SIEGE OF BEIJING

Captain John T. Myers of the US Marines surveyed the situation along the Tartar Wall enclosing the Legations quarter of Beijing, where 2,800 international civilians, diplomats, Chinese Christian converts and Western soldiers had taken refuge from the estimated 80,000-strong force of Boxers and elements of the Chinese army that were bent on their destruction.

“The men all feel they are in a trap and simply await the hour of execution,” wrote Myers. The situation did indeed appear bleak. Sporadic