New-York tribune., 1919-07-13
Presbyterian Church Here
Issues Report of Alleged
Hor~ars; Christians Were
Buried Alive by Japanese
Churches We're Destroyed
Scenes of Horror Described
i'm Statements Sent Past
the Censors in Toxic

terian Church in America. 1t Is the
result of Investigations by representa-
tiyes in Corea Of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States, following
the Imprisonment of some OF its mis-
sionaries by the Japanese author1taes.
The information from Corea was trans
mitted by such means that 1t escaped
the Japanese censors.
The lengthy report is described by
the Presbyterian Church in Its intro
duction to the presentment as follows:
"What is reported here can be dupli-
Gated in scores Of places in Corea, and
some Of the reports thus far received
are even more narrowing than the ones
we report. But as they have not been
definitely established by competent
witnesses we omit them, but confine
ourselves strictly to iecidents which
are known beyond a shadow OF doubt
to be true.
Christians Massacred
"Hundreds of Coreans who had pro
fessed Christianity are said to have
been driven by Japanese gendarmes at
the point Of bayonets into churches,
there to be fred upon through open
windows as they huddled in terror, and
later to perish in the flames as the
places of worship were put to the torch
were men. Surviving women and chill
dren were left in destitution.
"a. H. Underwood, a missionary liv-
ing in Seoul, was quoted in the "Tokio
Advertiser" Of April 20, 1918, according
to the report, regarding visit he made
to Pal Tan, market town near Buwon,
in Kyongki province. A fortnight be-
fore Japanese troops, he said he was
told, burned thirty-six Of the forty
houses in the village of Chayanmni,
two miles from Pal Tan, because the
derwood said he was told also that the
victims had not figured In any rioting
or shouted for Corean independence.
Pal Tan, he said he was informed, es-
capped both fire and sword "because
there were no Christians there"
Brutality Is Alleged
Preliminary police examinations Of
Coreans suspected Of completely in the
revolutionary movement are said In the
reports of the investigators to include
every human refinement in brutality"
men being beaten to death and women
subjected to nearly every possible form
Of shameful treatment. Milder punish
ment, it is said, included ninety blows
raned upon the prisoners body with
bamboo rod and the administering of
many boot kicks, at the end Of which
the victim, if he survived, was sent, al
most lifeless, to hospital.
One such victim, a slender, timid,
Christian youth, nineteen yeat, efd,
employed by shoemaker, was ar
rested with a wealthy Corean, both
charged with circulating The lnde-
pendent News" revolutionary pub
lication. The boy. it is said, was
tortured and hovered between life and
death in a hospital for more than
q month before he was sent to prison.
For six hours he had been "grilled"
by Japanese gendarmes, after which
the inquisitor applied "rings above
the youths elbows until the upper
body was greatly distorted (the usual
preparation for beating), whereupon
blows and kicks were administered
until the victim fell fainting to the
floor" He was revived at intervals
By cold water dashed upon his naked
body, and the punishment repeated.
Saw Victim at Hospital
The narrator of this alleged episode,
who says he afterward visited the
victim at the hospital. declares he
saw zone of the four wounds, each
five inches long, on the youths thigh,
which had been scared with a red-hot
ron" A wound In the abdomen, it is
by q bayonet. The victims hands
were swollen almost twice their
natural size.
Respectable women In one part od
Corea were not safe In their homee
during the day, the report continues
and 50 were forced to spend most Of
their time as refugees in the hills
returning to their homes at night. The
Japanese police designate all womer
who favor the independence Of thei,
land as gocial outcasts and denouncs
them in revolving terms. When ar
rested some of them, it is charged
were tortured.
The Chosen "Shimbun," Of March II
1919, Is quoted as saying: "The stir
ring up OF the minds Of the Corean
is the work of the American mission
aries. This uprising is their work
There are a good many shall
low-minded people among the mission
aries. They make tho minds Of tn
Coreans bad and plant the seeds o o
democracy"
In conclusion. after publishing wha
are alleged to be violently anti-Amer
lean articles from certain Japanes
newspapers. the report Of the Presby
terian Investigators says: "These art!
cles speak for themselves. The reade
can judge Of the attitude Of the pres
"Heu lHo SOveEumenC permits sue
stuff to be printed. As the press a,
ways is under the censor here, whe
such stuff is printed tho eovernmen
becomes morally responsible. Th
truth is prohibited. Falsehoods an
libels are allowed. Such a course q
action only endangexs tho relations Q
the governments concerned"
Through cable and mail dispatche
and otherwise many OF the occurrence
outlined In the Presbyterian report O
alleged Japanese atrocities in Core
and others similar to them have bee
made known to the American publ
at tho time of the disorders there. an
since then. The Japanese governmer
has recognized that excuses occurre
in Corea, Premier Hara on June
stating TO delegation from a Japar
ese political party that the report
published in the foreign press We,
true In part.
The Premier said the officers an
men concerned had been punished an
that steps werc being taken to pr,
vent repetition of the trouble
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