Anyone have a photograph of the ill-fated Baron, please?
"In the first week of June, however, the German ambassador Klemens von Kettler visits Sir Claude, and they compare notes. Terrified by the German notes from Kiaochow and the Shangtung Peninsula, the three diplomats British, German, and American become convinced that the legations are endangered. On 3 June Sir Claude telegraphs the British ships stationed at Taku on the mouth of the Pei-ho, 110 miles away, that they are in "imminent and terrible danger" and 339 sailors and marines put to shore and head for Peking. The Japanese Chancellor Sugiyama leaves Peking and gets a message onto a screw sloop to Kyoto that he is in immediate danger, and that help is needed on 6 June.
On his return, Boxers bar his way, as the Righteous Harmony Fists are known in Japan and the West. He gives them a nod, and his driver attempts to continue, but both are dragged from the carriage, his heart gouged out, his eyes destroyed, he is decapitated, and his body taken to Peking.
Finally, that night, riots break throughout Peking, and the greatest symbol of European power and exclusivism, the Grandstand and the Peking Race Course, are burnt to the ground. One dozen Chinese Christians are roasted in the embers.
On the morning of the seventh, the Corps Diplomatique appears before the Fung Li, escorted by Marines, expressing their distress and making demands that the Boxers be controlled. The response is noncommittal and vague, stating that the Boxers are not a threat. Upset, the diplomats return to their quarter, upset. The streets of Peking are churning with angry Chinese.
Once the Legation quarter is reached, in view of last night’s actions, the sailors and marines build a barricade against the Chinese rioters. Soon, the streets clear, and all becomes eerily quiet. One final, harried message comes from all legations to their home countries: WE ARE IN GRAVE DANGE< and the line was clipped.
At one o’clock, Baron von Kettler sets out on a sedan chair to the Chinese Foreign Office. In the streets of Peking, at approximately one ten, a Chinese Imperial soldier, not a Boxer, stepped out of an alleyway, leveled his rifle, and fired at Kettler’s head. The siege of the Legations had begun."
"In the first week of June, however, the German ambassador Klemens von Kettler visits Sir Claude, and they compare notes. Terrified by the German notes from Kiaochow and the Shangtung Peninsula, the three diplomats British, German, and American become convinced that the legations are endangered. On 3 June Sir Claude telegraphs the British ships stationed at Taku on the mouth of the Pei-ho, 110 miles away, that they are in "imminent and terrible danger" and 339 sailors and marines put to shore and head for Peking. The Japanese Chancellor Sugiyama leaves Peking and gets a message onto a screw sloop to Kyoto that he is in immediate danger, and that help is needed on 6 June.
On his return, Boxers bar his way, as the Righteous Harmony Fists are known in Japan and the West. He gives them a nod, and his driver attempts to continue, but both are dragged from the carriage, his heart gouged out, his eyes destroyed, he is decapitated, and his body taken to Peking.
Finally, that night, riots break throughout Peking, and the greatest symbol of European power and exclusivism, the Grandstand and the Peking Race Course, are burnt to the ground. One dozen Chinese Christians are roasted in the embers.
On the morning of the seventh, the Corps Diplomatique appears before the Fung Li, escorted by Marines, expressing their distress and making demands that the Boxers be controlled. The response is noncommittal and vague, stating that the Boxers are not a threat. Upset, the diplomats return to their quarter, upset. The streets of Peking are churning with angry Chinese.
Once the Legation quarter is reached, in view of last night’s actions, the sailors and marines build a barricade against the Chinese rioters. Soon, the streets clear, and all becomes eerily quiet. One final, harried message comes from all legations to their home countries: WE ARE IN GRAVE DANGE< and the line was clipped.
At one o’clock, Baron von Kettler sets out on a sedan chair to the Chinese Foreign Office. In the streets of Peking, at approximately one ten, a Chinese Imperial soldier, not a Boxer, stepped out of an alleyway, leveled his rifle, and fired at Kettler’s head. The siege of the Legations had begun."
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