Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 6, 1901, Page 17

January 6, 1901, 1 Fighting Missionaries-- Personal Experiences (Copyrighted, 1900, by C. H. Fenn.) The events of the summer of 1900 in North China afford an excellent opportunity for a study of the ““Church Militant." The “ambassadors of peace' were compelled by force of circumstances to lay aside the work of preaching the gospel and take up the temporarily more necessary work of de- fending their own and others' lives against the flerce attacks of an enemy who would shcw no quarter. For some time before the siege actually began we had all carried revolvers as we went about the streets, hardly expecting to use them, but not know- ing what a day might bring forth. Then on June 8, when we gathered together in the Methcdist Episcopal mission, there was an instant call to arms. A list was made of all the firearms in our possession. The British minister, who had promised ten marines to help in our defense, in consider- atiecn of our protecting also the London CARPENTER GOES TO mission converts, sent us instead ten rifles and there was no difficulty in finding ten men to carry them. Raw recruits indeed we were, most of us totally without mili- tary training, but the American marines took hold of us and each day at evening put us through the drill, while the unarmed and the women sitting by laughed at and cheered “‘the awkward squad.” We forward marched, we right-about faced, we charged the barbed wire fence with such vigor that we nearly got tangled up in it., We fired countless rounds of imaginary cartridges at an enemy so accommodating as to let us have things our own way. We took our turns on guard with the marines, playing sentinel for six to ten hours of the twenty- four, on walls and roofs. On Guard Duty in the Streets, My own guard duty the greater part of those strange days at the Methodist Epis- copal mission was from 12 to 3 a. m. and 12 to 3 p. m, in the lane leading from the main compound to the university about one-eighth of a mile in length, and in the large open space between the university and the city wall. There were several chances of being cut off here by an enemy rushing down a side street, so across these streets we strung barbed wire and posted native sentinels at every corner to give the alarm. A few of these men had revolvers or blunderbusses, but most of them were armed with either spear or sword. Oc- casionally it was necessary for one of us to take a nosition removed from the rest to oversee the clearing away of rub- bish piled against our walls and rendering them too easy to scale. At such times it was curious to see the awe which one in- spired, some of the natives going around several blocks to avoid the awful foreigner with a rifle, while that poor foreigner was longing for the end of his watch and hop- ing that he might not fall a victim to a sudden attack on his exposed po:ition, And then at night the moonlight and the dark- ness each had its own shadowy possibili- ties, and we were glad enough to have the “moral support” of ditches, barbed wire and barricades, with which we hoped to prove more familiar than the mob whose onslaught we awaited, It seems now a great pity that we had to leave all that wire when we went to the legations, fcr not only would it have proved very useful there, but we missed the fun of seeing the Boxer make his first acqraintance with that interesting American invention. One of our chief occupations during the night watches was that of keeping our Chinese sentinels from going to sleep. Their hours were long and their flesh was weak. To work all day and then watch a part of the night was more than many of them were equal to, yet they were in the main most faithful. Tt was a great rellief to some of us to know that the Chinese did not know how little we knew of the use of a rifle. Another position which I occupied for a time was on the galvanized iron roof of the great church. From this point of vantage we could occasionally see armies with banners entering or leaving the city and had a fine view of the great fires in which the Chinese consumed everything fore which they could find undefended in the city. Here 1 watched, through much of that awful night of June 13, all our mis- sion houses with their contents and every material element of our work go up in flame ond smoke, and thought of the prob- able accompanying massacr So con stantly was one or another of us seated on the ball of the cupola of the church that, as we learned from outside Chinese, the Boxers had announced that they would do nothing until a certain day, when the “black spirit”” should no longer sit astride the dome. Those of us who were not carry ing a rifle on