The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-09-07


 found him out. He was shown into the room where the assistant magis- trate was examining a woman wit ness connected with the murder case.
 ''The assistant magistrate was an- gered because the missionary came in and cursed him out and as he turned
 to go the Chinese soldiers forcibly elected him from the building. The matter came to my ears, but as it was a British missionary I could of course stake no official notice of it. How
 ever, I telegraphed the British Con- su1 about it and offered to take the matter up unofficia1ly for him. "He was glad to have me do so. I went to see the magistrate and told him about the actions of his assistant and brought all the pressure I could to bear on him. The result was that the assistant, much against his will was obliged to go and apologize to the missionary. This incident not only shows the sort of thing we do | for the missionaries but also shows the friendly manner in which the con suls from different nations work to- gether.'
 During revolutionary times small l chapels of the missionaries in out of | the way places are frequently broken | into and robbed and sometimes they | are burned. When these things hap l pen it falls to the consuIS to take the
 matter up with the native authorities | and secure damages and the punish 1 ment of the criminals. I have been 1 able to secure as much as S200 in 1 damages. In the way of punishment.
 If the offender is an officer, he i7 re- | duced in rank and made to ;-polo- | gize. Common soldiers are Sent to prison and brigands are summarily
 shot"
 AS an example of how the con
 suls protect the individual the case | of a Standard oil man will do as well ] as any although it is an extreme 1 case.
 "It is very seldom that a foreigner
 in China ever receives any bodily in 1 jury.
 This man was going up the rive- 1 from Suifu to Chengtu with several
 boat-loads of oil. It is a hilly region
 and infested with brigands. He had
 not gone far when he was stopped by | a band of them. He went ashore and gave them a few presents. They | seemed good natured and allowed | him to go, on. A little farther up
 the river he was stopped by another band. He went ashore to show he
 was foreigner and give them a pres ent-
 1 'NThey seized and bound him and told him they had learned he had a | hunred pounds of opium on board and
 much silver, and demanded that he give them up. When he denied hav- ing it they beat him with bamboo
 poles.
 ''They were not satisfied with his offer to let them search the boats but
 took him to the edge of a precfpice some hundred or more feet high bound him hand and foot and told him that unless he informed them
 where the opium was, inside of three
 minutes they would push him off the edge. Of course he could do nothing
 but deny having it. They did not
 push him off burt searched the boats
 Not finding it they put the mar , bound on board and started up the
 river.
 After a while the man saw a mis. sionary coming down the river in z
 small boat and managed to struggle up where he could show himself an6 shouted. The missionary started to. l ward him but was fired on by the brigands. He turned then and hur-
 ried down the river and reported the
 matter to the first officials he could get in touch with. I was notified o the matter by wire. There was onl. one thing I could do. I telegraphet the Military Governor at Chengtu, anc ] the General at Suifu. Troops were sent out from both places. The Bri gandS in some way heard of it ant released the Standard oil man ant l made their escape in a small boat They had sold some of the oil and O f course took the proceeds with them f This incident occurred in the summe l of 1918 and I demanded damages O
 s5,oOo but the case has dragged along and is not settled yet 5 There is a great deal of clerica t work which has to be taken care O ? in the consulate of which the averag
 American back nere in Americ; l never dreams. For instance ever. l American as soon alS he reaches Chin; t district He must re-regiSter once : year as long as he stays in Chin