The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-09-22
Horrors nf the Massacres in China
Told hy an Ohio Col
lcgc Professor.
FIFTEEN THOUSAND SLAIN.
tOssacks' Wives and Children.
Writer Says. Were in Tcrror and
Wholesale Slaughter Was
Deemed Necessary.
EEFJRLiC SPECIAL.

RErJRI.iC SPECIAL
New York. Sept. 2i.-rhc Evening Post to-
day PUBLISHERS a letter from Professor q.
Frederick Wright Of the OberIln. O.. The
"icg.cal Seminary, IN which the mad fury
of Russian 'ossacks along the Siberian
Chinese frontier is described. and which re-
suited in the slaughter Of something like
l5to0 dcforsclcss Chinese
Professor Wrght'S story has the value
of that Of an eyewitness. and 1t is we'll
known That he IS strongly Russian IN
MS symn1thics. Less than two months he
lore he witnessed the horrible butchcry at
RlarOvostchensk he wrote:
Russia viii surely introduce into this rc-
cion higher civilization, and i'm the wake
Of her rate Will spring mp better established
order and the prosperity sure to attend it"
Professor Wricht's letter is dated Sire
tersk, Siberia. August :. 1870. He tells of
tEo peaceful condition before tho beginning
Of h"-tih les. and then the sudden change,
in which men. women and children in s"v-
ergl Villages w"rr sacrificed. entire towns,
with their populations. being wiped out.
As soon as the Russian troops went
down the river on transports Uuly 10"
writes Professor Wright. the fort at AyErn
began, without warning, 10 fire upon pass
ing steamboats,. and ON the 18th fire was
opened upon flagovestchensk. and some
Russian Villages were burned opposite the
fort.
The actual injury inflicted by the Chi
aese was slight. but the terror caused by it
was indescrihable. and it drove the Cos
sacks into a frenzy
The peaceable Chinese to the number Of
5000 or 4,G0 in the city were expelled IN
great haste and. being forced upon RATS
entirely inadequate. most Of them were
drowned in attempting to cross the river.
Tho stream was fairly black with their
bodies. Three days afterwards We counted
hundreds of them in the water.
In our ride through the country TO reach
the city Thursday, the 18th, we saw as
many as thirty villages ard hamlets of the
Chinese in flames. one of them was a city
of Sco5 or 1000 inhabitants.
We estimated that we saw the dwellings
of 2qcOo peaceab:e Chinese in flames that
awful day while parties Of Cossacks were
securing the fields to find Chinese and
shooting them down on sight.
What became OF the women and chill
dren no one knew; but there was ap-
parently no way for them to escape to a
place of safety.
"On our way Up the river for 800 miles
above the city every Chinese hamlet was
4 charreI mass Of ruins. The large vii
lagc OF Motcha was still smoking, and we
were told that $500 Chinese had been killed.
we do not mention these facts 90 excite
prejudice against the Russian authorities
or against the COssacks. This work OF dew
has not been ordered ny those
high in authority. 1t is rather the result
of mob violence such a. instisateS the
promoters OF lynch law in the Southern
States or. mole nearly. such as has from
time immcmorial animated the pioneers in
America against the Indians.
The wholesale destruction. both Of
property and Of life, was thought 10 Le =
military necessity.
The wives and children of the CcsSacks
were in error. I shall never forget the
night spent IN one Of these villages q few
miles below Aygun three or four DAYS |
after hoSti,irs began. Every household |
WAS packed up in carts and removed in
the middle of the night to the prair.e., in |
The interior. The guards were Insufficient
and the only way. as they thought, 10 pro-
ect their own families was TO strike terror
INTO the hearts Of all Chinese. And 50 the
WORK Of destruction has gone on