The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 12, 1900, Page 13

ast message to awe 1ght perc avengers, wt ments know in what the face Miss Fabr is a well-known ber diary has th erest that magazine the can give. It is seldom that one has th chance to write under such a stimulus of realism as that to which she was sub- Jected The cry of help from the Imprisoned Cispttions 2h Clilis Tins stirrall $he weid han ol rvhie. iina proves to be & place wh makes Dante's by comparison. desp be seem to mild even grades of wer on of the t 1 of this, feeling 1 a far 1d could feel it r stood in the belfry of the tower Hall and looked looked level plain that in the heat wa: and shone st in the distant horizon line, dark that the sol- imperials or it torture, death or life that fed to them by that little with moving men, showed diers were coming—Boxers, w The most powerful glasses had all been stolen by the servants when they left, and the pair which she had could not dis- tinguish the men. At last there, there it w: the flag, the flag! the one flag in the world which she longed to see, PSP RO R W i S T one of the quiet rooms of the hotel trunk had come s s from China In her hand the lit ary to which she horror of those days hundred women and children uched week after week, surround- lied soldiers who were to them If the Boxers conquered. As she read from the diary to a sten- er her face was swept by the emo- by th Transcript of Miss Fahe’s Diary. Written in Gordon Hall, Tientsin, whi is certainly the most vivid pen picture of the suffer- the three hundred women and children, who from June 13 until ithed under the shadow of death. n event of their extermination and, penciled in the heat of it pulsates with the horror of their awful situation. Miss Fahr ¢ only woman who kept a diary during those days of torture. Th t T am up and walt- is between xers. 1 the dawn. Will they (J) weeks mow we have umors, but to- A no; it cannot for na? bitter sweets gulp of un- it shall not be. red the dawn leaps licks the heaven: O God, they are f ave fired the native cit Hearts are heavy to-night. has been spent maturing plans. The Boxers JUNE 14 The day Our menfolk & d at the club and de- cided on the arrangements if the worst be- falle. A bugle call Is to sound the note of rch bells clanging in its Boxer Ybullets pelted day It was intended as a last - ake means that we are to hasten to Hall. Hope died hard with me, seems very dear now that it is ens ¢ 1 ered. There is something comforting even in the chill glint of my revolver. That at least stands Dbgtween me and outrage at the Boxers' hands. It will not be easy for me. But the moth who may see their babes torn from their breast and slaughtered—merciful heaven pity them! s+ * & Itis the hour of midnight and again the fires light the sky. Most of our servants have deserted us, but Sing, whom I have taken pains to feach lish, says he will not leave us in this supreme hour of our need. * * ¢ the Sing has just been up to,tell me that the flames mean that the Béxers are burning the Catholic churches and killing native Christians. * ®* * Mrs. A— and the children are huddled tqgether, her heart- breaking sobs mingling with their mys. tified childish .whlmpef!. I shall lie down &l i | 4 been given no play when »ut heart in the fllce of a girl, young, soff and fair, with gentie e pleaded to be released from the awful details with which her brain was & her face convulsed and added years to its age in a second. as the detalls of the scenes swept before her. 'Then again th es< for her deliverance, the feel- erican soll under foot and the ce figured once more. ) se of one who has fiends; to read b owr t spirit of truth facing death, makes settles the ques of 1d be tn China. ation must be taught when that wh d thelr lives to save \d her companions. Lives and well risked for the Jjoy they brought to those hopeless prisoners who were asking only the boon of a merciful death from the hands of their husbands, fathers and friends. Miss Fahr had seen the coming of the trouble months before the envoyve at Pe- king. They had been lulled by the smooth of the people of the palace, where all was serene in the tranquillity which Confucius taught so well, while around them rose the angry tide that cut them off from the stores of safety. Two years ago Miss Fahr had gone to China as a teacher, when that country wds calllng for enlightenment and prog- ress. China needs for a while a more earnest and practical lesson in civiliza- tlon than could be taught by gentle- minded women. The more horrible scenes of torture and suffering, Miss Fahr has omitted Inten- tionally from her diary. 