Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-09-12
STORY OF THE MASSACRE
Told to the Investigating Committee by
Eye-WitnesSeS.
REV. PHILLIPS AND MISS HARTMAN
The Latter Had a Narrow Es-
cape With Her Life.
HORRlD STORY OF CHINESE BUTCHERY


Ltttie Baby's Eyes Cut t,ut--T The Rev. Mr..
Philips Canoeaied Behind Two Trees.
Saw the Villainous Yegetarians at Their
Awful Work : Miss Hartman Relates a
Thrilling Story of Her Personal Experi-
epce,
Victoria, B, c., Sept. 9.APrivate
letters from Shanghai, Just received
here, announce that the commission
appointed by the British and American
governments to investigate the Ku-
Cheng massacre of August LIST reached
Foo Chow on August 18th, Suikow two
days later, and Ku Cheng on August
18th, without shadow Of molestation
from the barbarous hordes alleged by
Chinese officials to- have established a
reign of terror throughout the PROV
ince.
The Rev. Mr.. Phillips tells how he
was awakened at 6 o'clock in the
morning by shooting in the direction
Of the stewards house. He at first
thought it was children playing, but
recognizing the voices of excited men,
he dressed hastily and went over.
81 was met few yards from my
| dwelling, he said, by native friend
who, while throwing his arms around
me to detain me, told me the Vege-
| tarians had come. l shook him off and
went on and came in sight of the house
| from which 40 or so bandits were car
rying loads of plumber, their leader
holding aloft a small red flag. I could
see nothing of our Europeans, and, as
| was in full view of the rioters, /
crept up hill in the brushwood and
concealed myself behind two trees.
about 20 yards away. As i could see
no foreigners, ] concluded they had
escaped, and as to 60 down was certain
death, / thought 1t best to wait where
l was.
"After minute or two the retreat
horn sounded and the Vegetarians be-
gan to leave, first, however setting
fire to the houses Ten minutes after
this every Vegetarian had gone. came
down and looked about the front of the
house, but could see nothing Of any
one. feared something dreadful had
happened, as heard the Vegetarians
as they left say: Now all the foreigners
| are killed.
II just then met the servants who
| told me the Chinese were in the house
in which Miss Hartford of the Ameri-
can mission was staying. l found Mr..
| Hartford's daughter Mildred, with a
|
severe cut. When | had washed these
/ turned to Mr.. Stewards son, who
was fearfully hacked and cut every
where. Then Miss Coddington sent me
a message that she, too, was in the
house. l found her in fearful condi.
tion but with cold water and rags we
managed to staunch the bleeding. She
begged me not to wait as she thought
| Topsy Saunders was still alive. then
rushed to the back of the house and
found the bodies of Miss Saunders,
Miss Steward, Miss Gordon and Miss
Marshall. The latter was awfully cut,
her head being almost severed, but
beyond the wounds given in the strug-
| gle, the bodies were not mutilated.
Later | found Miss Combs body at tho
foot of the hill in front of the house,
where it had evidently been tn rown.
| As then | could see no signs OF Mr.. and
Mrs Steward, Miss Saunders and Lena
the nurse, we hoped they had escaped
| and | returned to the house where the
Steward children and Miss Cottipgton
were.
"a great misfortune was that only
| two were dressed. Mr. and Mrs. Steward
were killed as they sprang from the
bed. Lena, the nurse, died while pro-
tecting the baby, whom Kathleen man.
aged to carry out Of the house, though
not before the baby's eyes had been
cut out. Miss Nellie Saunders was also
| knocked down at the nursery door
when going to help the children, and
as we afterwards found the remains of
burned body there, we had little
doubt that it was hers. For long time
we thought Mr.. and Mrs. Steward had
escaped, but later found their bodies. "
Miss Harman says the whole terrible
| affair was over in 30 minutes and that
the attacking party numbered about
| 100 well organized under one leader.
Her own terrible experience, she re-
lates thus:
81 heard shouts and yells on the
streets and putting on my clothes,
rushed to the door, to be met by man
with trident and spear who yelled:
Here's foreign woman. The man
pointed his spear at my breast but
twisted the weapon to one side and 1t
Just grazed my ear and head He then
threw me to the ground and beat me
with the wooden end Of the spear, but
servant came who wrenched the weap-
on away and told me to fly. jump
ed down the embankment and ran along
the road. The servant followed and
pulled me along until l got up to the
side of the hill, where lay down to get
breath. After resting twice, / reached
a secluded spot and lay there. All this
time the yells went on and the houses
were burning. After while the
yells stopped and we supposed the Vege
tarians had gone. Then the servants
went to see how matters we're. He re-
turned in half an hour, telling me to
como home, and that five ladies of the
English mission had been killed and
some of the wounded were at my house.
This was native house and was mo-
troubled at all. T"
Found Dead Along the railroad.