The age-herald., 1900-08-06
FATHER MARQUET
 TELLS A SAD STORY
Of the Treatment of Christians By Boxers.
STABBED AND BURNED ALIVE
Christians Were Asked to Apostac!z9 , and Refusing So Were Mur-
 dered-Fought as Long as
 Ammunition Lasted

New York, Aug. 5.-=In letter from Rev Father Marquet, the superior of the Ro- man Catholic missionaries in the province Chi Lf China just received here. He says that at the beginning of the Boxer out break. the Chinese authorities tried to pro- tect the Christians. He tells how the na- tive Christians fought against the Boxers and defeated them.
 The Boxers say that by the help of cer- tain "lncantations'', writes Father Mar quet 'They become invulnerable as soon as the spirit to which they surrender them selves has taken publication of them. nnt whenever a Christian Is present or where ever a church standss the spirit, they say' does rot descend upon them, and so they cannot become invulnerable." In fact" not . far from the Christian establishment ol Chir Kin Ho (Ezing Tcheou9, three or those who had been initiated volunteered atter their incantations, to be fired at The first of them was instantly killed, while the two others were mortally wounded.
 "It was market day and the Boxers, afraid of losing their prestige before the people. proclaimed loudly that this was the fault of the Christians"
 spread the News
 .DT,hev spread. the, news that Neophytes had killed one of their adherents anu wounded tic others and declared their in tention of getting rid of the Christians sacking their houses and burning their churches.' { Of the beginning of actual trouble Father Muquet wnftess
 With. the exception of three commun- ties in. which foreigle"s "s fearing something was about to happen, had armed them selves,A and. two others which were pro- tected by pagan village chiefs, every Christian settlement at King. Tchou was sacked At Leo Pa Tchoang ''hristian who wanted to save his house was stab bed, fluid poured over his body and set on fire while he was still breathing.
 A few days later it was the turn Of the Christian establishments of Piou Ticheng, Keao Ho and Tong oang. The district of Father Andlauer, the real hot-bed 1f the Boxers, suffered most.
 "First of all the Christians were asked to apostacize, but soq far as is. known none did so, and every Christian community with the exception. of that of public Kia Tchoang, whose members had taken flight, was devastated.
 Compelled to Retire | "A part of the new Christian establish ments was subsequently, destroyed. Fla ther Heitzler was compelled to retire to Gu Kiao. The Boxers crossed the imperial canal invaded his district and effected junction with the Boxers of Chan Tong. Though surprised, the courageous Chris tians defended themselves valiantly till all their ammunition was gone, and they hay ing, when there was no more powder left hurled bricks from the roof on the heads of the bandits"
 The Father writes that already twenty one establishments have been plundered and that he himself was injured. The southern district enjoyed relative tranquil | ity. The sacking of some houses of Chris l tians by the section of the Great Dag l gers" was atoned for.
 'So as to neglect no human means, we applied for assistance to the Viveroy of Chi Ii and requested that a sufficient force of soldiers be sent to stop the progress of the rioters, who were numerous. and more des- | perate every day. Meanwhile. we wiped | away the dust from our cannon and rifles of 1860, and, after putting them in repair, we trained the cannon on our walls and | handed the rifles to our brave Christian | volunteers, who placed themselves at our | disposal
 Within two days we had 200 men, some armed with rifles, others with swords, and
 while the rest had knives, axes, iron bars, | ect.
 'The Boxers, numbering 800, were desir-
 ous first of all to carry the village of Tong
 kai kon, not far from our residence, and hastened to storm the houses of the Chris tians who had taken up arms. l Spread Death and Havoc , Intrepid, though few in number, the re- sisters waited for the Boxers and from the | roofs spread death and havoc in the ranks | of the enemy. The Boxers fled, but soon | rallied to the sound of their tom tom, and
 again were getting ready to storm the will | lage, when trumpets were heard. The ap- | preaching force was d troop of cavalry oi l the regular army which Father Becker, ir most pressing letter, had requested the
 mandarin to dispatch to his help The cav
 alrymen came in great haste. and though
 they reached the scene of action too late
 to take part in the victory, they at least
 scattered the enemy
 Should the soldiers which were sent tt
 our help be recalled by events occurring or
 the seacoast or at Tien Tsin we would | again be at the mercy of the counties. hories who cherish in their hearts an i'm. 1 placable hatred of Europeans and the
 Christian religion"