The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1889-03-20
For the Central Presbyterian.
The Chinkiang Riot.


(Our readers will find In the editorial columns
briet letter on THE riot from Mr. Bear, one of
our missionaries at Chinkiang. The following
is an extract from letter written by him to a
friend, giving fuller account of the trouble
EDs.)
The FIRE of last night was the work of
Chinese mob, which started as such
bodies generally do by next to nothing.
1t seems foreign policeman Gan Indian)
struck beggar; the beggar fell down
and some one shouted that he was killed.
This led to a mob surrounding the police
station. The first act was for a small
boy to throw a stone. Their fury grad
ually increased till some one got some
oil and set fire to large unwalled build
ing which had just been completed few
months ago at cost of between $4,000
and $4,000. This emboldened them to
make an attack on the English Consulate,
where they found the policeman had
taken refuge. From that moment plum
der and not revenge seemed to be their
incentive. Having plundered and set
fire to the Consulate "a most magnificent
building) they rushed to the Baptist
houses which were next door, and COM
menoed to plunder them. The inmates
barely had time to escape the back way
with their children snatched from bed in
their night clothes. They were not able
to save a single article. The Baptist
chapel was next pillaged and burned.
The Methodist chapel was pillaged, the
benches broken up, the organ broken to
kindllng wood and the windows and
lamps all broken. They also plum
dered the American Consulate, but did
not burn either of these last named, as
their burning would have led to the
burning of quarter of mile or more of
Chinese houses, the maj ority of which are
built of straw No one was hurt unless
it was the policeman. Nothing is known
about his whereabouts. l was down the
street this morning and found everything
seemingly quiet, "a calm after a storm"
Three gun-boats are on their way to us
from Shanghai, and will reach here about
2 clock. l don't think there will be
the least need of their services, for I
think the Chinese are scared now. more
/ than they tried to scare us. Indeed it
was nothing but lawless mob that one
may find often In any land, with this
difference, the Chinese are not blood
thirsty 1t is the rarest thing in the
world for them to take life. The best,
and perhaps the only way to act, is to
let them plumber and burn as they will
and then make the government pay for
1t. tear they did worse thing last
night than they thought, when they tore
down the Engish and American flags,
tore them into strips and trampled them
on the ground.
The Methodist dwelling houses will be
left vacant, by their occupants going
home this week, and they have kindly
offered them to their Baptist friends
until next fall. You need not be the
least uneasy about us, l do not think
, there is anything to fear The utmost
they would think of doing would be tc
plumber and burn the houses. But with
: gun-boats in port, even this is not to bt
. feared The chief trouble last nigh
4 was that all the chiet officials were
out of the city spending New Year.
r fear they will End it dear New Year.
1I