The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-02

Lao Hui.
Met Many Robbers.
Leaving Suitechou, the party, in
Guiding the missionaries, set out to-
ward Yennanfu. On the road they
met many parties of Ko Lao Hui arm
ed with every conceivable kind of
weapons, ancient, medieval and mod
ern. The robbers, seeing that the for
eigners we're well armed, offered no
resistance to their progress. One
night Mr. Palmer, the American mem
Der of the party, who was guarding
one of the palanquins, was left in the
rear some distance owing to a break.
down. His little party was accosted
by three armed men, who, however,
decamped on learning that Mr.. Palmer
was a foreigner and seeing his drawn
Irevolver ready for immediate use.
At Yennanfu they learned that the
missionaries there-Mr. and Mrs.
already left the city
and were travelling in the direction of
.Sianfu. By making forced marches
they overlook them two days south
of Yennanfu. Spare guns brought
from Taiyuanfu were given to the
missionaries so that the little fight
ling force was increased to twelve.
AS they approached the city of vi.
Iichuin they were surprised to see the
lefty walls rapidly manned by an an
CRY and menacing crowd or rufians.
,EIuge old fashioned cannon were point.
led at them in a menacing way. Mr..
Sowerby very pluckily rode forward
right under the muzzles of the hos
title rifles until he came within speak
ling distance. Having satisfied the in
habitants of the city that their err
rand was peaceful the whole party
was allowed to enter the city. All
of the cities through which they pass.
ed were either in the hands of rob
bers or were making preparations to
resist their attacks.
luOg OllNu SOW lO"o u AANtNo ANA .
up in wicker cages as a warning 20
disturbers of the peace. In the cities
which the robbers had not yet cap
tured the people were busy manufac-
turing spears and swords with which
to defend themselves. In some cities
the police had very few guns and had
to depend almost entirely upon
swords and pixies for their safety. II
the robbers attempted to scale the
city walls they simply piked them
down with their spears.
Amusing Experiences.
The party had many experiences
which would have been extremely
amusing had they not been more or
less dangerous. For example, at Yen
nanfu they asked the authorities to
give them an armed escort through
the dangerous country to the south,
The authorities said that their sol
diers were quite willing to escort
them, but were afraid to come back
alone.
When they approached the city OF
Lochu a large number of armed men
came toward them and began shoot
ing. 1t was some time before they
realized that the shooting was intend
ed as a salute. The people of the
city had heard that a large number
! of foreign soldiers were invading the
country and when Sowerby's party
approached they quite naturally drew
the conclusion that they were the ad'
vance guard. They had decided that
the best thing they could do was to
make themselves solid with the ad'
vance guard. At another city the
magistrates called upon them and
requested that the commandant of the
foreign soldiers" should keep his
men in during the night lest their
going out might brighten the people
At Peitung Christmas was celebrat
ed in a Chinese inn. Two of the party
were sent out to get a Christmas
tree. Having forgotten to bring a
knife, they shot at a tree with their
revolvers until it fell down. This
made a tremendous impression on the
natives, who naturally drew the con
clusion that the foreigners had so
much ammunition that they could at
ford to shoot trees down whenever
they needed any.
Arrival at sianfu.
Sianfu was reached on December
81 after twenty-three days OF actual
riding. The people in Sianfu had
been cut off from the outside world
for almost three months. Sowerbys
party found that many of the mission
aries there had set out for Hankow
with an escort of revolutionary sol
diers. They held many conferences
with the remaining missionaries in
order to induce them to leave. Most
OF them were anxious to leave, but
ware a fraid Of offending Mr. SharrOck