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Of some interest to this old Congregationalist:

The most severe persecution came in the northern province of Shanxi, where the governor of the province, Yu Xian was (allegedly)a noted Boxer sympathizer. In Fenzhou in northern Shanxi, however, local officials seemed to be more kind to the missionaries than in most other locations. A number of missionaries flocked to Fenzhou at the invitation of workers stationed there, believing they would be safe until the trouble blew over. Shortly after they arrived in the town, however, the evil governor assigned a new magistrate over Fenzhou, who promptly placed an armed guard over the foreigners. The missionaries knew they had walked into a trap and feared the worst:
Seven members of the Oberlin Band were in Fenzhou: Charles and Eva Price and their daughter, Florence, about six years old; and Ernest and Elizabeth Atwater and their two younger daughters, Celia and Bertha, about five and three years old. With them were three missionaries of the China Inland Mission.
On August 14, the missionaries were ordered to leave the city. The ten missionaries, three Chinese Christians, and two cart drivers departed through the streets while 10,000 people silently watched them depart. The soldiers escorting the missionaries had orders to kill them along the road, One of the Chinese Christians, warned of what was coming, bribed the soldiers with his possessions and was permitted to depart. As he was fleeing he heard shots. All the missionaries were killed. The soldiers robbed the bodies and local villagers buried them. (at night and at considerable risk to themselves; 200 hundred Christian Chinese were executed for this kindness)

The Memorial Arch at Oberlin College is dedicated to the memory of the 15 missionaries of the Oberlin Band killed in China in 1900.
Accounts of the 2 separate massacres of Oberlin missionaries vary: Twelve days after her letter was written, Lizzie Atwater, her unborn baby, and six other missionaries were hacked to death by the guards. (I somehow find it difficult to believe that the guards suddenly were merciful and used guns....)
Later, when Lizzie's parents in Oberlin, Ohio, heard the dreadful news of the death of their daughter, son-in-law, and unborn grandchild, they said, in tears, "We do not begrudge them - we gave them to that needy land; China will yet believe the truth." ...right! The truth perhaps: Alas poor governor Yu Xian, who perhaps tried to suppress the Boxers, was himself beheaded one year later:

After Allied armies seized control of North China, Yuxian was blamed by both foreign and Chinese officials for having encouraged the Boxers, and at their insistence, he was beheaded. Historians have now shown that while Yuxian was strongly resistant to foreign influence, he was in fact actively involved in the suppression of Boxer groups in 1895–96 and 1899, but that his strategy of killing Boxer leaders without prosecuting their followers failed in late 1899, when the Boxers had changed in nature and their executed leaders could easily be replaced by new ones. They also suggest that the Christians in Taiyuan were killed by mob violence, not by Yu Xian's order.

Scapegoats and fallguys, as always I 'spect.