates of the Peking Hotel. Mrs.
Chamot was frequently seen behind the
barricade with the soldiers and her rifle
snapped viciously whenever Chinese
showed himself in range. The soldiers
idofized her, but the prettiest praise came
from the other women in the legations.
They admired her for the wonderful
strength and courage she had shown and
were grateful for the part she had played
in saving them
Chamot said that he and his wife killed
over $50 Boxers, whom they counted, and
perhaps many more outside the wall. at
when they shot. He said that when they
captured Boxers they tied seven Of them in
a row and killed all seven with one bullet
from any of the rifles used at the Legal
lions, firing so as to shoot each of the Chi
nese through the heart. He made this
statement in a matter-of-fact way That
Mrs. Chamot was crack shot was well
brother at the Shell mount ranges. On the
day when the German minister muir
dered the Boxers deSpoiled the laundry at
tached to Chamots hotel. He and Mrs.
Chamot shot at them and killed seventeen.
She was armed with a Colts carbire and
he with Winchester, and the killing was
done at distance of eighty yards. Each
of them knelt on one knee to aim. The
wall separating the part of the city in
which the hotel and legations were from
the part inhabited by the Chinese Hus-
band and wife dragged the dead Boxers to
the door in this wall and showed the bodies
into the Chinese city. Chamot has the
huge key of this door in his baggage.
AT the beginning of the outbreak Mr.
and Mrs. Chamot, with seven men, went
to the relief of a party of nineteen engin-
GERS, eleven women and seven children at a
village fourteen miles from Picking. The
party was saved, but when an attack was
made on the relief force by 400 Boxers four
of the men were killed. Chamot said that
his wife was wounded by one bullet on the
top of her head and by three bullets that
struck her on the back I'm that attack, and
Chamot was struck seven times. Her
wounds did not lessen Mrs. Chamot's activ-
ity, but after the siege was raised she was
overcome by typhoid and so her return to
this city was delayed. She had been here
last March, in which month she went to
China to rejoin her husband.
During the siege the bread that we had
was made of corn and kaolain, which was
ground at the hotel" Chamot said. 1.-THE
Chinese shells smashed the oven in our
bakery, but we took the bricks and built
another in my sitting room. We found that
mule meat was more palatable than horse
meat" The three mules which were used
to grind the corn were the only ones not
killed for food and Chamot presented them
to Sir Robert Hart. The only horse that
was left alive in the besieged precincts was
Mrs. Chamot's pony Pepper5ox. This sad
die horse which kicks and bites every per-
son save his mistress who comes near, was
brought here on the steamship.