1t was by reason of sparing the feelings of her friends In this country should the book come to their hands as a last mes- sage from her. She had no fear for herself of the com- ing threatened tortures, but she wished to spare those she loved from even the re- cital of themy / ean men risk this dollars ries A AT AR R TR T AT K T K T T AT A T AT AT A S TA AT AT A AS AR @ though not to sleep, but I must rest my aching body. For the aching brain there is no rest. Who knows what the morrows means for us? JUNE 15.—80 a lifetime of agony can really be lived in a day. It is night in Gordon Hall, in Gordon Hall, where three hundred’ women and children crouch for safety. Over in that corner a mother sobs a cradle song to her fretful baby. Nearby a hysterical woman laughs a mirthless laugh that clutches on the heartstrings. Some sit with wige star. ing eves. heavy with the weight of woe, the tears that will not come. Others weep silently or wildly sob. Now and then a scream shivers through the din. Pity us, dear Lord! * * * Was It .only this morning that the bugle sounded, or was it vears ago? The pain in my head makes me dizzy—ah, yes, now it comes back to me. The call of the bugle at the birth of this very day. The hurried throwing together of a few treasured belongings. At 4 o'clock the ringing of the church bells, the signal that all must hasten to Gordon Hall. We walked through the streets, falthful Sing carrying our things In the distance we saw other groups fly- ing in the same direction. *Halt, who goes there,” came again and again from sentinels g the distance. Up one street and down another when suddenly came he tramp of feet, and “titl” (foreign omen) reached our affrighted ears. The Boxers! whispered Mr, A— and the fam- ily flew. No, it could not have been this bo Tllas MBesieged by IBorers. She Was the Eiwst Journalist to Escape Erom Tientsin, and Tells Rxperignces Only Paraligled By Sied very morning that I stayed my footsteps for a glimpse of the Boxers.. Yes, there they were, their red sashes and caps showing scarlet against their dark suits, red lanterns dancing about them like glant fireflies, their voices raised in song against us. And clearest of all the clank of their huge swords. I felt them hack- ing me to pleces. I heard them gloating over my mangled body. Then all went black, but only for a second. They are within fifty vards of me! Quick, quick, why had I not thought of it before? The revolver! To die thus were easter and 1 almed. Suddenly from the trenches where they have been hiding, rise as by magic, Austrian soldiers. Another throw in this game of life and death, and life wins. But for how long? All hope Is gone, we have all settled down to leaden despair. It i8 S0 sure to come that per- haps it were better to have killed myself this morning. Was it really this morning, or is this a nightmare? My head, my head. and the bullets whizz! JUNE 16.—Again the fires are raging in the native city. The flames look like writhing devils to me. Gordon Hall is growing more quiet—the first hysteria is 1ssed. Are-these hollow-eyed, wan faces se that smiled such a short time ago? ttresses & spread on the floor, but sleep will not come to the women: only the children toss in fitful $lumber. Al- the sounds of firing. Oh, to To-night I for- a lighted candle e mirror shat d Into A watchful 'Chinaman ed. A number of our nto this quarter, glid- an can past the sen- ming in the guise of Chris- hide on the tops of tall bulld- shoot. The commanding officer warned us, JUNE 17.—They are shelling from the Viceroy's courts. This means the officials z the Boxers. make out are help cannot God help us! We the direction of their firing. * * * They are shelling the mil- itary college across the river. Our men think it 1s to keep the foreigners away and give the Boxers a chance to mount guns there und turn them on ua, JUNE 18.--We are getting used to bullets hing through walls and doors. Who ever know whai we have suffered in this cellar of Gordon Hall? None, for our mute lips will never be able to tell the story. We know that death claims us. 1 do not care; nothing matters now; noth- ing; only—mother! Oh, my mother! * * & It Is yet early in the morning and the Boxers are attacking the railway sta- tion at Tientsin. The Russlans have marched to meet them. I am going to the tower with my glasses to try and catch a glim of the battle. * * * God has not quite forgotten us! He bhas given a thought to his stricken children. The Rus s have repuised the Boxers! If my heart were not dead it would sing “‘Hallelujah.” How they fought! We do rot shudder and turn pale. The cry for blood is in us, the brute is uppermost. Fragile women hold their glasses unfalter- ing mor sicken at sights that formerly would have shocked. We strain our eyes to catch every movement. Now there is a haze, now it lifts and I see a Boxer raise his knife against a Christian convert. It cuts slick and clean through the side of the head and shoulder. I can even see the arm fall to the ground. Thirtcen hours of this and I am only conscious that my feet ache. Pity, too, lies choked to death in my breast. * * * But