The evening times., 1900-09-22
MASSACRE OF The CHINESE.
Details af the Slaughter by Rus
SLAMS In Nnnchurfa.


| slams In Nnnchurfa.
NEW YORK, Sept 22--The Evening
| Post" Of yesterday contained account
| of the wholesale massacre of Chinese by
Russians at BIagovestchensk, written by
Prof G. Frederick Wright, Of the oberlin,
! Ohio, Theological Seminary who was er
roneously reported killed at Pekin. The
/ letter is dated at Stretensk, Siberia. Au-
| gust 8. and is as follows:
up to the 1st of July the relations be-
| tween the Russians and the Chinese
seemed mast cordial. The treaty which
| gave Port Arthur to Russia and permitted
| the building of the Chinese Eastern Rail
| way through Manchuria provided that the
! president of the road should be a China
/ man; that at the expiration of a hundred
| years the Chinese Government should be
| permitted to purchase it, and that the pro-
lection of the road should be jointly Sc
cured by Chius Sc and Russian troops. The
| flag of the company is a combination of
| the Chinese and the Russian.
| When passed through Manchuria along
| the line OF the railway in June. perfect
| harmony seemed to prevail. The guards
| sent along with us were part of the time
| Chinese and the other part Cossacks. The
| engineer constructing the road terminal
| ing the upper Sungari River spoke in
| special praise of his Chinese soldiers.
| Our Cossack guards always seemed on the
most cordial terms with the Chinese along
| the way, especially with the children. The
news which we brought of the disturb
| ances along the railway near Pekin and
| Tientsin caused no alarm, since these
| roads were controlled by English and
German companies, and 1t was thought
| that the opposition was chiefly against
| the English.
| Still there were some ominous signs. At
| Telling, near Mukden, the engineers, about
| the middle OF June, received a telegram
| from Pekin saying that no more laborers
could be procured on account of the reyo-
luton. At Quan- -Chent-se we learned that
! there was much feeling against the road.
! arising from the i'll treatment of the
| workmen, SO that for some time no Man
/ churidns had been willing to labor for
! the company. Many were prophesying
| that the road would never be completed.
| So far we could learn, however, the
! cause of complaint lay with the Chinese
| contractors and not with the company, ex-
| cept as they did not exercise sufficient
| control over these. The work of grading
| was let out to Chinese middlemen, who
| hired coolies, whom they squeezed and
| cheated to the extent of their ability,
/ which is second to that of no other people
| in the world. The coolies were all i'm
| ported from the vicinity OF Cheafoo and
I
| along the line when we were there.
| When we emerged from the region the
| last OF June no fears were entertained by
| the Russians at Harbin, a few days after,
| however, everything was changed. The
| families Of the engineers were compelled
| TO seek safety IN flight We found num-
| Der OF them in Blagoyestchensk a month
later awaiting opportunity TO ascend the
Amur TO find railway transit home. Troops
| in great haste were gathered from every
/ quarter and hurried TO Harbin for the pro-
/ lection OF the property. IN this effort
/ Blagovestchensk was left defenceless and
| was soon besieged by the Chinese. There
was general conscription OF horses all
| along the border with the mobilization
of all the troops and the seizure of all the
steamers on the river for their transpor-
tation.
Ina cad Of having escaped from danger
| in ascending the Amur we had run di-
| rectly into IL. The northern part of Man
| churia is mostly mountainous and sparsely
| inhabited. From the mouth of the Sun
| garf River 10 Blagovestchensk there are
| but few settlements on the Manchuriaa
side of the Amur. Above that city :or five
| hundred miles, the Chinese settlements
are equally scarce. But the valley of the
| NoDyi extends from the centre of Man
churia we'll up to the vicinity of BIago-
! vestchensk, and is thickiy studded with
| villages. This line of settlements is con-
| tinued to the AmuT and through IL the
Chinese in large numbers had overfowed
into the valley of that river, not only
! settling on the Manchurian side but liv-
ing IN great numbers in peaceful relations
with the Cossacks on the Russian side.
4 fort was built by the Chinese many
years ago at Aygun. about twelve miles
below. To 8 great extent the Russians
were dependent on the Chinese for labor
in the mines up the Zeya River, and for
their supply of vegetables which the Chi
nese are especially successful in raising
That the Russians should have been so
obiiyious to The danger from an attack at
this point is one of the most striking evil
dences of the coTdialtty OF relations sup
| posed TO exist between the countries.
But in the twinkling OF an eye all this
was changed. As soon as the Russian
troops went down the river on transports
July IA the fort al Agyun began, without
warning to fire upon passing steamboats,
and the 18th fire was opened upon
/ Blagoyestehensk, and some Russian vii
lagos were burned opposite the fort The
actual injury inflicted by the Chinese was
/ slight, but the terror caused by it was
| indescribable. and it drove the Cossacks
into a frenzy of rage. The peaeeable Chi
I nese. to the number OF 5000 or 4000 in
the city were expelled in great haste, and
being forced upon RATS entirely inadequate
were most of them drowned in attempting
, | to cross the river The stream was fairly
/ black with their bodies. Three days after
We counted hundreds of them in the water
In our ride through the country TO reach
the citLr on Thursday the 18th We saw as
many thirty villages and hamlets of
the Chinese il flames One of them a
city of 5000 or 10000 inhabitants. We es-
timatsd that We saw the dwellings of 20 geo
peaceabIe Chinese in flames that awful day,
while parties of Cossacks were securing
| the fields to find Chinese and shooting
them down a sight. What became of the
women and children no one knew; but
| there was apparently way for them to
escape to a place of safety. On our way
up the river for 500 miles above the city
every Chinese hamlet was a charred mass
OF ruins. The large village of Motcha was
still smoking and we were told that 4 600
Chinese had been killed.
I'VE do not mention these facts to excite
prejudice against the Russian authorities
or against the Cossacks. The wholesale
destruction, both of property and of life
| was thought TO be military necessity.
The wives and children of the Cossacks
were in terror I shall never forget the
night spent in one of these villages a few
miles below Aygun, three or four DAYS
after hostflities began. Every household
was packed up in carts and removed in
the middle OF the night to the prairies in
the interior. The guards were insufficient
and the only way, as they thought, to pro-
tect their own families was to strike ter
ror into the hearts of all the Chinese. And
SO the work of destruction has gone on