Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-08
Extract From Letter Written by
Prominent Missionary.
OFFICIALS CHARGED WITH MASSACRE
Neither Age Nor Sex Spared by
the Boxers.
n AM ELESS ATROCITIE S

a well-informed missionary who is now at
| the scene of some of the recent troubles.
| A part of the letter follows: The massacre
| at Pao-ting-fu, like all the Others was car
ried out by the direct order of the officials,
and the governor in whose yamen they
took refuge is doubly responsible for re-
| fusing them protection and sending them to
| death in their own homes. We know from
letters written as late as June % that the
missionaries We're all in the yamen Of the
governor, and they anticipated no danger.
| The reason they felt secure was because
they had faith in the willingness and abl-
! ity of the governor to protect them. In
less than five days from the date of that
! letter they We're sent to their homes and
| to their death.
1T is not conceivable that they went
| from the yamen without protest. for they
| would know that the moment they passed
| out of the door they left all hope behind.
| There can be doubt that the highest
| official in the city, whose duty 1t was
| under the treaties to protect them, forced
| them to go to their homes, because he did
| not want to have them butchered in his
! yamen. He had not the reckless disregard
| for consequences which was shown by Iu
| HSien. the savage who ruled the adjoining
province of ShanSi.
Brutality Mnssacrcd.
June 80 the Boxer mob attacked the
ian missions The premises of both mis-
sions We're destroyed by fire. I do not
know how many Catholic missionaries were
slaughtered but Mr.. and Mrs. Simcox and
three children. DIR. and Mrs. Hodge and DR..
Taylor of the Presbyterian mission were
brutally massacred. All of the native con-
verts of both missions who could be found
shared the same fate. Mr. and Mrs. Sim
cox are said to have defended themselves
and their three little ones until they were
overpowered. They were then bound and
taken three miles away to the grave of a
Boxer. where they We're sacrificed. One of
the ladies unable to walk and she
carried Another of the ladies begged for
the life of her little girl offering her own
freely if this boon were granted her, but
her piteouS pleadingS and tears did not
move these fends incarnate, and the little
one was cut down before the mothers eyes.
DIR. Taylor was working with his patients
almost up to the hour of his execution. He
was beheaded, and on account of his we'll
known skill his head was placed in sacr-
flee before an idol in the temple. After the
mob had exterminated the Presbyterian and
Catholic missions, a heavy rain interrupted
the further prosecution of their hellish
work, but it was resumed the next day.
Mr.. P1tkin was shot on the terrace in front
of the chapel while defending the two la
dies of his mission. He was Immediately
beheaded. Mr.. Bagnall of the China inland
mission was killed near temple in the city.
The fate of Mr. Cooper of the same mis-
y
Bagnall and her child met their death. At
ter the decaptation of Mr.. Ptkin the two
ladies of the American board mission,
Misses Gould and Merrill We're seized and
taken to the Boxer Headquarters.
THE people of the United States should
know that the eleven men. women and chill
drer who were done to death in Pao-ting-f flu
could have been saved by the officials even
if they did not order the murder and they
should see to it that just and adequate
punishment IS inflicted upon the assassrs
and their accomplices, no matter what their
rank or position. 1t must not be forgotten
that 1t was in fleeing from this city and
within the Jurisdiction of the governor of
this province that the Luhan railway m
gIneers and their ladies We're murdered
The bodies of all We're horribly mutilat ed
whether before or after death is not known
An additional reason why cond!gn pun
lshment should be inflicted upon the per-
petrators OF these outrages, and that II
should be Inflicted at the scene of the
crimes. is tie fact that Pao-ting-fu and
vicinity are recognized to have been a CEN
ter of BOxerdom. and, if we except the
murder Of Mr.. Brooks in Shantung it was
in this province that the earliest outrages
occurred. OF the two earliest victims one
was horribly tortured and was only killed
when the monster in whose hands he was
learned that an expedition for his rescue
was being organized at Tien TsIn.
The Price of Friendship.
THE magistrate at klucheo was very
friendly with Mr.. Thompson, and he paid
the price for that friendship in the exter-
mtnation of his entire family. He, his
wife and children We're massacred and his
yamen destroyed. The tao-tai, the highest
official in the place. was very bitterly anti
foreign and he was doubtless wonderfully
well pleased to get order from his SUI
perior to exterminate the magistrates fam
| lily. He Immediately sent out emissaries to
assemble ruffians to seize and bring In all
the foreigners in the neighborhood. They
did so and took them to the tao-tai and
asked him what they We're to do with them
His answer was:
" Do with them what you like
They Were taken into the street and Mr.
Thompson was killed with spear thrust
and his wife and children were beheaded.
How Mr.. Ward, his wife, child and the
ladies, who all belonged to a different sta
ton, We're killed l am not informed but
the two ladies belonging to Mr.. Thomp-
sons station Were taken to temple, where
they We're kept for two days and two nights
and then killed by having bamboos forced
through their bodies till, in one case at
least. the stick came out of the mouth.
The awful experiences of Mr.. E. j. Coon
erS party of missionaries in escaping from
Pinsyao, Shansi province, are outlined as
follows:
The party consisted of Mr.. and Mrs
r. Saunders and four children; Mr.. A. Jen-
nings and Miss Guthrie from Pingyao. Mr.
and Mrs. F. j. Cooper and two children:
Miss Rice and Miss Huston, from Lucheng
and Mr.. and Mrs. A F. Glover and twn
! H.
ed by the friendly magistrate, June %, af-
ter he had received from Yu Hsien, the
notorious governor CT Shansi, orders to carry
out the Infamous edict of the 10Th of that
month, to kill all foreigners at sight, they
fled north toward Taiywenfu, the capital
of the province.
Warned by Native Christians.
IF they had reached the city not one of
them would have escaped, but fortunately
when only six miles from the place, they
met native Christian whom they knew,
| fleeing south. He implored them to turn
back, as the China Inland mission property
had been burned, the Roman Catholic
premises destroyed and the Protestant mis-
| sionaries had taken refuge in the COM
pc und of the Baptist mission, where they
We're surrounded by a mob that threatened
| to burn the building and its occupants
There was no alternative, but to turn
| back and retrace their weary way to Ping
| yao. Their escort Immediately deserted
| them. They had very little money, and
! exorbttant prices were demanded for every
| thing, even permission to pass along the
| public highway. They pawned or sold
| everything they could spare, and finally
| reached the city of Lucheng, safe, but
| stripped