Evening star., 1916-10-21
BANDIT PROTECTS !.
TW0M|SS|0NAR|ES
! J.
seyenth-Day Adventists in
China Twice Rescued From
PeriIous Position.
THEIR LIVES THREATENED


THEIR LIVES Threatened
How a friendly robber chief, with
two great pistols stuck In his belt
helped Seventh Day Adventist mis-
sionaries In China during robber re-
bellions last spring is told in letters
received here from Frederick Lee and
DR.. A. C. Selmon.
The robber chief was villainous
looking fellow. but acted very decent
ly to the two missionaries. and gave
them his calling card" which came in
mighty handy when they wanted to
secure admittance to a great. walled
city. The city walls were fifty feet
high and the city gate had been, bar
red. but the missionaries pushed the
chiefs card through a crevice and were
admitted.
The death of White Wolf, the noted
Chinese bandit, has failed to put an
end to the depredations of the robbers
the letters state, and in recent months
thousands of them have been murder
ing and stealing in the villages and
cities of Shensi province. Mr.. Lee,
who went to China from this city. and
sion station at Yen Cheng. Honan. OF
which Mr.. Lee is director, into the
Shensf~ province. 'f
Held Up Five Times.
The members Of the party were held
up five times in succession by bands
Of robbers before they escaped. Mr. Leo
was obliged to look for twenty min
utes down a rifle barrel in the hands of
an angry Chinese bandit, and to take a
vehement Chinese cursing. =
Tung-kuan, q city on the Yellow river
Shensi. Shansi and Honan. was being
attacked just as the missionaries
reached the place. 1t was while hold
ing evangsiistic meetings in Gospel
heard firing of guns in village seven
miles away, andeIearned that two bands
Of soldiers were fighting within the
city, one band having mutinied.' Mr..
ssThe. mutinous band and its. oficers
were all originally brigands. Their
chief desired Shensf to proclaim her I'm
dependence Of Yuan Shi Kaf. together
with the southern provinces. But as
the governor general would not do this.
loyal soldiers and began siaughtering
them At the same time they captured
the son Of the governor general, who
was an officer Of the loyal troops. This
they did in order to force the generals
hand"
Reports Of Brgand Raids.
AS the missionaries returned from
Gospel Village. they heard that all
cities to the west had been captured
by the brigands, and that about 10000
Of them were marching upon Singan.
These bandits belong to a secret So
ciety, such as the Boxers. During the
revolution Of 1911, six foreigners in
Singan were killed by members of this
society.
TO-" says DR.. Selmon, and got along
very uneventfully until we reached a
place Just twelve miles to the west sof
Tungkuan. Here we met a band Of
twenty-five mounted bandits. They
stopped US and demanded that we give
them any guns and ammunition we
had. There were five cut-throats sur
rounding our car, and all were armed
with rifles and long knives. We insist
ed that we were missionaries. and had
eigners employed by the Yuan army
to oversee the artillery. They rum
mayed through all Of our goods. and
finding no arms they let US OF and
told US to drive on. We picked up our.
stun that they had scattered about and
roped it on the cart. feeling sincerely
thankful.
I'VE proceeded on our way east for
another ten II, and another band of
armed robbers held US up. This band
lows than the nrst ones we met. They
stopped the cart. and one of them lev
eled his rife on Mr.. Lee and myself
and made US get down out of the cart
and stand to one side. and he vowed
he would put hole through both Of
robber searched each of us and took
our watches; then one man got in
the cart and began emptyfng out our
goods and taking everything that was
meantime standing out in the road. and
the man covering US with his rife re-
viled US to everything he could think
Of, and every now then would bring
his rifle up to shoot.
Uses Club to Hasten Reply.
"one of them. upon asking me II we
had any silver, and not getting my
reply as quickly rs he desired, jumped
down from the cart and struck me a
couple of blows with a large club he
was carrying. s.
Finally another squad Of armed
bandits came up and Joined the ones
who were robbing us. They consulted
az to whether to shoot US or not. and
inaily decided to make us go back to.
the west for mile or two and turn
US over to the robber chief. who was
coming along In a mule cart.
zone Of the mounted bandits covered
us with his rife and made US march
along ahead Of him. It was just about
AFTER going about mile we came
up to whore the robber chief and his
var We addressed him In the politsst
chinese we could command. and he
told US to Clint Climb .na n ~ e1r climbed ed
the cart Of the robber chiefs aid. The
chief was a tough specimen. blind In
one eve, with two big army pistols
stuck in his belt. and surrounded. by
as typical set Of roughnecka as you
could dnd pictured in any wild west
novel. He said he would protect ,is,
The chief gave me his name card with
AAAA A. .xAI