Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-06

| TOXIC, May 5 Correspondence OF
the Associated Press).-Thirty-h
Koreans were shot or killed with
| swords OF bayonets by japanese SOL
| diers in a Christian church building
| at Cheam-ni, forty miles from Seoul,
| in connection with the Korean lnoe-
! pendence movement.
This has been confirmed by an In
vestigation by British and American
consular agents and by missionary
leaders in Korea. The facts are ad-
| mitted by the Japanese autnoritless
at Seoul, including Governor General
Hasegawa The authorities say that
they deplore the outrage. that those
guilty Of it have been punl9hed ana
that orders have been given to pre-
vent recurrence.
investigators also have found that
soochung, another village near Cheain-
nj, was burned by the japanese and
that several Koreans there were
wounded in an attack by Japanese SOL
diers, who shot them or used their
! swords and bayonets on them as they
fed from their burning homes after
the troops had set fire to the build
ings.
Burning Of Christian Churches.
Reports have been received Of the
burning of Christian churches in
three other villages. and Koreans told
the AssociateG~Press correspondent at
Seoul that they could show him nine
villages which had been burned Oy
| the Japanese.
Details of the massacre at Cheam.n nj
were obtained by the Associated Press
| correspondent who visited that place
| in company with Raymond S. CurtiGe,
| the American vice consul at Seoul,
and Mr. Underwood, an American mis-
sionary. Subsequently the correspond
| emit again visited the place with Mr..
| Royds, the British consul, and sew
eral missionaries. including Rev. Her
| ron Smith, who Is in charge OF the
| work of the Methodist Church in
| Korea.
| Describing his visit to Cheam-ni,
the Seoul correspondent writes that
| when they asked residents of nearby
/ villages why that hamlet had been
burned they were told that it was
| because there was a Christian church
and many native Christians in the
village.
had been a village of about forty
houses we found only four or Ave
standing: all the rest were smoking
ruins" he continued. I'VE found a
body, frightfully burned and twisted,
lying in a compound. and another,
outside the church compound. Sew
eral groups of people were huddled
under little straw shelters on the
hillside with few of their pitiful be-
lodgings about them. They were
Mostly women, some old, others young
mothers with babies, but all sunk in
the dull apathy Of abject misery and
despair. Mr.. Underwood. an American
missionary. who talked to them in
their own language, brought the story
of what had happened.
Christians Herded Into Church.
"The day before we arrived. soldiers
came to the village and ordered all
| the male Christians to gather at the
1 church When about thirty were in
the church the soldiers opened fire on
/ them with, rifles, ind then entered the
! church and finished them off with
swords and bayonets.: After this they
set fire to the church and to houses
| which otherwise would not have been
burned"
/ One Korean told the correspondent
he was alive because he was not a
Christian and was not in the church.
Later, when the correspondent made
second trip to Cheam-ni with Mr..
Royds, the British consul, and party
of seven, including several mission
aries, he said, I'VE photographed free
" without interference, but when we
started to talk to the natives ponce
man would saunter up and the Korean
would freeze up They were In fear
Of what might happen later If they
were seen talking to US"
+ Women Victims Of Attack.
The party. however. divided up and
obtained many interviews conceyn.
\ ing the story, as the correspondent
4 learned it on his first visit. They
were told that two of those killed in
or near the church were women who
/ went to that building to learn what
was happening to their husbands:
party then visited soochun and found
the village had been burned. The
Koreans told the visitors. that they
were awakened in the night by find
ing their houses on fire. When they
ran out they were struck with swords
and bayoneted or shot. None were
killed, but several were wounded, and
| we saw one man whose arm had
been laid open with sword. A
church and thirty houses had been
burned here. but no attempt had
been made to clean up the others.
Rev. Stacy L. Roberts. an American
Presbyterian missionary, stationed at
Pyeng Yang. has issued a statement