Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-01-20

Of Japanese infantry SurrOundet
the main Christian villages of Nora
bawie and starting from the top O
the valley, set fire to the immens
stacks of unthreshed millet, barle,
and straw and then ordered the oc
cupants of the house outside. Il
each case as the father or sol
stepped forth, he was shot oil
sight, and he fell on his face, per
haps only half dead, great piles 0
| burning straw were thrown on tol
of him.
Il was shown the blood mark
on the ground caused by the bay
onet thrusts inflicted on the mei
as they stroVe to rise from thu
flames, in spite of the fact tina
they had been shot three times Il
| close range. The bodies were soOr
charred beyond recognition. The
| mothers, wives and children were
forced spectators of this treatment
of all the grown males of the viii
! lage. Houses were fired and soor
the whole country was full OF
smoke which was plainly visible
from this town. The japanese sol
| diers then spread out and burned
| the houses of Christian believers in
! other villages all the way down
| the valley to the main road. Then
they returned home to celebrate
the emperor's birthday
LAS we approached the nearby
villages we found only women and
| children and some white haired
men. The women with young ba-
bies on their backs were walking
up and down and wailing.
II photographed ruins of nine
teen buildings, among which were
old men tearing their hair and cry
ing while mothers and daughters
were recovering bodies or unburned
treasures from the burning ruins.
So many women were crying and
l was so angry at what | had seen
that | could not hold my camera
steady enough to take a time ex-
pOsure.
1--WE have names and accurate
reports of thirty-two villages where
murder and fire have been used
One village has had as many as
las inhabitants killed. Houses
have been burned with women and
children in them. At Sonuntung
fourteen were stood up in front of
a large grave, then shot and their
bodies destroyed with burning
wood and oil. This is typical"
The Rev. w. II. Foote, Canadian
Presbyterian missionary at Yong
jung, names several villages III
which the homes, schools OF
churches of Christian natives were
burned and says that in one OF
them twenty-five people were shot
and the bodies burned. Those cases
he declares are absolutely au.
thentic," the premises having beer
inspected by four missionaries and
q customs official.
Quoting Koreans as his author
ity, he says that % persons were
shot and seven burned to death in
their own houses at Cheng San;
that 80 were shot to death at Tn
Tong ia and that these were al
Christian villages.
THE soldiers and commanding
officer who go to these places" as.
serted Mr.. Foote, 'as a genera
thing have no conversation what
ever with the people, hat do theil
| diabolical deeds ana pass on. kI
| Sci Tong is the only place Whert
any reason was given to the peopl,
at all for the action. A Koreal
| accompanied the soldiers and toll
the people that the officer said h.
had evidence that the owner of tn
| house had collected money for Ko
rean patriotic purposes, If onl,
the offenders suffered, even tn
| Koreans would not seriously oh
| iect; but it is because the perfect
innocent and helpless are done t.
death without even an opportunit
to say a word in their own behal
that the injustice and hardship ap
pears"
Describing the action of the Jap
anese soldiers at Kan Chang, Rev
Mr.. Foote said that the young mel
of that village were "herded il
front of Korean house and with
out even a form of examination
shot down, rs in all. Then the bod
les were heaped together in two
| piles and covered with wood anC
burned While the fuel was beini
| placed on them some of the wound
ed still were able to rise, but were
| bayoneted to the ground and met
| their fate in the flames.
II know these people we'll" Mr.
Foote continued They live in an
out-of -the-way glen. The land Is
not fertile and firewood is scarce.
They were a quiet, hard working
people, who struggled hard to make
living Their church and school,
their bible and hymn books, their
Sunday worship, and above all,
their Saviour, were their joy. They
were not patriotic soldiers and dis
approved of the church taking part
in politics"
Miss Emma M. PalethOrpe, of
Ontario, a member of the Canadian
Presbyterian mission at Yongjung
tells in her statement of the eXecu-
cution of five men from the village
of Suchilgo who, she says, were led
by the Japanese soldiers to the top
of a hill about three miles from
Yongjung and then put to death.
"In the top o.. the HILL" she de-
clares, there is quite a large hol-
low not visible from the road or
village. The victims were made ia
sit at the bottom of this where they
were slashed at with swords. 1t
is reported by an eye witness that
two swords were broken and then
the awful work was finished with
bayonets. Then the loose earth
was pulled down from the sides OF
the hollow to cover the mutilated
bodies"
In answering inquiries at the
Japanese War Office. Lieutenant
Colonel Hata told the Associated
Press correspondent that the num-
Der of Japanese troops employed in
the Chiento affair was 5000, not
$1,000. Villages had been burned
he said, but only in cases where the
majority of inhabitants were known
to be in league with the outlaws.
Referring to the charge that an
organized attempt was made "tc
wipe out the whole Christian COM
munity." Colonel Hata said that 4