Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-08-12
CHAFFEE AT THE GATE.
Funny Incident at Serious Moment at
Pekir

! One Of the most laughable instances
which [ witnessed during the war in
China happened on Wednesday, the
| 18th of August, the day following the
one on which Pekin was entered by
the allies and the legations relieved.
The American troops, commanded
by General Chaffee, started in the
early morning from their camp under
the Tartar city wall, near the canal
gate, without consulting the other
powers as to their destination or in
tentions. After driving the boxers off
the wall beyond the chien mum, or
front gate, the great south central
entrance to the Tartar city, General
Chaffee commenced the attack on the
imperial city proper. The boxers on
the wall had not proved difficult to dis
lodge, and the three-point-two guns
of Riley's battery Of field artillery, of
which Americans are so proud, had
4 been turned from the cluster Of multi
colored banners which marked the
boxer camp and were Smelling the
tower over the second of the four
gates which had to be passed before
the threshold of the forbidden city
was reached.
The fourteenth United States infan-
try was, for the most part, lying fiat
| in the stone-fiagged court in front OF
the first gate. The bullets were drop
ping from several directions and the
coolie litter bearers trotted steadily to
and fro from the Fourteenth to the
| field hospital back Of the CHEN mum
with the constantly increasing num-
Der of dead and wounded
| One company from the same regi-
ment had been sent to the right of the
imperial city wall to try and force an
entrance by flank attack, in preference
| to the plan which was subsequently
carried out, which was to advance di-
rectly in the face of the fire Of the
enemy occupying a well-fortified, and,
had it contained English or American
soldiers, well-nigh impregnable po-
sition.
About a. m. word came to Chaffee
that side gate had been found and
opened on the right. With two officers
of his staff the general started at once
to see for himself the prospect Of en-
| trance. But short time before gal
liant Capt. Riley had fallen, shot dead
| by a bullet through the head, which
struck him as he was sighting a gun
on top of the Chen gate. Dearly be-
loved as an officer, soldier and man,
the news of his death was a shock to
everyone of the little army Of Ameri-
cans, who respected and admired him
| SO greatly.
When General Chaffee and his staff
officers went to the gate that had been
discovered, passed through it and
along the inside Of the outer wall, I
accompanied them. None of the party
felt in the mood for levity, and l re-
member that I, for one, was laboring
under a very strong realization of the
danger of our position. We eventually
discovered that the gate had but adj
nlitted us to an outer court, which was
apparently between the outer wall and
an inner one of equal dimensions.
Consequently we had gained nothing
in the matter of position by finding
| the gate.
Before we had discovered all this,
/ however, and as we were still en-
gagged in exploring the court, those
in advance came upon a Chinese, in
the uniform of a soldier, so suddenly
as to cause them to wonder if he had
sprung from the ground. His prox-
unity at the moment of the discovery
of his existence, the fact that he was
apparently unarmed, and the broad
and trustful grin which illumined his
countenance were all partly respon.
| aible for his escape from death. Had
he been first seen at any distance, or
had he attempted to escape, he would
certainly have been shot Under the
existing circumstances he very prob
ably owed his life to the presence OF
the American commander-in-chief.
AS the Americans advanced he pre-
scented small wooden tablet, upon
which were several Chinese charac
tiers. His evident anxiety that we
should not overlook this bit of unin.
telligibly inscribed wood caused us al
once to jump to the conclusion that
lie was Iu0 U0dT0I Ol d message IiOul
"the city within a city within city.
In other words, we thought, Here is
a man with message from the pal
ace. Perhaps it is from the empress
dowager, or even the emperor him
self"
At that moment saw the interpre-
ter of the French general approaching.
Knowing that he could speak Chinese,
I fastened toward him and explained
the important find we had made. The
interpreter had come to ask General
| Chaffee if the French artillery might
shell the imperial city towers from
the Tartar city wall, firing over the
heads of the American troops. Chat
fee refused to entertain such a propo-
sition for moment, but, Of course,
that didn't stop the French. In fact,
Chaffee had to use all his well known
bluntness, and even employ discour.
teous and profane language before
| the French shells ceased bursting