Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-05-05
THE DEED OF FIENDS.
TWO THOUSAND CHINAMEN
ROASTED ALIVE.
Robbers Demand Tribute of n Chinese
Town - Panic-stricken Natives
Rush to the Temple and
Are Destroyed.

One Of the most fearful disasters
of modern times occurred November
50, 1892, at Kan Ii, in tho province
of Shin Hing, fifty miles west of Can
ton, China. The Occidental and Ori-
entail steamship Gaelic, brought the
news to San Francisco says tho Ex-
aminer.
While several thousand people
were assembled at great theater
witnessing performance band of
twenty Chinese robbers appeared at
a temple near by and demanded Of
the priests several thousand taels.
They said that they were hungry,
and that tho priests had plenty and
must give the money to them. The
priests parleyed with the bandits UNI
til q number of their friends as
sembled, and then refused.
BY this time so many of tho priests
and their adherents had massed to-
| gether that the robbers were power
less. They could not enforce their
demands, and were furious
In their anger, and before tho
! priests knew it, they set fire TO the
great mat shed near at hand.
The huge theater was in close
proximity. The flames burst up, and
| the smoke entered the theater. In q
moment thousands of people rushed
out, panic-stricken by the flames and
smoke, and rushed into the temple.
Hundreds were crushed to death.
Those who entered the temple met a
far worse fate. The broad entrance
caught fire. and more than 400 peo-
pie were burned and smothered to
death.
The wind was violent and drove
| the smoke and flames directly into
the temple, and there was no way to
| get out by a rear entrance.
Many priests and actors were
burned among the number.
The scene was appalling. Hun
dreds of women ana children and
many wealthy merchants met their
doom. No calamity so terrible had
ever before occurred in the province.
AS if to crown the terrible disaster
and make it more complete, the
| flames spread, taking building after
building, until more than 200 houses
were reduced TO ashes.
Hundreds of helpless victims were
roasted. One man was found alive
at the bottom of heap of dead
bodies. Others had their arms and
legs burned off, while others lost
their sight and went cropping about
in the darkness, moaning piteously.
Children ran about the ruins of the
temple, theater and other buildings,
seeking their dead parents and
parents their children. Everywhere
were dead and burned bodies, and
people singed and scorched terribly
by the flames, yet still alive, were
numerous. The odor from the embers
was fearful.
The robbers meanwhile busted
themselves in stealing. They ran
sacked the pockets of the dead while
the panic reigned. Some of the peo-
pie attacked them and several robbers
were killed, but many escaped
For time it looked as though the
entire city would be destroyed. The
wind famed the flames until every
thing in its path was swept before.
them. They moved in eddies and
circles till all of the two hundred and
more buildings were consumed.
When the flames finally subsidized,
as they did the next day, and the
statistics Of the terrible disaster were
finally gathered by the magistrate of
Kan Ii, it was found that no less
than 1,940 people were dead and
missing. The record was carefully
made and recorded in his official
register.
1t was given out by him that he
had no doubt the entire 1.940 were
dead. He did not expect any excep-
tions would prove to this, as several
days had elapsed and the friends of
each had been constantly hunting for
them.
1t was fearful task trying to iden-
tify and bury the dead. In hundreds
of cases Identification was impossible.
Hundreds OF mon turned out to rescue
the bodies and bury them.
Collins were difficult to obtain for
so many people. On February A the
native hospital of Oh Yuk Tong sent
more than 400 collins to the scene.
The neighboring city of Fatshan
also sent hundreds of collins.
The Oh Yuk Tong and other hos
pitfalls were filled with burned men,
women and children. These were
constantly dying People who wit
messed the awful disaster say they
never saw the Chinese so awe-struck.
Nothing like it was ever before.
known in China.
The robbers who fired the mat shed
and caused the unparalleled suffer-
ing, death and loss TO the city, were.
brigands of the most desperate type,
who for years had been robbing and,
levying tribute on the people