sentry duty were busily en gaged day after the day in digging of MACAO ON THE STEAMER. ditches, the building of barricades, the stretching of wire and the blocking of win- dows. A Sally to the Markets, One of the most venturesome yet ridic- ulous performances of this preliminary siege was the exploit of four of our num- ber, who escorted our servants to the great street to buy provisions one morning after a night of fires and massacres. The pres- ence of four foreigners with rifles was quite sufficient to awe the hitherto unwill- ing shopk:epers into disposing of their goods at market prices, and we soon had all we needed for the time. Then one of our number proposed that we should pro- duco a “moral impression,” which we pro- ceeded to do by ‘“holding up the street,” i. e., halting each cart and horseman, ex- amining the former for foreign goods and questioning the latter as to his business Two of us held up three suspicious looking horsemen, who, on being questioned, fled in terror in three different directions. We held a quarter of a mile of the street in absolute cringing subjection for nearly two hours and then withdrew. That afternoon our escapade was surpassed by that of four of our number, who went out at 6 o'clock, with two ma- rines, and directed the keeper of the Hal Tal gate of the city to carry out the wish of Minister Conger and close the gate two hours before the usual time. After brief demur he did so and turned over the great iron key, about two feet long, to the keeping of the missions. It was returned to him early in the morning, but the next evening retaken and a foreign padlock affixed to the gate for greater se curity. I have often wished that we could see ourselves just as the Chinese saw us during those days. It was most fortunate for us that a certain awe of the foreigner per- vaded people and officials and held them in check until we had put ourselves in a position of comparative safety In those days even a high official acc ed our re- fusal to permit him to use his own elty gates at the usual hours as final and made his exit by another way. We were not in- terfered with in absolutely isolating our- gelves in our limited district, though it in- volved barricading four small streets, to the serious interference with the business and domestic pursuits of divers residents. Dur ing the twelve days spent in the Methodist mission we so intrenched and fortified and trained ourselves that we had little fear of a Boxer attack. Our walls, ditches, barbed wire and rifles would have been more than a match for the far more numerous knives of the Boxer hordes, for at that time the rifle, as an invention of foreign deviltry, was strictly tabooed among them; but we feared the onslaught of legions of imperial soldiers with their Mausers and Mannlich- ers and Krupp guns. And at last the day came when we knew with a certainty that their forces would be arrayed against us, 'HE ) and a cannon fire from the city wall would soon render our position untenable, Misston District. Exodus fr The foul murder saved us from an of Baron von Ketteler optimigm which woull have been fatal. Our captain of marines sent instant request to be relieved, the ministers abandoned the thought of a march to Tien Tsin and we were ordered to march at once to the legations, there to make a last stand for life The German marines came for their woundcd interpreter and led the van f cur retreat; then followed our women and children, flanked by us volun- teers 'he long procession ¢f 800 native Christian refugees, guarded by American marines and more volunteers, brought up the rear. We passed within 120 yards of the Hai Tai gate and saw on the tower and by the gate hundreds of Chinese soldiers, who might have mowed us down at any mo- ment, It was an anxious passage until we reached the Italian barricade. BEager to save something of the of clothing and food left in the mission compound on our hasty retreat, we begged the marines to return with us. But they would not con sider it. Rev. W. 8. Ament, D. D., of the American Board mission, brave even (o rashness, making no announcement of his intention, set off with no other companion than one Chinese servant, found the prop- erty still undisturbed bicyele in safety. Emboldened by this deed of daring, fifteen or twenty of us mission- arics, taking fifty or sixty Chinese refugees with ropes, poles, spears and rifles, spent the afternoon in running the gauntlet of the Chinese soldi bringing in load after load of the indigspensable clothing and food which we had abandoned. Before we had stores finished the attack had begun in another quarter; but we met with no interference, except that some of our number were com- pelled, at the last, to