By ten o'clock on the morning of the Oth the siege was organised: a General Committee had been appointed. a Committee on Fortificttions, one on Food Supply, another on Sanitation, one on Fuel. a ixth commanding the native Chinese who had arms, a seventh on Fires, beside the Military Committee under the Captain of Marines. Here, for almost two weeks before theretreattothe British Legation, complete siege organisation was being carried out, The M. E Chapel standing in the midst of the compound was made the fort and into it were carried provisions and water. The chapel has a seating capacity of 2,000. It was decided at first to take in only native Christians whose homes had been destroyed or who were refugees from outlying di tricts.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.