The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-22

| NEW YORK, Aug. 21-Alfred Wander
burgh. of 1856 Fifth Avenue, has received a
letter from his brother, Dr. Ernest D. Van
derburgh. medical missionary of the
] Presbyterian Board, stationed at Nodoa.
in the province OF HaiHan, China, but now
a refugee in Hollow The letter has been
| long delayed in transmission, as it is dated
| from Nodoa on June 26. The writer de-
scribes the condition OF affairs existing n
/ Nodoa in the latter part of June and says
| that thievery among the Triads had for q
| long time, caused terror In that province.
The following is an extract from the let
ter: ~
We now have ten soldiers in our kitcl-
en- and ten in Mr.. Patterson's. Twenty
odd soldiers are in the school building.
Robber bands are looting more than ever.
Cows have been stolen all over the coun-
try. At one place near here a man and his
wife and all his workmefi were killed. At
another place the robbers took a man up
into the mountains and shot near his head
until he promised them $100. On his way
home he was ca Ight again. and this time
, they did not let him go until he gave them
$500. When he reached home he found
from his farm worth $50 each. Now they
threaten the lives of his family and him
self II he does not pay them more money.
He was Triad, too and had but recently
Joined the society and had taken all the
rites and initiation. The initiation con-
sists in getting down on the elbows and
knees and going that way for a mile. Then
they hit their heads with their hands and
do the devil pigeon and pay their fees.
Vol .,ba -
| strike in the hearts of natives, most OF
whom are peaceful citizens and not in nclined
to fight. They pay their money to theze
thieves night after night. and theI they are
robbed after all. Our Christians fear for
their lives Two families have sought
refuge in our hospital. Their buffalos are
en- our compound. More Chris
tians are coming here. The troubles in the
north are terrible. We are trembling for
fear the natives will get the news ana
threaten US worse than they have"
D. Willard Lyon. Secretary OF the Pskin
Y. NJ. C. A., in a letter from Seoul, dated
July 2. and received here by E. H. Dutton,
Foreign Secretary of the International
Committee of the Young Mems Christian
Associations, after describing his departure
with other refugees from Feitaiho. says
that looting began there as soon as the for
eigners left. The letter is in part as fol-
lows:
On Monday. June Z, We received word at
PeitaihO from the captain of the Humber
to be ready before night to go on board
ship. as it was considered unsafe for US to
remain any longer at Peitaiho On the
morning CT June s we weighed anchor.
About a. n, June Q. we arrived in Taku.
Thirty-three Americans CT our number
were transferred to the Nashville and
transported to Chefoo, where we arrived
In 70 har Va I'D =ad t.v
Consul Fowler to seek scme better place
of safety. We could not get any imme
date passage to Japan. In the mean
time We received a cable message from
Seoul Offering US a place Of refuge. This.
when combined with the expressed desire
Of the committee that l visit Korea,
seemed to US a provldential leading. Ac-
cordingly on June q, we secured deck
passage on a small freight steamer for
Chemuipo. We arrived at Chemulpo on
the evening of June IS. but We thought it
TOO late to attempt to go ashore.
''On Friday. the 29th, we came By rail |
to Seoul. We have been given very COM
Portable place to live in one OF the houses
belonging 70 the Presbyterian mission. We
feel very grateful, indeed. for the kind
provision that has been made for US. l. Is
our plan to remain here until time to re-
turn to Shanghai. 1 have a teacher with
me, so that aFa able to continue my Ian
guage study and my editorial work. In
the mean time l shall make ss thorough a
study as l can of the field here. We have
seen no mail for about four weeks
''All our personal effects, which were
stored in Fekin. we have 70 hope of ever
seeing again, They have doubtless been
destroyed. All that we have saved has
been the little that we took to the sea-
side for the summer. We left the best OF
everything at home in Pskin. AID OF what
we had at the seaside we were obliged to
leave behind provisions. dishes. and kitch-
en- utensils furniture and clothing. All CT
this has been destroyed without doubt. for
when the t.st party left Peitsiho they
saw the natives begin the looting of the
houses before they had weighed anchor"