A TALE OF HORROR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11538, 24 November 1900, Page 5 (Supplement)

A TALE OF HORROR.

WR MORRISON'S ACCOUNT OF THE DB. »wj BKm massaCRES. GHASTLY REVELATIONS. TN » recent issue of the Times, Dr. Morri2, the Pekin correspondent of that journal, wins an account of iccent events in the Chine Capital and of the rise of the Boxer movement. To the encouragement of the Boxers by the Empress-Dowager most of the trouble is due, says the correspondent, and it reminds him of the ancient prophecy that "China shall be destroyed by » woman. We quote from Dr. Morrison's account the story of the descent of the Boxers into Pekin, and the work of rnurdei, pillage, and incendiarism which followed: — THE MASSACRE OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS. As darkness came on the most awful cries *ere heard in the city, most demoniacal and unforgettable, the cries of the "Boxers, "Sha kwcitze"-«Kill the devils"-mingled with the shrieks of the victims and the eroans of the dying. For " Boxers were sweeping through the city massacring the native Christians and burning them alive in their homes. , The first building to be burned was the chapel of the Methodist Mission in the Hata Men-street. Then, flames sprang up in many quarters of the city. Amid the most deafening , uproar the Tung-tang, or East Cathedral, shot flames into the sky. The oM Greek Church in the north-east of the city, The London Mission buildings the handsome pile of the American Board Mission, and the entire foreign buildings belonging to the Imperial Maritime Customs in the East City burned throughout that night. It was an appalling sight. Pere Garrigues the aged priest of the Tung-tang, had refused to leavers post and had perished m the flames But the fathers and sisters at the Nan-tang might yet bo saved. Their lives were in great peril; it was necessary to act Sly. A party of French gentlemen, led 5v M Fliche, of the French Legation, and accompanied by M. and Mme Cliamot. rode out at night, and early the following mornC sftfelv escorted to the hotel every member of the mission-Pere d'Addosio and his two colleagues, a French brother, five sisters 5 the charity and some 20 native nuns of Se Order of Josephine. They were rescued £t in time. Scarcely had they reached a dace of safety when the splendid edifice thev had forsaken was in flames. It continued burning all day, the region round it, the chief Catholic centre of Pekin, being il,o burnt. Acres of houses were destroyed, »nd the Christians in thousands put to the sword. GLOATING OVER DYING CHRISTIANS. On the 15th rescue parties were sent out by the American and Russian Legations in the morning, and by the British and German Legations in the afternoon, to save if possible native Christians from the burning mine around the Nan-tang. Awful sights were witnessed. Women. and children hacked to pieces, men trussed liko fowls with noses and ears cut off and eyes gouged but. Chinese Christians accompanied the reliefs and ran about in the labyrinth of network of streets that formed the quarter, tailing upon the Christians to come out from their "hiding-places. All through the night the massacre had continued, and "Boxers' were even now shot redhanded at their bloody work. But their work was still incomplete, and many hundreds of women and children had escaped. They came out of their hiding-places crossing themselves and pleading for mercy. It was a most pitiful light. PRICELESS TREASURES DESTROYED.

