The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-07-12
JAPANESE ATROCITIES
IN KOREA ALLEGED
Hundreds of Koreans Who P.ofessed
Christianity Are Said to Have Been
Fired Upon and Then Burned
to Death in Their Churches.

-NtN Apih1 ohlN - n ltPOlL VI III
legged Japanese atrocities in Korea was
made public to-day at the headquarters
Of the Presbyterian church in America.
1t is result of Investigations by repre-
sentatives in Korea of the Presbyterian
church, following the imprisonment of
some of its missionaries by the japanese
authorities. The information from Korea
was transmitted by such means that it
escaped the Japanese censors.
Hundreds of Koreans who had pro-
fessed Christianity are said to have been
driven by Japanese gendarmes at the
point of bayonets into churches, there
to be fired upon as they huddled, in ter
ror, and later to perish in flames as the
places of worship were put to the torch.
Most OF these victims, it is narrated,
we're men. Surviving women and chill
dren were left in destitution.
H. II. Underwood, missionary living
in Seoul, was quoted in the Toxic Adver-
tiser of April 20, 1919, according to the
report, regarding visit he made to Pal
Tan, market town near Buwon. A
fortnight before, Japanese troops, he said
| HC was bOluj buIHNu % Vi Tue ~ HOUSES
in the village of Chayammni two miles
from Pal Tan, because the inhabitants
were Christians. Mr.. Underwood said he
was told also that the victims had not
figured in any rioting or shouted for
Korean independence. Pal Tan, he said
he was informed, escaped both fire and
sword because there were no Christians
there
Preliminary police examinations of
Koreans 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 shame and treatment.
Milder punishment, it is said, included
90 blows rained upon the prisoners body
with bamboo rod and many boot kicks,
at the end of which the victim, if he sur
vived, was sent almost lifeless to hos
pital.
One such victim, "a slender, timid,
Christian youth" 10 years old, employed
by a shoemaker, was arrested with a
wealthy Korean, both charged with cir
culating the Independent News, revo-
lutionary publication. The boy, it is
said, was tortured and hovered between
life and death in a hospital for more
than a month before he was sent to
prison. For six hours he had been
"grilled" by Japanese gendarmes, after
which the inquisitors applied rings
above the youths elbows until the up
per body was /greatly distorted 1.-THE
usual preparation for beatingl where
upon 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
The narrator Of this alleged episode,
who says be afterwards visited the vie
tim at the hospital, declares he saw zone
of four wounds, each five inches long, on
the youths thigh, which had been scared
with a red hot iron" A wound in the
abdomen, it is reported appeared to have
been made by bayonet. The victim 3
hands were swollen almost twice their
natural size. The prisoner told his bene-
factor that he pleaded with his tormen-
tors to kill him.
A signed statement by an American
resident in Korea, dated April %, 1919,
said that "the examination of women
who have been arrested for their activity
in the independence movement is the
most disgracefu and humiIiating pos.
|, sible. Korean and ChiDese women" he
added, have the same feelings of deli
cacy as Europeans, modesty not shared
Dy Japanese OF either sex"
He accuses the japanese of taking adj
vantage of this situation to increase the
distress of women prisoners forced to
undergo examination by the police and
says cultured and refined Korean women
were subjected to the grossest indignities
They were humiliated and exhibited to
the public gaze, he declares
Respectable women in one part of Ko-
rea were not safe in their homes during
the day, the report continues, and Sc
, were forced to spend most of their time
as REFUGEES in the hills, returning to
their homes at night. The Japanese po.
lice designated all women who favored
the independence Of their land as social
outcasts and denounced them in revolt
ing terms When arrested some of them
it is charged, were tortured, Ore such
case, which was citN, referred to q
/ Christian woman whose arm was said
to have been wrenched from the socket
by her prosecutors.
Towns where japanese soldiers are
, declared to have committed excesses and
burned churches and dwellings, are Such.
one and Tyungiu, in north Pengan prov.
! ince, and l3 other missionary centers
Protests against such acts were lodged
with the Japanese governor general by
an American vice consul and British
acting CONSUL one Of whom had visited a
ruined village The governor general ad'
mitted the offense, it is stated.
Testimony regarding one of these fires
: was quoted from Toxic newspaper. II
purported to describe scenes of ruin and
devastation Hundreds of families were
: said to be destitute. The Investigators
according to the report, were told by an
aged Korean survivor how all the Chris
? tians Of the village had been forced to
enter the church, the women being ex
cluded, whereupon the soldiers started 8
massacre, sparing only women and chill.
dren After the Is villages had been re
duced to ashes, the report goes on, q
number Of Korean and Japanese news
, papers attributed the incendiarism tc
some of the missionaries and their con
verts. Others accused the Shuntokyo, q
! semi-political, semi-religious organ.
The Chosen Shimbun of March IL
3 1910, is quoted as saying: "The stirring
up of the minds of the Koreans is the
2 work of the American missionaries. This
) uprising is their work. There
are good many shallow minded people