The news from the front was most conflicting. Admiral Seymour, in command of the expedition which had gone to the relief of Pekin, was rumored to be somewhere beyond Tien-Tsin, and surrounded by the enemy. The foreign quarter of Tien-Tsin had been bombarded by the Boxers and Chinese government troops for over a week after the taking of the Taku forts, and the sufferings of the Americans and others had been almost beyond belief. During the bombardment, women and children had been shut up in Gordon Hall, and shot and shell had rained down on all sides. At this time there was an American circus in the city; and the men of the show took up rifles, buckled on cartridge belts, and went to the walls with the few troops in the place, to hold the enemy in check.
The relief of Tien-Tsin was largely due to the efforts of one man to get word of what was going on to the allied powers having warships and soldiers in the Gulf of Pechili. When the bombardment of the foreign quarter of the city was at its height, nine men from the various legations took a boat and started for Taku for help. This boat was attacked by the Chinese; and those in it had to run the craft