In the afternoon of June 16 a fire broke out in the foreign drug store in the native city outside the great gate of the Chien Men. It was the work of the " Boxers," done while the soldiers were looking on. In order to burn the foreign drug store and do the foreigners a few pounds' worth of damage, they did not hesitate to jeopardise by fire property worth millions of pounds, and that is what happened. Adjoining buildings took fire, the flames spread to the book■ellers' street, and the most interesting street in China, filled with priceless scrolls, manuscripts, and printed books, was gutted from end to end. Fire licked up house after house and soon the conflagration was tho most disastrous ever known in China, reducing to ashes the richest part, of Pekin, the pearl and jewel shops, the silk and fur, the satin and embroidery stores, the great curio shops, the gold and silver shops, the melting houses, and nearly all that was of the highest value in the metropolis. Irreparable was the damage done. From the street below the fire spread to the central outer Chien Men gate, which directly faces the Imperial Palace, and which is only thrown open for the passage of the Emperor. An imposing temple crowns this wall; it was engulfed in the conflagration. The great tiled roof with its upturned gables fell with a crash of falling worlds, while great volumes of smoke spread like a pall over the Imperial Palace, foreboding the doom of the Imperial house. It was a sight never to be forgotten. "THE CARVING-KNIFE BRIGADE." On June 20. at the opening of the siege, the total strength of the combined Legation Guards consisted of eighteen officers and 539 men. "There was also an irregular force of fifty gentlemen of many nationalities, who did garrison duty in the British Legation and were most useful. They were known, from the gentleman who enrolled them, as ' Thornhill Roughs,' and they bore themselves as the legitimate successors on foot of Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Armed with a variety of weapons, from an elephant rifle to the fusil de chasse with a picture of the Grand Prix, to all of which carving-knives had been lashed as bayonets, they were known as the 'Carving-Knife Brigade.' Diversity of language was another difficulty. The opening of the wall on the southern extremity of the British Legation was not a vital point. A sentry selected from the French members of the brigade was usually stationed here. Going one dark evening his rounds, the British officer of the watch stopped here. ' Scntinelle,' he said, in his best Sandhurst French. There was no reply. Pursing his mouth to convey the correct accent he raised his voice and repeated ' Sentinelle,' when a scared voice from tbe darkness replied, ' Begorra! and what the h—'s that?'" LIFE AM) DEATH. The correspondent continues: " The British Legation was now thronged. Rarely has a more cosmopolitan gathering been gathered together within the limits of one compound. All the women and children were there, all the missionaries, American, British, French, and Russians, all the Customs staff, the French, Belgian, Russian, American, Spanish, Japanese, and Italian Ministers, and their families, the entire unofficial foreign community of Pekin, with the exception of M. Chamot, who remained in his hotel throughout, though it was in the hottest corner of the besieged area. First of the Ministers to come in for protection was M. Pichon, the French Minister, though there seemed to be no immediate reason for his forsaking his Legation, and his hasty retreat at the outset of the siege would have discouraged men less courageous than the fine body of marines who formed his Legation guard. . . . Late in the evening Mr. Huberty James, the professor of English in the Pekin University, was killed. He had rendered great services, for it was through his influence with Prince Su that the palace had been thrown open for the Christian refugees. He seemed to have a blind faith in the Chinese. Prince Su had assured him that Yung Lu had given him ids word that no soldier would fire upon a foreigner, and he believed him with the fatal confidence that was his undoing. To cross from the Palace to the British Legation he went round by the north bridge, though.Jic knew that the bridge had been evacuated. On the bridge he was fired at by a soldier at short range, van back apparently unhurt, and was fired at from another quarter. He raised his hands tc show that he was unarmed, and fell shot into the canal, where volleys were fired into his body from the water gate undei the Imperial city wall." SANHIHGS AND SATINS. The great dangei at the British Legation was not so much from rifle fire as from incendiarism. "Fortification proceeded without intermission and all the defences of the besieged area quickly gathered strength. For the first time in war art was a feature in the fortification. Sandbags were of every

colour under the sun and Of every texture. Silks and satins, curtains and carpets and embroideries were ruthlessly cut up into sandbags. ' In the Prince's Fu the sandbags were made of the richest silks and satins, the Imperial gifts and accumulated treasures of one of the eight princely families of China. In the Prince's Fu the ' Chinese made a determined attempt to force their way into the Palace in their frenzy to slaughter the native Christians. In the angle of the wall in 'the north-eastern court of the Palace they made a breach in the wall and rushed wildly in. But the Japanese were waiting for them, and from loopholes they had made opposite rolled them over like rabbits, driving them helterskelter back again. Some twenty were killed, and but for the unsteadiness of the Italians who were assisting the Japanese the execution would have been greater. The Chinese were driven back, but the same evening they threw fireballs of petroleum over the wall and set fire to the building. Flames spread to the splendid mam pavilion of the Palace." CURSING THE