Beleaguered in Pekin 17

Beleaguered in Pekin 17

One must admit that to know that eleven of the powers of the world are

kept away, or are staying away, from relieving their ministers, with

their families and nationals, for two months, at a distance of only

eighty miles from navigation by large vessels, is a circumstance rather

calculated to increase pessimism.

 

[Illustration: A WOMAN OF NORTH CHINA

 

It is not easy to obtain pictures of the women of the upper classes of

China. The beautiful cape with the elaborate embroidery, the little

feet mounted upon pedestals, and that sign of high nobility, the long

finger nails, shown by nail protectors on the third and fourth fingers

of the left hand, are evidences that this woman is of China’s “four

hundred.”]

 

Before the siege began I heard the United States minister say that if

the Boxers destroyed a single station on the Peking-Hankow railroad,

known popularly as the Lu Han road, they would have a horde of Cossacks

protecting the line within a fortnight. Yet of the 15,000 Russians

reported to have been in Port Arthur, when the entire Lu Han line

and the Peking-Tientsin railroad was destroyed, not a man has as yet

(August 13th) reached Peking. The Boxers are still seen from our

loopholes, and make our nights hideous with their horn-blowing and

incessant rifle-fire.

 

We were also told by those wiseacres, the foreign ministers, that

Japan could and would have 50,000 men in Peking if one member of their

legation was injured. Their second and third secretaries have been

killed, their legation guard has been almost annihilated, and we see,

as yet, no new Japanese faces.

 

Again, Captain Myers assured us the Americans could easily spare 10,000

men from the Philippines, who could reach Peking in, at longest, two

weeks; but two months have now gone by, and they have not materialized.

 

The people who have, on the whole, stood the siege best are the

missionaries. They have been more crowded than any others, all the

Americans being compelled to occupy the British legation chapel, where

they are, indeed, closely packed, while the English missionaries occupy

part of the first secretary’s house.

 

The Americans have formed into two messes, the Presbyterians and

Methodists eating at one time, the Congregationalists, who are in the

majority, at another. They brought in with them considerable provisions

in the way of tinned stores, but have been compelled to draw from their

commissariat their supply of rice and cracked wheat every day.

 

The foreign ministers guaranteed the three shopkeepers of Peking,

Messrs. Krueger, of Kierullf & Co., Imbeck, and Chamot, the amount

of their stock if they would turn it into a commissary’s hands for

distribution to the entire community as needed. This was at once done,

and a commissary department appointed to take charge.

 

Many of the besieged owned ponies or mules, which were also placed

under a committee, consisting of Messrs. Dering, Allardyce, and

Brazier. One or two of these animals have been killed each day, and

each person (foreigner) has been allowed to draw half a pound of meat.

Many at first could not be persuaded to even taste horse-meat or

mule-meat; but after several weeks of siege-life there were very few

who did not daily go to the butchery for their supply.

 

The meat has been inspected every day by a physician, and a certificate

of healthy flesh given to the butcher before the meat was allowed to

be dispensed. One of the British marines, William Betts, of the Royal

Marine Light Infantry, had been a butcher previous to enlistment, and

his services have been most valuable to the entire community.

 

The Chinese coolies are fed with soup made from the bones, the head,

and cleaned entrails. Not an ounce of the flesh has been wasted.

 

[Illustration: A PEKING BELLE

 

Perhaps, after looking at this picture, there will not be so much

wonder that occasionally a Caucasian selects a Chinese girl for a wife.

That there are very attractive Chinese girls this picture evidences.

The clothing, the ornaments, and the surroundings are all typical.]

 

Many of the ponies that took part in the Peking spring meeting as

racers, last May, have since served us with juicy steaks or toothsome

sausages. The mule-meat is considered to be better, on the whole, than

horse-meat, and in this opinion I fully concur. As we have only one

donkey in the compound, none of us has as yet tried donkey-flesh; but

the Chinese assure us it is even better than the larger animals.

 

Several days since one of the two cows in the compound, having gone

dry, was killed for food, and a notice was placed on the bulletin board

at the bell-tower that applications for portions of the meat would be

received from all women and children, but that only such men as were

wounded or ill could, upon a physician’s certificate, receive a portion.

 

Every one wanted some, expecting to highly enjoy a taste of fresh beef

and a change from horse. The result was most disappointing. The cow was

old and tough, and her flesh infinitely inferior to the regular ration

of horse or mule.

 

The Chinese Christians, supported by us in the Su Wang Fu, having been

for weeks upon nothing but cracked wheat or “hao liang” gruel, were

longing for some animal food, and begged they might be given some of

the dogs that continued to come from all over the city to feed each

night upon the refuse in the moat between the Su Wang Fu and the

British legation.

 

A few foreigners with shotguns, therefore, sallied forth yesterday

and killed eight good-sized specimens of the canine race, that were

forthwith handed over to the hungry converts for their consumption.

Dog-hunting as a food supply will not be neglected in the future.

