This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
216
ON TO PEKIN

talion began slowly to shift its position. The loss of Colonel Liscum had cast a gloom over all the Americans. He had been a sturdy fighter, and beloved by all who knew him.

The situation was reported to General Dorward, and an effort was made to combine the American forces and those fighting under the Union Jack. By midnight this juncture was made; and then Americans, English, French, and Germans pressed for the great south gate, and, following the Japanese, entered the native city at four o'clock in the morning of July 14, 1900. This was the first substantial victory for the American, in conjunction with other flags, on Chinese soil.

On entering the native town, a scene was presented which baffles description. The shots and shells from the Allies had done frightful execution; and dead Chinese lay at every hand, in some places two and three deep. Houses were smashed to kindling wood, and the very streets showed holes four and five feet deep. In one place a powder magazine had gone up, leaving nothing behind it but a burnt and blackened space with a fringe of battered buildings and dismembered human victims.