CHRISTIANS. "The gun that was not captured was brought up again next day into play, and continued battering down the Fu walla. The enemy were working their way ever nearer to the refugee Christians. Their rage to reach the Christians was appalling. They cursed them from over the wall, hurled stones at them, and threw shells to explode overhead. Only after the armistice, when we received the Pekin Gazette, did we find that word to burn out and slaughter the converts had come from the highest in the land. . . . Most of the shelling was now directed against the, French and German Legations and Chamot's Hotel. The hotel was struck ninety-one tiroes, and was several times set on fire, but the flame was extinguished. Work continued there, however hot the shellings, for food had to be prepared there for half the community of Pekin, Russians, French, Germans, and Austrians. The energy of Chamot was marvellous. He fed the troops and a crowd of Christian refugees, killed his own mules and horses, ground his own wheat, and baked 300 loaves a day. Shelled out of the kitchen, he baked in the parlour. His courage inspired the Chinese, and they followed him under fire 'with an amazing confidence." IMPERIAL TBOOPS ENGAGED. " Then suddenly a new attempt was made to reduce the British Legation. Guns firing round-shot, eight-pounders and fourpounders, were mounted on the Imperial City wall, overlooking from the north the Hanlin and the British Legation. With glassesthe distance was only 350 yards — one could clearly see the officers and distinguish their Imperial peacock feathers and mandarin hats. Adjoining the battery an upper row of stones on the wall was raised to form loopholes for sharpshooters, who could thus enfilade the canal and our communications eastward. Round-shot were hurled into the Hanlin, and crashed through the roofs of the British Legation. One pierced both walls of the diningroom, passing behind a portrait of the Queen. Two came crashing through the wall of a student's room, where a few minutes before Sir Claude Mac Donald had been standing, watching the preparations being made to bombard us. Another struck the room occupied by a lady who was in bed,*ind fell at her side. Another ploughed through the carts. Three batteries in all, carrying five guns, were mounted on the Imperial City Avail, where the bombardment could bo witnessed by the Empress-Dowager and her counsellors, and day after day round-shot were thrown from them into the British Legation, into a compound crowded with women and children. This is what His Excellency Lo Feng-Luh was describing to Lord Salisbury as ' giving effective protection to the British Legation.' " A GALLANT ACT. " Chinese banners bung temptingly close to every outpost. ••"One morning we awoke to find one waving from a sandbag shelter in the carriage walk over the very wall of the British' Legation. No marine could suffer such an affront. During the day Sergeant Preston, of the Orlando, with two volunteers, mounted the wall, shot two soldiers who were on guard behind the sandbag, while his mates seized the flag and hauled it into the compound. On the 11th eighteen prisoners were captured by the French in a temple near the Legation. They were soldiers, and a Chinese Christian gave information as to their whereabouts. Every one of them was put to death without mercy in the French Legation, bayoneted by a French corporal to save cartridges. Questioned before death, they gave much information that was obviously false. One man, however, declared that a mine was being driven under the French Legation. Kis story had quick corroboration. The cordon was still drawn tightly round us, and we were penned in to prevent our acting in co-operation with the troops who were coming to our relief. No provisions were permitted to reach us, but a few eggs for the women and children were surreptitiously sold to us by Chinese soldiers. All were on reduced rations, the allowance for the 2750 native Christians whom we had to provide for being barely sufficient to save them from starvation. Their sufferings were very great, the mortality among the children and the aged pitiful. No one could have foreseen that within the restricted limits of the besieged area, with the food supply therein obtainable, 473 civilians (of these —namely, 191 men, 147 women, and 76 children inside the British Legation), a garrison of 400 men. 2750 refugees, and some 400 native servants, could have sustained a siege of two entire months. Providentially in the very centre of Lega-tion-street there was a mill with a large quantity of grain which turned out 9001b of flour a day divided between the hotel and the Legation. One day the Tsung-li-Yamen insultingly sent us a present of 10001b of flour and some ice and vegetables, but no one would venture to eat the flour, fearing that it might be poisoned." RELIEF AT LAST. When the hopes of the besieged were at their lowest there came the news that the Chinese had been defeated, and that relief was at hand. "At three in the morning we were all awakened by the booming of guns in the east and by the welcome sound of volley firing. Word flew round that 'the foreign troops are at the city wall and are shelling the East Gate.' At daylight most of us went on to the wall, and witnessed the shelling of the Great East Gate. We knew that the Allies would advance in separate columns, and were on the qui vive of excitement, knowing that at any moment now the troops might arrive. Luncheon, the hard luncheon of horseflesh, came on, and we had just finished when tin cry rang through the Legation ' the British are coming,' and there was a rash to the entrance and up Canalstreet towards the Water Gate. The stalwart form of the general and his staff were entering by the Water Gate, followed by the Ist Regiment of Sikhs and the 7th Rajputs. They passed down Canal-street, and amid a scene of indescribable emotion marched to the British Legation. The siege had been raised." i