Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-06-19

! They are now made UP of the dissatis-
| oed of all sorts Many of them are
| az soldiers of the Korean army, which
| was disbnnded by the Japanese q tine
/: time when they deposcd the old en-
I peror and put his son IN his place. me!
| have no money, and live on the VII
| lagos. This fact puts the peace lowing
! E.orea, between the devil and the deep.
| sea. When Il bard Of rebels comes TO
hin, and demands money or food he re-
plies that he dare not give IT. for the
Japanese soldiers will shoot him as soon
as they learn he has helped the insur-s
gents. Thercupon the rebels reply:
"Well IL you don't give us What we
want we will kill you right nov 4 YOU
give up. you haze Mt any.rate the
chance of living - day or 50 longer
otherwise YOU Will dtA." The rebels
mean what they sny, and theSilagers
know IL They give, and intrnany cases
are actually slaughtered by thc Jap1-s
nesc soldiers for giving. Indeed ! am
told that many of the Eo-eaifed lpstir-
gents whose deaths are reIs2rted IN
the newspapers are members OF Wiz
lagos who have thus forciblyabesn made
10 harbor Insurgents.
THE SOLDIERS AND THE CHRIS
TIANS.
The soldiers are instructed to put
down the insurgents. and they have
trouble In finding out who the inslir-
gents arc. Tho native Christians arc
generally neutral. but the soldiers sus-N
apect them. Not long ago they sur
rounded d church far off in the interior,
where 300 people were worshiping. The
officer instructed the pastorSto go on
With his devotions. but as soon as.
church was over he corrallcdtthe meni-
bars as they came out and asked their
names AS he did so he looked over
list of the suspects In the neiShborlood
and checked the names Off. At the
close he let them all so. He said these
people are all Christians and must not
be molestcd.
Another church was less mercifully
treated. the soldiers stopping the con-
gregaton and tearing up the hymn
books What provocation they had l
do not know.
From a large army like this,iscattered
iii small bands over the country. away
from their officers, there are bound to
be oiltrages now and then. one small
officer. for instance upon being told
not to tie his horse in the fchurchyard
because it would eat the trees, cursed
the sexton and cut him over the head
with his sword This was reported by
the missionaries and the man was de-
graded
/ have met foreigners who have
claimed that they We're badly treated by
soldiers by whom they We're stopped
when travelling over the country. One
such case WAS that of Mr.. "A !; r. Wei
gall, an Australian mining engineer.
who had his wife With him. The sol
diers lnsulted the latter and Weigall
narrowly escaped being shot. The treat
ment of Mrs. Weigall was barbarous.
The japanese excuse this, however, by
saving that Weigall refused to give in
tormat alton about himself to the soldiers.
When they asked him how old he was
he said, "One hundred and ten, and
he claimed that his name was King
the Sixth and that he lived in
palace. Similar answers
given to company of our troops in the
would not lead to good treat
ment. although none of them would
commit the barbarity and indecencies
performed by this Japanese squad.
KOREANS AGAINST KOREANS.
1t is also claimed that a great deal
OF the fighting is IL matter of private
between. the Koreans. There
are no end of feuds among these peo-
pie, and the average native will do
anything to bring about the death OF
those against whom he has a personal
The Japanese do not under
stand the Korean language. and they
have to rely upon the natives. as spies
and Interpreters. Such men point out
those whom they hate as insurgents
and as a result have them killed. nlla
Japanese have taken many-of the old
Korean soldiers into their police force
and are using them as gems d'armes
the country. Such Koreans
are much more cruel than the Japanese
themselves and they are believed to be
responsible for large proportion of at
tacks upon the so-called insurgents.
THE COUNTRY UNSAFE.
With conditions like these. the coun-
try is unsafe for foreigners when
travelling without some kind of protec-
ton. The Korean people believe in the
and the rebels respect
them, but many of the bands are ig-
nolant to an extreme and alta distance
they cannot tell the difference between
a japanese and a European. Many