The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-21 00:00:00

THE MURDERS AT CANTON.

(From the Overland Friend of China, Dec. 29 )
On Sunday, the sth inst., Messrs. M`Carte, Balk-
will, Brown, Rutter, Small, and Bellamy, embarked
in a hong boat, about two o'clock in the afternoon,
with the intention of sailing a few miles up the river,
landing for a walk, and returning to dinner. With
the exception of the gentleman first named; they had
attended Divine service in the forenoon, and the after-
noon's excursion was simply one of recreation and exer-
cise. They had no guns with them ; and, unfortunately,
only two took the precaution of carrying pistols.
They proceeded as far as Hwang-chu-kee, a village
about four miles above the factories, and there landed;
directing the boatmen to wait their return. The
circumstances connected with their after-fate are
gathered from various Chinese witnesses ; and, though
the statements are in some points contradictory, in the
main they agree. The deposition of the master of
the boat was taken before five British merchants, and
Mr. John A. T. Meadows, public translator of Chi-
nese. We copy it in full

About one.t;'clock on the sth of Dec., 1847, a Coolie
belonging to the firm of Blenkin, Rawson, and Co., came
and hired the hong boat, of which I, Chow-a-pow, tun
chief boatman. Six foreigners about that time got into
my boat, and we proceeded westward. About three
o'clock we arrived at the landing place of the ferry at
the village of Wang-chukke (in Mandarin liwang-chu-
kee), where the- foreigners immediately went on shore.
We asked them if we should follow them or not ? They
said that it was not necessary, and ordered us to remain
and wait for them. The place where we anchored is
about one hundred paces from the village. We saw
the foreigners pass through a stone archway, and enter,
into the village, when they were concealed from us by
the dwellings. After losing sight of them we remained
waiting in the boat during the space of one hour, when
we heard the sound of gongs in the village. There was
a sinati boat at.chored near ns, in which there were an

