The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-06-26
THE MASSACRE IN CHINA.
The Recent Dreadful Slaughter OF
chinese Christians

/ The Recent Dreadful Slaughter ~
/ chinese Christians
The French periodical, Missions Cath
OIiques, gives us the first authentic and
detailed narrative of the recent massa-
ere of Roman Catholic native converts
in China. The account, as translated
| for the London Tablet, relates that the
massacre broke out on the 25th of Feb
ruary, when the "literates," as the
| prosecuting party is called, opened the
campaign by beheading two men in the
| service of Pere Doare and Christian,
whom they then threw into the river.
| The same day they burned the three
villages of Turn-Lam, Nio-Vinh and
| Bau-Tach, and massacred the inhabi-
| tants that were In them. Those who
succeeded in escaping to the woods
were hunted down with hounds, brought
| back and killed on the following day.
| The river was covered over with bodies
floating down it from the side of Lareg.
At that time the murderers were massa-
creing the Christians of the parish vii
| lagos. Those who took refuge in the
cliffs of the neighborhoOd were hunted
down and burned alive. The grand
mandarin of Justice was at the market
of Sa-Nam with eight hundred soldiers,
but remained an inactive spectator of
the massacre of the Christians of Nam
Duong, only few of whom were able
to escape, The Iiterates
who were the heads .of the militia ap-
pointed 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 auy 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 highroad went on the
parade before the governor of the cita-
del, by whom he was dismissed with
honor. On his return twenty women or
children fell under the sword of this
man and his followers. He had just
come from offering sacrifice to the god
dess of prostitution, to whom famous
temple that stands near the road is ded-
icated.
In several localities they take an en-
tire family father, mother, and chill
dren-bind them together with bam-
boos, and then fling the bundle of living
humanity into the waves. First, how
ever, they take care to cut off the mans
head. The multitude of dead bodies
thus fastened together in groups of from
eight to ten block up the principal
river, but to the great surprise of every
body does not send forth any bad smell.
There are then five parishes, containing
10, 900 Christians, which have to be blot
ted out of the misslon-namely, Lang
Thank-Huyen, Nam-DuOpg, Hoy-Yen,
and DOreg- Thank. Mauy of the victims
died in the midst of flames. A village
& ThrfuEToVc ~
tackled by the literates, and soon became
a prey to the flames. Amongst these
300 Christians there were 120, more or
less, who succeeded in saving them
selves by taking refuge in large village
near by, The remaiuder-about 300
were nearly 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
honse, numbered the Christians, and
forbade them, under threat of most
severe punishment, to go out of doors.
A few of the Christian women attempted
to go to the market to keep themselves
from starving. They never returned.
Some pagan women that went with
them say that the Christian women were
captured and beheaded. Two men from
one OF these same villages EazaraeO
fight during the night; they passed
the great river by swimming, and came
to me TO tell their misfortunes. Alas"
writes Archbishop Gauthier, from whose
letters this information is chiefly de-
rived, ssI could do nothing but weep
for them, being unable to do anything
to succor them. Two or three days after
wards learned that all the men in the
village had had their heads cut off, but
the women and children were spared.
And, as their houses were intermingled
with those of the pagsns, it was forbid
den to burn them down"