half the day is written and I must make haste. In the morning we were attracted from our station in the tower by cries of “Kill him, kill him!” I saw a Chinaman carelessly making his way down the street carrying a basket. Again the cry “Kill him, kill him; it Is the spy!" A Belgian woman seeing him from a window gave the cry. She was one of a party of Belgians who, while fleeingz to Tientsin for protection, were betrayed by their Chinese guide and ruthlessly slaughtered. “Kill him, kill him!" hoarsely ecHoed women's volces once turned to soft words, now shrill for verigeance. The soldiers took him—he has already been tried and to-morrow will be shot. * * Another incident in this crowded day. At noon our soldiers went across the river and captured the military college. It was as they guessed. The Boxers had placed guns there to train on us. * * * How long is it since I haye slept? I am tired, tired unto death, and. there is no rest until death {tself. JUNE 19.—They are bombarding us heavier to-day thmc‘reto!ore. Early this morning I stood ind a closed window peeping through the shutter slats. Four bullets pterced the shutters, but did not strike me. I rushed to the commanding officer and told him that the bullets must have come from a Chinaman concealed in a tree flanking the window. Calling four Cossacks, we went to the tree, and suré enough shook out a Chinaman, whose first Inquiry was whether he had Eilled the lady. I told him I whs very much alive. My would-be assassin was immediately tried and shot. * * * All else may be dead, but heroism still lives. Jim Watts rides to Taku to bring us re- inforcements. He heads for Taku, but may ride into the very jaws of death. It is a most perilous undertaking, but brave Jim Watts gladly, gallantly risks his life. I myself heard him offer it. “Some one must go to Taku,” said the commanding offic v mean the lives of wo- men en—it may mean death to the rider. Who will go “I know the roads, every inch of them: let me go,” said a voice. Then Jim Watts stepped forward shall go; it is right. I am the older brother.” We saw him mount horse, we heard the thuds of the hoofs beat more faintly and die. Hope took no new lease of life from this. Before rein- forcements could reach us it would be too late, granting that brave Jim Watts ever reached Taku. And what more unlikely than that? 20.—T1 think te-day is Wednesday Jt but I am sure only of the date. Day have .lost all significance for me. Night \d day, day and night are one long retc of horror They are bombarding us fiercely. We are short of ammunition. The end draws nearer. * * * It has all been decided—decided qutetly by those graven-faced men who were once hu band brothers and sweethearts. Now they are Spartards at I It is to be thus. When we can hold out no longer the women and children are to be hidden in Rus n ammunition carts and, pro- tected by Cossack soldiers, an attempt will be made to get them past the Box- ers. Failing in this, we are to be shot— every onme of us—by the Cossacks. Our life blood shall never stain Boxer blades. * * * I do not know whether this diary will ever be found. If we are shot to- morrow 1 shall attempt to place it in hands that will seé that it finds its way home. We do not make moan over death; it Is not unwelcome after these days of shot and ghell and suffering. God have mercy on fus! JUNE 21.—There is less shelling to-day, but they are hitting cioser. We are so used to bullets that we scarcely start when they whizz into the hall. No news ~~ from Jim Watts. I do not hope for rein- forcements, but I cannot believe that he will fail to give the message.q Half dead he would creep ‘there. * * * Great ex- citement. We know why their aim is so much truer. A soldier just shot and brought to earth a carrier pigeon. It was carrying information to the Boxers. The soldier saw the house from which the pigeon was set free. Iwnagine; the traitor is a Christianized Chinaman, who has all along professed to be on our side and who was never doubted. We do not know how many of the others are pretended friends. * * * Dear heaven! how :he bullets rain! O for eternal sleep! FRIDAY, 224.—This morning we heard fighting in the distance. Rumors flew thick. Surely, surely it could not be rein- forcements. The firing came from the direction of Taku, ye:—Kismet alone can tell. SATURDAY, JUNE 23.—Through the glasses 1 saw the troops coming nearer and nearer. Are they reinforcements for the Boxers or for us? Closer they come and yet we cannot distinguish . them. Eyes strain through glasses nor catch a clew to their {dentity. Another half hour. Suddenly something flutters to the wind. The stars and stripes, thank God! thank God! They are coming to us and we shall not die. How good heaven is, how sweet 18 life. The stars and stripes, and we wept and HOPED the first time since that da; long ago when came to Gordon Hu{ God bless Jim Watts! Other flags are now i, visible—it 1s -10:30-in The” troops rfached us befc The rest of the day has bee The Chinese are evidently puzzled move to make nex How strange hear the shelling! There are ot cordant sounds, thoug hungry cows, the bray of and from the other starved a’cry for something to eat. the .morning. * wh tures; vet it fs Impossible to spare for them. JUNE 24.