The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-04-09
MISSIONARIES M0BBED.
THE EXCITING TIMES IN THE CHI-
 NESB EMPIRE.

the Missionaries and the Mission Prop
 erty.
 MT. Willis c. Noble of this city, of
 the medical staff attached to mission
 work in China, a highly esteemed gen tleman, we'll remembered by a large
 circle of New Haven friends, writes
 as follows to one of his old friends
 here:
 Paotingfu, China, Jan. S1, 1S95.-We
 have been considerably disturbed here
 within the past few weeks.
 Troops from the southern and western l provinces have been passing through
 almost daily for the past two months,
 en route to Tientsin, where they are
 being massed to oppose a Japanese ad-
 vance on Peking.
 The reputation of the Chinese soldiery | for strict adherence to law and order
 has never been proverbial; still, we
 had not felt before our recent eXperi- ence that we were in any special dan l ger from their laWlessness, and we had pursued our work without any serious apprehension of trouble. The trouble
 began at the Presbyterian mission,
 where about q dozen soldiers, followed | by crowd of rowdies (who evidently had put them up to mischief, went 10
 the street chapel and created a disturb ance. Rev. J. Walter Lowrie and Mr.
 A. Hoddle of the China Inland mission | formerly of the Bank of England) were | in the chapel and Dr, George Yardley | Taylor was dispensing medicines in the dispensary at the rear Matters in the chapel were nearing q crisis, ana an
 assault on the gentlemen seemed lmml- nent, when suddenly, and most proVl-
 dentially, some one in the street shout ed "A fight" which drew the crowd into the street when quickly as possible the chapel doors were closed and barricaded with the chapel benches and none 100 soon. for the crowd soon returned and
 clamored for admittance, trying even
 to force the doors; but it did not sue
 ceed, and as evening approached 1t
 gradually dispersed and the friends
 were enabled to make their way to then
 homes. Two days after this disturb
 ance other troops from Honan province arrived, and from these our own trouble arose, or, perhaps, I should say our an- noyance, as it amounted finally to only that. Our mission of the American Board is located in the south suburb, about ten minutes walk from the south gate of the city. I left my home on that day at about :30 D. m. to attend at my daily clinic in the city I had been gone perhaps fifteen minutes, when crowd of lawless soldiery appeared at our mis- sion gate and demanded adnittance; but the gatekeeper refused to allow them to come in and locked the gate. This procedure appeared to anger them and they began to batter in the gate, seeing which, the gatekeeper fearing they would force it in, opened it and insanity hundred or more rushed Tn with yells and made for the houses, which they quickly surrounded.
 Mrs. Noble, bravely assisted by her little son succeeded in locking the doors of my house, and thus kept them from entering; although they did break cellar window and enter the cellar. At the girls boarding school at the other end of the mission compound they forSed their way to the kitchen and dining room room of the house of the young ladies in charge of the school and struck servant, who opposed their progress. They did a little pilfering there, but did no mischief. By this time word had reached me at my dis and a messenger had been sent to the commander of the troops to say that his soldiers were causing a dis turbance at our premises. I closed my clinic and started for home filled with anxiety for the safety of loved ones and for dear associates in mission work 1 On my arrival at the mission compound | my fears were enhanced by the crowd | of soldiers and civilians that blocked | the gateway and filled the road in front | of the gate, but on getting inside my | fears were greatly relieved to learn that | no violence had been done and that | with a few exceptions, the soldiers | seemed to be animated more by a spirit | of curiosity to see us and our foreign | than by desire to do mis- chief. But we were not without dan- ger for the rabb1e that had gathered | In anticipation of an onslaught on our premises was hungry for plunder, and stood about, ready to rush in with the crowd to pillage, even to do violence, if necessary; but kind Providence was watching over us, for He turned the | soldiers into guard and they who but ! few hours before were trying to force n our gate now stood Between us and he rabble keeping it out of the com pound and beating some that tried to orce their way in. While we were ,assing through this trying time two of ,ur missionaries, Rev. and Mrs. G. Henry Ewing, were returning to us rom a visit to the Presbyterian mis- ion in the north suburb. They were nobbed from one end of the city to the ,ther The entire city seemed aroused md agitated, but strange to say, al- hough jostled and pushed and pulled bout not a missile of any sort was hrown at them, and they passed trough unscathed and reached us in afety. At 5:S6 D. m. the soldiers and thers had gone away and we were eft to gather up the events of the af- ernoon. We were worn out. Our erves had been strained to the utmost.
 We wondered what the night had in tore for us. Would the rabble. whose Jorst passions had been stirred by the vents of the afternoon, return to attack s under its favoring cover? Threats ad been freely made during the after oon that our premises would be de- troyed Would it dare make the at Nyo