Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-29
No Governmental Protection to Their
Lives in China.
! fARCICAL NAVAL SHOWING
The Tragic Story Of Two japanese
Students Execution.
@ IT n e S E D y P LICITY

The two japanese who were taken from
our consul general here at Shanghai have
been decapitated after suffering excrIciat-
ing torture, and all Americans are forced
into the position of aIologists for their
country. 1t Is the usual state of an Amer
lean in the far east to loyalty defend his
government fer it's mistakes and it's con-
tipued ignorance Of conditions here, but
the present situation is uncommonly hui
initiating. / will briefly repeat the story
Of this incident, because IL we become en-
broiled in a war out here it cannot help
having the most serious consequences, and
because 1t is imperatvely necessary that
our people at home understand the situa-
ton. In Japan, which gives us credit for
her Introduction to modern progress, and
in Shanghai, where Americans once domi-
mated the citys enormous commercial in
terests, our government has so long failed
to make a creditabie naval showing that
cur position of nakedness and helplessness
arouses the amazement and pity OF all for
eigners. But 1t becomes sCandalous when
We step between these two warning ma
tiors only to blunder and to make our
weakness the moro apparent.
A Farcical Naval Showing.
The war began in August, and I ara
writing this in the last half of October,
yet up to this time the only American war
ship that has been seen in Chinese waters
Is the old Mississippi ferry boat Monocacy
-an ark house boat, or, to give II Its
utmost due, a river gunboat. We under
stand that we have better vessels now In
Japan ports. where no war operations are
being carried on, where no war vessel has
been actually needed in twenty-five years.
but where, as at Newport and Bar Harbor,
the ladies are exceedingly attractive. Even
there, however, and in Corea ana in all
Asia, we have only the Baltimore, the
Concord and the Petrel-a perfectly farci-
cal showing as against the exhibitions OF
dignity and power made by the other great
nations. Twice such fleet as ours would
not serve to exhibit at the treaty ports of
China alone our readiness to protect the
interests of those Americans who are in
China, and whose lives have been In con-
slant danger even in times OF As.atic
peace. Today the situation is scandalous.
One needs to be hero to fully realize the
extent of our national error in keeping our
few warships at home, and In sending them
to Europe, where the diplomats already
appreciate our strength better than 1t is
appreciated by our college professors, while
in China, where We used to lead the world
as traders, our strength has wasted TO al
most nothing with the failure Of our gov
ernment to make its greatness respected.
am safe here at present, because there
are Russian and French and English war
ships under my windows at the Astor
House. The other day. when We Ameri-
japanese, We were all safe. because the
commander Of French warship offered US
his services. Fancy this in a city that mai
ages half tho commerce of Asia: in a city
on whose splendid Bund The towering ware
house of Russell & Co. suggests what
Americans once did here-whlle its aban-
donment by that firm speaks volumes on
the decay Of our influenced!
Vain Attempt mt Protection.
When fifteen hundred japanese assem-
bled in Shanghai to avail themselves of
the protection offered by the United States
government they said to Mr.. T. R. Jerni-
gan, the United States consul general, that
they were delighted to throw themselves
wholly in our care, certain that no harm
could befall them. 1t ives understood that,
as merchants and students, they were free
to remain here in the position Of wards of
our government. Suddenly two japanese
were arrested on the French third Of the
foreign settlement at Shanghai In the
French Jail they were kept twenty-four
hours and searched and ,cross-examined.
They asked to be sent to our consul, and
this was done. The Chinese taou-tai gov
ernor Of the region) demanded their sur
render spies. Mr.. Jernigan, supposing
that American protection was not an empty
phrase, made a desperate struggle to keep
them in his control long enough for our
government to devise means of giving them
a full and fair trial, and then sending them
to japan IL innocent, or to the Chinese
at Tokyo and young Mr.. DENLY at Picking,
begging them to assist in obtaining delay
and devising genuine protection. He could
not, under diplomatic rules, cable Mr..
Gresham direct. Tokyo and Picking work.
ed in harmony with Shanghai until word
came from Washington that protection to
Japanese meant the surrender of such peo-
pie to their angry enemies. Mr.. Gresham
cabled this definition in q brief order to
give up the Spies
We who are in Asia knew what that
meant. We trust amid our shame and
sorrow, that our officials at home did not
know as much. The taou-tai, his secre-
taries and the viceroy all repeatedly as
sured Consul General Jernigan that II the
Japanese should be surrendered they would
be kindly treated. They said that even ii
they were proved guilty they would not be
tortured, they would not be killed. They
We're to be kept as prisoners until the close
Of the war. Not only was this assurance
repeatedly given before the surrender. but
ivered to the Chinese. the officials made
the bargain obligatory upon themselves by
repeating their promises.
The Students Tortured and Murdered.
They took the young men to Nam
king, where they tortured them for two
some say for three-days. They made
them kncel on iron chains, with a bar of
wood across their legs, and men standing
on the bar. They pulled out their finger
nails. They put chains on their wrists and
poured boiling water on the chains until
the metal ate its way to the prisoners
bones. They crushed the tongues OF the
two men. They mashed into jelly the ten
derest, the most sensitive members of their
bodies. When death was about to have its
own way with their mutilated frames 1t
was hurried by the executioner's sword
That one Of them died exclaimng, You
may kill me, but my emperor will honor
me-" Is no more to the point than the fact
that they confessed under torture, or the
further fact that the Chinese insist that
they were truly spies.
Chinese Falsehoods.
The Chinese government has Informed
the world that these men were not tor
tured. Unfortunately, the Chinese are not
always truthful. and in this case all Nam
king disputes the denial. Days after the
execution the officials here denied that the
men had been decapitated. In China such
denials go for naught. But there are i'm
portant facts that weigh, in various direc-
TONS upon final judgment OF the case For
instance 1t Is rule Of Chinese law that
sentence cannot be passed upon a prisoner
until he confesses guilt, Therefore the
Japanese were treated precisely as the
Chinese ceal with their own criminals and
FOR EXCHANGE.