Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-02
The Massacre of Chinese Christians.

The French periodical Missions Cdt10-
bQues, gives an authentic and detailed
narrative OF the recent massacre Of RO-
man Catholic native converts in China.
The account, as translated for the Lon
don Tablet, relates that the massacre
broke out on the 25th of February, when
the Eterates," as the prosecuting party
Is called, opened the campaign by be-
heading two men in the service of Pere
Deare and Christian, whom they then
threw into the river. The same day they
burned the three villages of TTun-Lam,
NiO-Vinh and Bau Tach, and maSSacred
the Inhabitants that were in them. Those
who succeeded in escaping to the woods
We're hunted down with hounds, brought
/ back, and killed on the following days.
The river was covered over with bodies
floating down it from the side of Lareg.
! AZ that time the murdererS were maSsa-
crlng the Christians of the parish
OF Holven, and were burning their
villages. Those who took refuge in
the cliffs of the neighborhood were
! hunted down and burnt alive. The
| Grand Mandarin of Justice was at the
| market of Sa-Nam with 800 soldiers. but
remained an inactive spectator of the
massacre of the Christians of Nam
Duong, only few of whom were able to
| escape. < The literates who were
! the heads of the militia appointed to
massacre the Christians say that the
work of determination carried out under
the eyes of the Mandarins was concerted
between the court and the literates, and
was done in reprisal for recent events
| The Mandarins have Just received orders
from the court not to employ any other
means save those of persuasion to stop
| the murderers in their career. One of
the chiefs who had just caused two
Christians to be murdered on the high
road went on the parade before the Gov
ernor of the citadel, by whom he was
dismissed with honor. On his return
twenty women or children fell under the
| swords of this man and his followers.
| In several localities they take an en-
! tire family-father, mother and children
| bind them together with bamboos, and
then fling the bundle of living humanity
into the waves. First, however, they
| take care to cut off the mans head The
multitude of dead bodies thus fastened
together in groups Of from eight to ten
| blocks up the principal river, but to the
| great surprise of everybody does not send
forth any bad smell There are then
five parishes containing nearly 10000
| Christians, which will have to be blOtted
out of the missiOn-namely, Lang,
Thank-Huyen, Nam-DuOng, Hoy-Yen,
and DoregThank. Many of the victims
died in the midst of flames. A village of
more than 400 Christians was attacked
by the literates and soon became a prey
to the flames. Among these 400 Chris
tians there were 120, more or less, who
succeeded in saving themselves by tax
ing refuge in village near by. The re-
mainder-about 200-were all massacred.
Two small villages of Christians stu
ated two hours walk from the place at
which [ then was were hemmed in by
the pagans. The Mayor visited each
house numbered, the Christians and fors
babe them, under the threat of some Sc
we're punishment, to go out of doors. A
| few of the Christian women attempted
from starving. They never returned.
Some pagan women that went with them
say that the Christian women were cap
tured and beheaded. Two men from one
of these same villages hazarded flight
during the night; they crossed the great
river by swimming, and came to me to
| tell their misfOrtunes. ALAS y writes
Archbishop Gauthier, from whose letter
| this information is chiefly derived, Il
| could do nothing but weep with them,
! being unable TO do anything to succor
them. Two or three days afterward I
learned tina tall the men in that village
had had the heads cut off, but the
women and children were spared. And
as their houses were intermingled with
those of the pagans it was forbidden to
| burn them down"