repel certain would-be looters, who could not walt till we were through. Rev. W. B. Stelle of the Mission to the Higher Classes had been stationed cn the corner of the great street near the Hai Tai gate. Within 120 yards were the Chinese scldiers, yet he chal lenged at will any who entered the gate and ordered the suspicious appearing to withdraw, ard they withdrew. Presently twenty-five or thirty rough fellows came in on the half-run, evidently bent on mis- chief, disregarded the challenge of the sin- gle trembling, but determined sentinel, and continued their advance. Mr, Stelle leveled his rifle. They hesitated, turned and fled. Had they had the courage to attack him, the lives of our party would have been worth very little between them and the sol- diers, who would, doubtless, have supported the attack. Constantly Under Fire, With our settlement in the British lega- tion, the active military career of most of the missionaries came to an end. We be- took ourselves to the work of food supply, the charge of Chinese labor, or the digging of trenches, filling of sandbags and build ing of barricades, in all of which work, however, we were almost constantly under fire. In spite of our almost constant ex- posure to shot and shell no missionary was killed, and but one received a wound which rendered him hors du combat. Two of us were wounded very slightly, my own escape from serious injury or death being narrow In the extreme. Working behind a barri- cade on the city wall, T was suddenly felled by bricks dislodged from that barricade by an unexpected shell from the enemy's gun. My heavy pith hat saved me from more than a elight secalp wound, which specdily healed. If our missionary women were not “fight- ing men' they were the next thing to fit. Calmly, courageou they carried on their work of feeding us, caring for the wounded, making clothes for the soldiers and thou sands of sandbaes which undoubtedly saved many a life. And our children made mud forts and fought many a little battle of their own and gathered up the real fallen bullets by the basketful. I believe others will bear testimony to the fact that the missionary as a fighting man is not to be despised; nevertheless there were none more joyful than he when the days of his fighting were over. Yet I am proud to possess a lasting souvenir of my fighting days in a fine Mannlicher rifle, presented to me when T left the city by the first secretary of the United States legation, who had selzed a number in a Chinese magazine. COURTENAY HUGHES FENN. Carpenter’s Letter (Continued from Sixth Page.) they began at 6 in the morning and will not stop until 6. Later on I visited the tobacco Some of these in Macao are larg ing hundreds of women thing is done by hand. The women squat on the floor and pull the leaves from the stems and sort them into round baskets, 1 asked about factorles , employ- and girls, Every wages, and found that a good, likely girl could make 6 cents in eleven hours. I noticed that there were many old women at work, and some were mothers with babes the breast In another room in this same factory I saw how the Chinese make fine-cut tobacco. The leaves are first pressed into great plates or plugs, which are then fastened to a hoard and shaved off with a plane much as we plane boards. The plan- ers were half-naked and tobacco between their bare legs as they shaved it. This factory employs 200 men and 100 women and girls, FRANK G. CARPENTER. some held the and brought off hls“ ILLUSTRATED BEE. n ~ Photographic Art Studies These are the works of the Tonneson Sisters of Chicago, and there Is probably no more capable photographic artists in the world than these enthusiastic young women, There are twelve subjects from which to choose, of which we reproduce eight These pictures are handsome enough for anyone's drawing room and may be used effectively unframed, or will look splendidly with a stmple dark frame. These pictures are mounted on handsome bluck raw silk stock mounts, 12x156 inches, the photographs are 7x9 inches for less than one dollar. offer them With a Coupon for 10 Cents. When ordering state the name of the subject, and if they are to be malled enclose four cents additional for postage and packing. These have never been sold at the art stores By securing an Immense quantity of them we are able to ART DEPARTMBENT, THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 17th and Farnam Sts, DOLORES THE ROSE, EASTERTIDE. THE NEW BABY. OUR PET. BUBBLES, THE WAIF. THE OLD HARPIST'S TREASURE, CUT OUT THIS COUPON Present at Bee Office or mall this coupon with 10c and get your choice of Photo- graphic Art Btudies. When ordering by mail add 4c for postage. ART DEPARTMENT, BEE PUBLISHING CO.,, OMAHA.