The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1893-08-19
RELIGIOUS MARTYRS.

!.
RELIGIOUS M.1AaR q 't''''' i
An Episode y u. japspese Pevseo1tlons
!, 81 Christian Qpnverts..
Every visitor to the beautiful harbor
Of Nagasakt japan, says bhe Chicago
Herald IN the south 81, the ,Japaneae
pen1nsula, il shown, as the steamer
moves slowly up to the hpch orase be.
meath the foreign settlement, the LOFTY
rock Of Pappenberg, near the entrance
with ene enormous cliff Depending
sheer for some hundreds Of feet Into
deep water, and In external appear.
ance not unlike the huge diff known
as Gallantry bower near Clovelly,
From the top Of this cliff the traveller
Is told in every book referring to the
subject thousands OF Christian con-
verts were cast into the sea or dashed
to pieces In the fall, during the bloody
prosecutions about the middle Of tho
seventeenth century and the place has,
therefore acquired a gloomy notoriety
all over the world. The lite Laurence
Oliphant told the story In his ..Narra-
tive Of Lord Elgin's Mission to China
and Japan and described Pappenberg
as the Tarpeian rock OF Japan. livery
writer in Japan has accepted the story
to this day and the tale of human cru
city and human suferings, Of which
this frowning precipice has been the
Witness, has excited the awe and pity
OF persons to whom Japan
itself Is no moro than Il
name. It appears now, however, that
Pappenberg had nothing to do with
this tragedy. DR.. Riess a professor
of the University OF Toxic. has recent:
ly investigated the course of the
Christian rebellion in Shimabara IN
southern Japan in 1878, one of the
most interesting episodes in the histo<
~ of European relations with Japan.
It was after the suppression of this ra,
bell1on that the executions at Pappen-
berg are alleged to have taken place.
IN q paper read before Che German
Asiatie society Of Japan DR.. Reiss
shows that the rock was not used for
the purpose; no mention of it is made
In any OF the contemporary records,i
and, seeing what the course of the re.
bellion was, it would have been absurd
to have dragged the prisoners there
What happened, however. was far
worse though the scene was different
Shimabara is peninsula near Naga-
sak1, the interior OF which is oecu.
pied by volcanic mountain mass cali.
ed Onsen, which is said to have one of
the largest craters in the world. and
which is about 4,9OO feet high. Ita
slopes and base are full OF boiling sui.
phur springs in a constant state OF
efervescence. The frlghtful perseo,t.
tions of the Christians in the penins,4.
la which led to the rebellion are re.
ferred to by DR.. Reiss:
1.-The new lord of ShimabaraH he
says, ''Matsukura Shigemasu and
Matsukara Shigetsugu who succeeded
him in 1880, are held up in the re-
ports of Christian eye-witnesscs as e1.
ceptionally cruel prosecutors of their
Christian subjects. The peninsula
became the scene of an organized In
QUESTION, with the noblest of martyra
for it's ever-persistent confessors Of
faith Pages has carefully reproduced
| the pathetic martyrologies of these
heroes from the reports of the fugi-
tives who gave evidence before the
| commission of missionaries established
at Macao and Manila 1have selected
but one, the most note worthy, Of
these torturings, and that which ex-
acted tho greatest number Of
victima as an example. In this
case the jealous Christians were
led TO Onsen, one Of the massive
rock barriers that preeipitousl " over
| hang the ever-seething sulphuy
springs, and from thence were hurled
into the boiling depths below. Japan
ESQ sources coincide with the mission
| airy reports that this was form Of
execution most commonly employed,
and that IT remained in use for a long
period. The irony suggested by the
name, in that those who awaited
heaven should be cast into depths
known as the nethermost hell (Oji.
go-ku, literally greatest helD, gave
this method OF inf1icting punishment q
special charm In the eyes Of the per-
| eecutors"
1t remained fresh in the traditions
Of the Europeans resident in Japan,
and has given rise to the legend that
| Pappenberg was the scene Of the
tragedy:
Give All the Boys a Chance.
Lieut. A B. Wyckod, q S. n, haa