The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-07-01
InuINrnr
n
sEExHAi 1
Iner Organization Was Once
Respectable.
----- ----- IEfT T-Et
NOW IT'S ANYTHING ELSE
A Great Band of Lawless and MUIR
derous Men,
TuE1p~ TIlpC ATMrNT NE MlccI0NAplcc
NOW IT'S ANYTHING ELSE
THEIR TREATMENT OF MISSIONARIES
The Literary Classes Especially Dislike Chris.
tanity and They Keep the Passions
Of the Masses Famed 10
a Fury.


8 Eleven millions of men are said to
belong to the great Chinese Society of
Boxers, against which Uncle Sam, in
connection with the great European
powers, may soon direct armed force.
This estimate was made by Chinese
grocer doing business in ST. Louis.
The Society of Boxers, which now
stands for lawlessness, robbery and
murder, was once respectable. 1t is
a good influence gone wrong. Accord
ing to the Boston Journal it was a law
and order league, originally organized
as a protest and a means of defense
against the bandits with which the
province of Shan-Tung was infested.
At that time the life and property
of no honest man was safe. The
bandits were not wild ruffans, such
as those of Italy or the American
west of a few years ago, but, on the
contrary, seemed to be men of peace.
BY day they toiled as shoemakers,
carpenters, farmers and what not, but
at night they repaired to their strong
hold in the mountains, from which
/, they made descents on any man who
was reported to possess a store of
attack of these bandits was that made
several years ago on one of the Shan
1sung missions, OF which Rev. j. II.
Laughlin was a member. Other mem
bers were r. III. Bent and j. T.. Van
Schoick. They lived in three houses,
all surrounded by a high wall. The
first evidence of trouble was d gunshot
outside the gate, whereupon the gate
l. L. L
. was the matter. Instantly a pistol
was shot off in his face, so that the
powder blinded him, although he re-
ceived no other wound.
The man fel shrieking, to the
ground and twenty-five bandits rush
eel over his body and into the court
yard. Mr.. Bent saw them coming
and retreated into his cottage. but
the robbers smashed in the door and
shot him in the thigh. The mission
airy seized a piece of the splintered
door and ran out, striking right and
left. One of the bandits slashed at
him with a sword and cut his head,
another wounded him on the arm, but
he at last escaped with his life. Mr..
Lalghlin, who WAS romping with his
little girl in the dining room, ran out
to investigate and found Mr.. Bent's
quarters surrounded by mob of ban
dts. and heard them shouting, xiii!
KILL"
He ran back to his quarters, got his
wife and children over the fence and
helped them to a place of safety. Mr..
Van Schoick did likewise. When they
returned the bandits were gone and
the mission safe lay literally smashed
to bits on the ground. The bandits
had shattered it apart with crowbars.
The amount of money secured was
small. Sometimes when the amount
of plumber does not equal their eX-
pectations they seize on of their vic
tim, blindfold him, carry him off to
the mountains, from where they send
message demanding "a ransom.
1t was such attacks as this, repeat
ed over and over again in villages
throughout the province, that resulted
in the organization of the Boxers.
But they were not called Boxers then.
Their name was Ta-TaoHwei, which
means the Society of the Great
Sword" More recent is the name
Universal Society of Boxers but the
change signifies little; in fact, change
of name among the secret societies is
frequent. One name is kept up until
an edict of suppression is issued
against it, and then new name is
adopted, and the society goes on as
If nothing had happened.
Christians do not know just when
the Society of the Great Sword had its
origin. The natives refer to it as an
ancient society, but that may mean
ten years or a hundred. 1t is agreed,
however, that at first its principles
were laudable and it's work good.
but as it became more powerful and
increased III numbers, many dishon-
est and designing persons entered it
for the prestige and protection it af-
forded, just as dishonest and design
ing persons ally themselves with in
fiuential bodies in other lands today.
These men provided a disturbing ele-
ment, and in many cases directed the
efforts of the society against their
personal enemies, whom they repre-
sented as bandits or lawless persons.
Some of the victims, it is said. ter
rified by the persecution of the Great
Sword Society, looked for some other
force from which they might hope
for protection, and found it in the
Christian missionaries. and especially
the German Catholics. These men
professed conversion, and besought
succor, and the missionaries used every
endeavor to secure justice for them