 

As after July 18th the shelling ceased, and some of the enemies’

soldiers, with an eye to business, brought a few eggs to the Japanese

barricade for sale, a market department was established and placed

under the care of Messrs. A. D. Brent and J. M. Allardyce, where eggs

could be obtained _pro rata_ for numbers of women and children in a

household, compared with the supply on hand. These eggs were sold at

four cents each. But often the supply only admitted of one egg being

sold to a household of women or children. At other times an egg each

could be obtained daily. But alas! the Chinese soldiers soon found out

what their soldiers were doing, and promptly stopped it, so that after

August 6th the market was obliged to close from lack of eggs.

 

On July 20th, two days after the shelling ceased, the tsung-li-yamen

sent a present to the ministers of one hundred watermelons, seventy

eggplants, sixty vegetable squashes, and one hundred cucumbers. Some

few of the besieged, besides the diplomats, thus obtained the first

taste of fresh vegetables they had enjoyed for a month.

 

The ministers’ request to the yamen that vegetable-venders be allowed

to come to the barricades or the great gate, however, was denied,

and we have since had no further supply. It is hard to know that

within half a mile of us in any direction there is an abundance of

fresh fruits and vegetables, and yet, owing to the closeness of our

investment by the hostile troops, we cannot obtain a cent’s worth.

 

On August 5th, while I was standing talking with a Japanese sentry,

on an outpost barricade of the Su Wang Fu, a Chinese soldier in full

uniform walked quickly up the narrow lane our barricade commanded

toward us. I called on the Japanese to fire on him, but he remarked:

“Let him come on; he has no gun, and may want to sell something.”

 

True enough, just before reaching us he held up his hand in front of

his face to indicate that he wished to speak, and so was allowed to

come around the corner of the barricade. He was a young man of not over

twenty-five, but showed the marks of being a confirmed opium-eater.

 

“I have brought you some eggs,” he remarked, hastily exposing ten of

the precious ovules to view. The Jap counted out forty cents and gave

him, and advised him to clear out, which he speedily did, remarking as

he left: “I will lose my head if I am caught at this.” As he could buy

the eggs in the market for five cents, his percentage of profit was

very handsome.

 

[Illustration: Chinese gentleman entertaining a friend with an opium

pipe]

 

After the so-called truce of July 18th, the native soldiers occupying

the wall to the east of the American marines’ barricade strictly

observed the terms of the truce, and never either enlarged their

barricade nor fired another shot.

 

These were the only ones, however, who did so. From all the other

barricades we were frequently fired on, and every night or two a

vigorous attack would be made upon us, during which the Chinese would

expend many hundred rounds of ammunition, firing their rifles into our

barricades or the roofs of our houses, and scarcely doing any damage,

as we would all seek shelter until the enemy were tired out.

 

Only once or twice did they actually come out from behind their

barricades with the intention apparently of rushing us; but upon

receiving a volley, and having several killed or wounded, they would

hastily bolt back again to cover.

 

One night the author was selected by Adjutant Squiers to lead a company

of ten coolies in an attempt to remove the stinking carcasses of two

mules that had been lying festering in the rays of the summer sun

for several days, directly under the noses of the American marines

entrenched at foot of the city wall. The stench they emitted was

overpowering, but there seemed to be no way to remove them, as to show

a head, even, at the barricade was certain to bring a volley from the

Chinese on the wall to the east, just beyond the moat. The situation

having grown unendurable, it was necessary to risk life even to remove

them, and had to be attempted.

 

[Illustration: A corner in the reception room of a wealthy Chinese

gentleman, in Peking]

 

Mr. Squiers formed the plan to have ten coolies, under a foreigner,

go quietly at night through the alley-ways and court-yards that had

been cut through to communicate with the American legation, to the moat

directly under the Chinese on the wall. From thence we were to crawl

forward toward the barricade, where our men were warned not to fire

upon us, tie a 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, I undertook the task.

 

We reached the position on the wall street without incident, and I was

congratulating myself we would succeed without the Chinese discovering

us, when one of the coolies unfortunately struck his foot against a tin

can and sent it rattling across the road. Instantly a volley was fired

upon us from the Chinese barricade, only some fifty yards distant, and

a perfect hail of bullets struck all about us.

 

“Drop on your faces and lie still,” I commanded in a hoarse whisper,

which was promptly obeyed.

 

We lay still for about fifteen minutes. Then I sent one coolie crawling

on toward the nearest mule, only ten yards away, and he soon had the

noose slipped over his head and returned.

 

We dragged the animal quietly enough, until just at the corner 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 obstacles a loud grating, rattling

noise was made, and a second volley poured down from the wall. But this

time the corners of the stone bridge protected us and we were in no

danger.

 

After another wait of fifteen minutes, during which time all became

quiet again, we returned and repeated the operation on the second

mule, dragging his fragrant (?) carcass alongside the first, and

completing our work under a third volley, equally harmless.