L-1411 and a y eung man. The youngest of these had
a short time previously gone into the market to buy
vegetables. On his return he informed the old man that
the gongs were sounded because the villagers were pur-
suing and beating the foreigners. The old man asked
us what kind of people we had brought there? On our
informing him, he advised us to make off with all :peed,
otherwise the villagers would immediately come and seize
us with the intention of killing us. Within a quarter of
an hour after he had said this the villagers advanced
towards us and commenced throwing stones at us.
We therefore immediately went to the opposite side of
the river. Our intention was to wait there till the
foreigners came to the landing-place, when we would
put across the boat to receive them. We waited till
about seven or eight o'clock, at which time we again
heard the sounding of gongs in the village. They sounded
as if there was something extraordinary going on, not in
the common manner. All at once we perceived two
small covered boats, with about seven or eight people in
each, advancing hastily towards us; when they came up
to us they fastened their boat-hooks on our boat, saying
at the same time—' This is the boat which brought a;
foreigners.' We knocked their boat-hooks off and fled
with the tide. The villagers pursued us to the entrance
of the Le-shwuy, when they turned back. After this
we went to a place of the name of Low-kong, where we
anchored, and about the time re cessary to eat a meal
day broke. There were several fishing-boats at anchor
at the same place. As it was now daylight we durst not
return to Canton with our boat, but 1 hired a small boat
in order to return to the bongs (`factories) to report the
news. I arrived at Canton about twelve o'clock on the
6th, and went to the comprador of Blenkin, Rawson, and
Co., and gave him information of the affair. He said
that his master was not at home, and took me to the
houses of Turner and CO., and Birley, at both of which
places they were said to be out. The comprador then
took me to the Consul. Among the six foreigners there
was one named Small, who carried with him one pair of
double barrelled pocket pistols, and one gentleman, tea
inspector of Birley, carried one pair of single barrelled
pocket pistols. We saw them load them. We did not
see that the other gentlemen had any firearms. Accord-
ing to our observations none of the six foreigners were
by any means intoxicated."
From this evidence it appears that about an hour after
landing gongs were beat in the village ; and a person
who had gone there to purchase provisions informed the
boatmen that the villagers were pursuing and beating
the foreigners, advising them to be off, or the villagers
would seize and probably kill them. It further appears
that between seven and eight o'clock, gongs were again
beat in an unusual manner, as if something extraordi-
nary was going on. This was from four to five hours
after the Europeans landed, and from three to four after
the boatmen were informed that the villagers were
chasing and beating them. From this we conclude that
our countrymen were not killed on landing, but that,
on the second beating of the gong they were made to
undergo the inhuman torture which it will be shown
was inflicted upon them repeatedly before murder be-
came an act of mercy.
The next link in the chain of evidence we take from
notes furnished to a cotemporary by a gentleman who
has had favourable opportunity of coming at the facts:—
"The writer was informed by a Chinese of respecta-
bility, that a female slave belonging to a relation of his
own, resident at Keaou peaou, was at work in the fields
on the afternoon in question; she saw the six foreigners
first at some distance inshore of Hwang- chu-kee, where
a few of the working people shouted Fankwei,' and
threw mud at them, of which they took no notice.
Shortly afterwards those were joined by others; at all
events a larger party, perhaps twenty in number, came
on in pursuit of them, shouting as before, and assailing
them with stones, and farming implements, hoes and the
like; the foreigners held up their hands, and appeared
to deprecate the violence of their pursuers, who had
now reached them, and were striking at them, while
moment, as the people in
One of the foreigners then fired and hit a Chinese, who
the choir a d
j cumberoining fields increased
ftiwkee every rtyo
take
part in the attack.
fell. The gong was struck, and a multitude assembled,
who fought furiously with the English
itnounds, inflicted by pikes,
poles, having in vain endea-
voured English, and overpowered
two of them, whom they continued to strike after they
were down. The other four, who seemed much fright-
ened,l,oll aktindivwese,reund stones,coveredw
afterh
red to appease the people by the offer of dollars, fled,
and the woman saw no more. The report which the in-
formant bad heard of what ensued upon this was, that
upon reaching the village of Hang-keaou they were
seized, confined for two days and two nights, during
which time they were without food, beaten repeatedly,
and then put to death.
" Information was given by the Chinese above quoted
to the writer, on the 18th of December, that a young
man, a labourer, was coming front Ta-le-poo, a place
some eight or ten miles from the scene of the crime,
upon the sth instant; that he saw four foreigners run-
ning in or near the village of Lotsum, pursued by a
number of people; that two Chinese, carrying grass, met
them and throw stones at them without effect, and then,
as the way was narrow, spread out their arms and at-
tempted to bar their passage, upon which they were im-
mediately shot by the foreigners, who continued their
flight. These were doubtless the two Chinese surnamed
Chin and Le, the surrender of whose bodies was demanded
by the Ngan-cha-sze in the first instance. He then pro-
ceeded to Hwang-chin kee, where about 1,000 persons
were assembled round something which he did not see;
but he was told that they had been beating the Fankwei
and knew that the two bodies were there. He went on
to Canton, where he arrived at about 6 P.M. and re-
mained till Tuesday morning, when, as he was on his
svay home at an early hour, he overtook a small vessel
carrying the six bodies to San-n;a-kew, where they
were to be thrown into the water. This was done, as
he afterwards heard, with stones tied to them to prevent
their floating; he returned to Canton on the 17th, when
he communicated this intelligence to the informant.
"He further said, that on capturing the four English-
men at Hank• lreaou, they. were all brought back to
Hwang-chu-kee the same night; that in the two who
had fallen first life was found to be not yet extinct; that
on Tuesday morning all were still alive, and that the
elderly peoplo of the village advised that they should be
sent back to Canton; but this was opposed by the rest,
on account of the vengeance which they feared would be
taken. It was accordinkly decided that they should die,
but all shrank back from the task of putting them to
death, until one man, not above 23 or 24 years of age,
said, that if they were all afraid he would do it himself,
and thereupon killed them with a heavy knife or heavy
metal weapon, such as is used to chop wood."
It will be observed that these statements agree in one
essential point—the victims were kept for two days and
two nights; and by the medical report at the inquest it