—Te-day is Sunday and al quiet. * ¢ * To-night the Chinese throwing skyrockets into the gonces They are anxious to find out how I our reinforcement is. The reinforcement is not overly strong in number, but mod ern method of line marching baffles Chinese, who march in bunches. Pleas God, they overestimated our strength forbe. JUNE 2%.—The clouds are & again. Cannons boom. The troops to rescue the Ministers at Peking have been unsuccessful, only the seouts get- ting withjn sight of the Peking wa and even they not able to creep through to learn the fate of our friends in Pe king. They are returning starved and footsore. The Boxers are attacking them TUESDAY, 2%.—We have sent out a relief to meet cur troops. * * * Merci- ful God, is horror to be heape: horror without end! The troops are back, having stopped to r se the Boxers and take an arsenal by the way. O the pity of it all! They found the Peking detachment so weak from want of foed that ¥ wept like children when they found their brother soldlers had come to _meet them empty-handed. A few handfyls of rice and a bit of horseflesh had been their diet. Thelr tongues hung heavy for thirst, the wily natives having poisoned all the water Ly the way. They came in late this afternoon; too weak to&tum- ble into quarters.’ Imagine- them being forced to assist in driving back the Box- ers and taking the arsenal in dition.” One poor boy when told that the hospital. was only a quarter of a block away threw himself on the ground, say- ing. “It's been only half a block away all such cc JUNE 28.—Ah, the kindness of t Last evening I had a look at fortunate soldiers and my heart ached for them." To-day it bleeds. Hunger thirst and disease have made sad wreck of them! If ever the people of Pekin are spared to breathe thanks, let them not forget the Tientsin guards who made such desperate effort to get to them. * * * We have prepared some food for them and have thinned condensed milk for their drink. Mrs. G and 1 are going to venture out of the hall for a :ittle while i order to carry it to them. * * * gy night again and calm despair claims us for its own. Gone are our bright hopes The Boxers may learn our weakness and strike a final blow. We are resigned, but hush those . trembling, ‘childishy voice: They tug too strongly on emoti They have lost their reses, the little ofies, coop- ed up in this cellar. Only thefvery tiny ones complain. The pall of silent despair has settled ovar the rest of them as. it has over us. Does the world outside know of what we are suffering? What matters it whether they be glad or sad? Nothing matters. JUNE 20.—They are not firing on us very heavily to-day. Some of us ventured out to care for the-sick. They yell and curse for pain and moan and mumble in de- lirlum. To-day a fresh thought gave me the creeps. This strange resignation Is worse than the hysteria of those first days. Suppose we all go melancholy mad! Three hundred-mad women and children in Gordon Hall, each one with a heart of Ug g © and cheer- itch the sum The day is t falls ttle tot. Only a the sev- her darling’s grown to lessly The rited 1s under has no they have mark. . one di~ the wall I ® Is th notic Iread already e effect on pirits ebbed past the hit And low water rains shell us. there in the 7 Nor heavem or ask for the sleep of th s s night again in Gordon Night mege hideous than aay me striggle, the body dema g sleep that will t be coaxed to tire sav the guise of grim nightmares. We have not yet gone mads but we may be slipping. slipping— * * * Midnight in Gordon Hall and the women are weeping and walling prayers of ving. -The despair of when the floodgates of for to- NOrrow we are to officer has sent T A tug Is read o about to take the tu Chinese and christene cacy No. 2" God be wit O, unhapp than tho save this days on ku. D could not w Dore the M with “the whom t! ave thrown into the water trunk of a man, the bicod st e i head had beem choppe A little farther bobs up the he Fhere Is an arm, here a bod i Now and then swelled must shut mon - shricks shore come re barking ms of the 1 their teeth, * * And oh, the s The poiso: laden a an stand. ine is light tte. Brav * * ¢ | have smoked™a dozen cigarettes, it is ne and Taku is in sight. Not a word is spoken; but a prayer of thanks- giving goes up from every heart. JULY 4—We are on a French transpert bound for Nagasaki and then - blessed, blessed home! We thank God and pray that he watch over those still in the clutches of the yellow monsters— the Boxers!