The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-12
ATTACKED BY REBELS.
Bishop, Priests and Nuns MADE
Captive and Probably
Slain.
FR1ARs STABBED AND BEATEN
Father Fraser and Three Sisters Es-
cape From the Place After Un-
dergolng Great Hardships.

NEW YORK, n. Y, july 1.-Sisters
of Mercy Genevieve, Josephine and Fran
ces and Father A. NJ. Feeser, missionary,
arrived here to-day from Colon on the
Columbian line steamship Alliance. The
sisters proceeded to st. Walburga's con-
vent at Elizabeth, n. j., which they left
eight years ago to go to Ecuador and
found a mission school under the manage
ment OF Bishop Schumacher, who has
established missions at Jipiiapa, Bahia,
Decaraguez, Rocafuerte and Calceta.
In the late revolution in Eucador the
Bishop. his priests and the nuns engaged
in missionary work suffered very great
indignities. Sisters Genevieve, Josephine
and Frances and Sister Gertrude, a native OF
Eucador, who afterward remained at Bahia,
barely escaped from the country with their
lives, and they greatly fear that Bishop
Schumacher has been assassinated.
Sister Genevieve, who is 80 years old, is
the superior of the mission at Calceta,
which was founded three years ago. Two
months ago the revolution extended to
Calceta and frequent skirmishes occurred
there. Bishop Schumacher, with six
priests, was on his way to Quito and
stopped at the convent on June 20 to call
on the sisters and take dinner. The reyo-
lutionists, who bitterly hated the Bishop.
determined to capture him and invaded the
town with 400 men, under command of a
brother of Afford, the leader OF the revo-
luton. They surrounded the convent and
demanded admission, which was refused.
On the next day. June q, second de-
mand was made for the Bishops sur
render, and threats were made to burn
the convent if the demand was not COM
piled with. Bishop Schumacher, in order
to protect the lives of the nuns, gave him
self up to the soldiers, and, with three of
his priests, was led away. Three priests
remained IN the convent to protect the
nuns, as the demonstrations were still
threatening.
That afternoon a detachment of 600 Gov
ernment soldiers entered Calceta and gave
battle to the rebels. When the latter saw
the troops coming part of them rushed
back to the convent and began to batter in
the doors. Sister Genevieve, who had
locked the doors, opened a window, and,
displaying the American flag, called on
the insurgents to desist. a volley of yells
and curses was the reply of the mob.
81 warn you," cried the plucky nun,
"that we are Americans under the protec-
ton of the United States flag, and you will
disgrace your country in the eyes of the
civilized world by this violence toward de-
fenseless, unoffending women"
"Down with the flag" yelled the crowd,
and it redoubled its efforts to break in the
doors.
The sisters, thinking their hour had
come, made their way to the upper part of
the convent, where they fell upon their
knees and began to pray. The doors were
broken and the mob swarmed up the
stairs. The priests were knocked down
and cruelty beaten with the butts of mus
kets, and one, Father Angel, a Capuchine
friar, was stabbed twice In the back and
sank to the floor. He was carried out un-
conscious. The other two were bound
with ropes, and one insurgent raised his
machete to bring it down upon priests
head, when Sister Genevieve sprang for
ward, and, holding forth her hands to re-
ceive the blow, implored the insurgent not
to kill him,
The priests were dragged away and the
uuuS NcIC O1oC1CO W w uGl JHeV
demonstrated they, too, were dragged
down the stairs to the street, their clothing
being badly torn and cut with knives. All
the furniture and other contents of the
convent were broken up and the building
was fired.
BY this time the fighting had become
sharp in the streets between the insurgents
and the soldiers. The unfortunate sisters
were exposed to a shower of bullets, and
how they escaped being shot was nothing
short of miraculous. They finally obtained
refuge that night in lady's house. The
routed insurgents set fire to the town in
their retreat, and the four nuns were
obliged with their host to abandon the
house and fly to the country for safety.
They got shelter in another house, where
they were concealed for three days, the
insurgents meanwhile searching for them.
When they got a favorable chance they
entered canoe at 5 o'clock on the morn
ing of June "a and padded for twelve
hours until they reached Bahia Docara-
guez, where they told their story to the
captain OF the British steamer Challa,
which plies between Bahia and Panama
They had very little money, but the cap
tain agreed to take them to Panama for
what they had.
In boarding the steamer at Bahia in a
rowboat one of the oars broke and they
were swept away by the current. The crew
of the steamer gave them up for lost, but
their boat was blown ashore by the wind.
and they were rescued and taken aboard
in another boat.
When they reached Panama they told
their tale to the American Consul, who rem
dered them all the assistance in his power.
and gave them money enough to reach the
United States. He even wanted to take up
a collection for them in Panama. but thew
declined to permit him to do this. They
have nothing but words of praise for the
kind and generous manner in which they
were treated by the officers of the Alliance.
Sister Genevieve expresses the fear that
the Bishop and the six priests who were
with him at Calceta have all heen slai,, h,y