Secrets & Scandals Of America’s First Ladies

Showing No Fear

Lou decided to join the action in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. She would deliver tea and other supplies to troops by bicycle. During one trip, a stray bullet flattened her tire. Their home in China was not safe by any means. One day, while she was playing solitaire, a shell burst through the window! After people rushed to check on her, and they saw that she was OK, they noticed the blast nearly blew the staircase apart. After the incident, her obituary appeared in a Peking newspaper. Upon reading it, she was happy to see that the editors had written three whole columns just for her – even if she wasn’t really dead.