The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1926-04-22
Spent Several Days In !.
Cellar While War RACES
Rev. Bly, and Family Have Thrilling
Experience in China-Wife Bel
grade Girl. =

Bombarded with machine guns,
threatened by. looting Chinese sol
diers, former Minneapolis man, his
wife and their five small children
lived for six days and nights of hor-
ror in a coal cellar in Sinyangchow,
China, and there baptised their five
weeks old baby, while the forces of
Marshal WI Pei Flu besieged the Ma
tional army.
This is the substance of the first
direct word received from Rev. BLY,,
educational secretary of the Norwe-
giam Lutheran Mission in China, and
whose wife was formerly Miss Minnie
Sabol of Belgrade.
Reports reaching Minneapolis six
weeks ago, that he had been made a
prisoner of the Kuominchun ma
tionalist army at Sinyangchow on a
charge of spying, later contradicted,
were shown to have some basis in
fact in this, his first message received
in America since his escape from
Sinyangchow.
With other missionaries of Siny-
angchow, Mr.. BLY, conducted peace
parleys between WI Pei Fu's forces
and the Kuominchun armies. When
negotiations fell through and the in
vading army attacked, members of
the peace commission were accused
sof treachery and nearly lost their
lives. -. -.
After trying to calm the frightened
Chinese by playing horse shoes, on
the day when the spring attack on
Sinyangchow opened, Mr.. Bly,, with
his family and another couple and
their small child, sought refuge in the
coal cellar beneath the Bly, home.
There they remained for six days and
nights, unable to take off their
clothes because of the cold; their food
running low, the children crying,
their nerves worn and shattered by
the unceasing bombardment which
kept up as fiiercely during the moon
light nights as during the days.
The national army soldiers looted
increasingly, stole freshly baked bread
from their kitchen, raided the house
day after day, carrying off clothes
and cooking utensils and pounded
the piano.
IuG COC1 CclldI III Wu1Cu we
sought refuge was about 10 by Ia
feet" Mr.. Bly, wrote. "There are
only two very small openings leading
to the outside, Through which suffi-
Gent light enters on bright days to
make it possible to move about with
out lamp or lantern During the day
time, we could keep these little win
dows open to admit the air we need
ed, but at night, when we lit a IAN
tern we had to cover up these open
ings to prevent the soldiers who were
continually passing by, from looking
into THE basement.
There, i'm cramped, dark, dirty
quarters, the Americans lived, con-
soling themselves with the Psalms of
David. There the 5-weeks-old Bly,
baby was baptised James Richard
the ceremony being conducted on a
stormy night of terror.
Bullets struck the house. The mis-
sionairies did not dare venture out
side. When they wanted something
from one of the rooms in the house,
they were forced DO crawl along the
floor, to be below the line of shots
coming through the windows.
every venture into the house or
out-of-doors was gamble with
DEATH" the man who could not leave
because of his small children, wrote.
After six days, the party sent
notes to the South Holman Union hos