This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 edition. Excerpt: ... SIEGE OF TBI FOREIGN LEGATIONS AT PEKING SUMMARY OP EVENTS PEIOE TO THE BEGINNING OP JUNE 1900 All through the winter the missionaries throughout North China have persistently been anticipating trouble owing to the continual and unchecked increase in the numbers and power of the I Ho Tuan, an anti-foreign society having for its patrons some of the highest officials in the realm. There had been many cases of attacks on inland missionary stations, and in December an English priest was brutally killed by these people. In this case the murderers were punished, but in the numerous other cases where only Chinese converts were slain no action was taken. The first outbreak directly affecting the foreigners in Peking and.Tientsin took place on May 28th, when a band of Boxers burnt some stations on the Luhan (Belgian) railway line, and the employes had to fly to Peking. The Imperial Chinese railway authorities in Tientsin received the news that the Boxers were marching on fengtai, the junction between the Luhan line and the Peking branch of the Imperial Eailway f North China. They accordingly asked the ientsin Viceroy to send up some troops, but the usual delay was shown, and the next day the station and workshops at Fengtai were burnt, and the foreign ofiicials all up the line had to be called in. The train to Peking, of course, did not get through that day. On the following day 500 Chinese soldiers went up by special train, and for the time being the line was safe. By noon on May 31st some 550 of the foreign troops, which were wired for by the Ministers, had arrived in Tientsin, and 350 left for Peking the same day. I also left for Peking, where I found things fairly quiet, though there had been cases of abuse of foreigners in the streets. The...