Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-14
they feared that all Chinese might become
he vassa,s Of the French
Massacre Narrowly Averted.

DIR. Masters and several other mission
aries" said DR.. Johnson, were living on
the outskirts Of Canton. The foreigners
were warned by the officials in Canton to
| refrain from participation m the public as
semblages and to keep indoors as much as
possible. Every night red paper placards
containing Chinese denunciations OF for
elgners were secretly posted about the city.
The placards became more hostile to the
foreigners. and one night a mob of $4,000
people rose in Canton. Fortunately the gov
eminent had quietly provided an extra
| guard for such an occasion. or the slaugh-
ter of hundreds of white people would have
| followed. AS it was. about forty French
and sixteen people of English. German,
American and other nationalities were
killed.
| ''Out where Dr. Masters and other Amer
leans lived about 200 Chinese started to Kill
the missionaries and tear down their head
quarters. The crowd got together in a pub
| lice square. and every one was armed with
some sort of a murderous weapon. Inflam-
| matory speeches were made, and amid the
| yells of death to the foreign devils!' and
slash the rich to pieces the excited crowd
| went running up the crooked street toward
the homes of some of the very rich Chi
nese merchants and some of the Christian
missions. A guard of some forty men,
| hastily placed there by the government
| was beaten and cut down by the maddened
men. who were armed with knives fastened
| to poles Two guards were killed outright
and several were dreadfully wounded
1
| and burst open the heavy gates in the high
brick walls which surrounded the homes
of rich mandarins. who had prospered by
| trading with the foreigners in Canton. In
| a few minutes sixteen of the most costly
residences in that part of Canton were In
| flames
| City in Tumult.
! THE mob increased and the whole city
| was in a tumult DR. Masters and his as
sociates heard the mob as it approached
| mic
the river, where they might escape in the
boats. While the Infatuated crowd was
| hacking people to death and smashing
| things in the mandarins' houses: and while
| the flames were shooting up toward heaven.
| DR.. Masters and his family expected that
| at any moment the Chinese would surge in
| upon them. They were absolutely without
| protection. To attempt to fee would have
been the height Of madness: All at once a
| Chinese Christian. man of means and in
| fuence In the neighborhood, ran into DR..
| Masters rooms.
Telling those present to come with him
quickly, he at the same time pushed the
| missionary before him into dark passage
! Then, while the flames from the burning
| homes lighted up the evening sky. the mis-
| sfonary and all his household were SNUG
| gled over a dozen walls and through dark
| passageways into a little cellar beneath a
| friendly Chinaman's house. The mission
| party had not moment to spare. for the
| refugees had not secreted themselves be-
| fore the mob burst into the deserted mis-
| sion
For two days and nights DR.. Masters
| and his companions lay hidden in the Gel
| lar. Only once could food be given them
| A dozen Christian Chinese stood about the
| spot, and artfuly threw the mob off the
| scent. Many times it seemed If the in
| furiated Chinese would find the Americans
| but each time something interviewed to
| save them. All the houses in the locality
| of the missionary concessions were search
! ed over and over. Some were burned On
| the morning following the outbreak the
| viceroy of Canton sent troop of SOL
| diers to protect the foreign concessions
| but the soldiers were in sympathy with
| the mob. and besides the appearance of
| troops only stirred the people to fresh acts
| of violence.
The Ruin Wrought.
| 1.-The mission was wrecked. Manuscripts
| and books which had cost years of study
were heaped in the street and burned
| Finally the mob was made to believe that
the foreigners had escaped. In the mid
| die Of the night, the missionaries were pro-
| vided with native garb and steathiIy
| brought up from the cellar where they
had lain in hiding. Surrounded artfully
| by Christian natives the Americans were
| conducted to the water front, where, under
| the protection of soldiers, they crept aboard
| boat and Were safe in Hong Kong by the
| next
| But the shock of the horrible suspense
| experienced by the missionary party had
| its effect. 1t was months before DIR. Mas
tiers himself again. One of the party
| Mr.. Allen, Baptist, not yet twenty-seven
years old, died few months later of ner-
| vous prostration.
| Hundreds of narratives are told in China
| of the bravery of missionaries in defense
| of prosecuted natives who have embraced
| our faith The government has. on the
| whole, treated the foreigners in China well.
/ The mobS have been repressed, and the in
| citers of riots against the missionaries
| have been put to death. But China lis so
stepped in superstition. and has been a
| hermit nation for so many centuries, that
| 1t seems almost hopeless that Christian
| missionaries there can have any personal
safety in this generation.
Bfgoted Class.
1.-The mandarins, especially those of in
| terror China, are the most bigoted class
| any missionary ever came in contact with.
| OF course, they are influential wherever
| they live They have an innate hostility
| to foreign civilization. They incite the poor
to violence and lawlessness. and while os-
tensibly they seem to deprecate the perse-
cutions, they inf1ame the lower classes
with stories of revolving atrocities COM
| mitted on Chinese peasants by the foreign
ers. For instance. we have been accused
of KIDNAPPING children and cutting out
their eyes. hearts and brains for material
with which to concoct our medicines. Peo-
pie have been assassinated. and their bodies
secretly thrown within the missionary con-
cessions in order to give the idea that we
were the murderers
Northern China has been the scene of
the greatest heroism in the empire. Dur
ing the year 1873 between thirty and forty
European and American missionaries were
killed there. The imperial government did
what 1t could in its clumsy, lethargic way
to punish the murderers.
The Murders Committed.
"In July and August, 1898. several mobs
arose against foreigners in Chen-Tsu, Sue
Chuen, Isl Kwong. Foochow and other
cities in Northern China, and twenty Chi
nese Christians were killed At Hung Hsu |
In the fall of 1895, mob killed seven ma
tive converts, sacked the English mission !
and slashed to death several men and wo- |
men missionaries. A few weeks later an
hear the whistle of the brown thrush he |
hides in the leaves above.
When there no visitors at the White |
House, and the President is free from the |
ha, llxyd I'll txr-i+t,