Weekly News. — 1891-10-15 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

THE RIOTS AT ICHANO.  Mail advicss have just been received at San Francisco giving details of the anti-foreign riots which occurred at the river port of Ichang, on the Fangtse-Kiang. A despatch from Hankow states that the steamer Paohua has arrived there with the Ichang refugees. They number 20 in all, and had lost everything except the clothes which they wore at the beginning of the outbreak. Several also bore marks of serious violence. The riot occurred in broad noonday, without either warning or provocation. It was carried out by a handful of men, who were evidently acting under orders, in the very presence of a number of Chinese officials to whom every one of the rioters was known. The work of destruction was p Wormed with the utmost speed. A crowd collected, and a rush was made for the house belonging to the American Episcopal Mission. The gate having been smashed, a man, who was leading the mob, cried out "Slay the foreigiyrs," and the rioters came on with a rush towards the building. One aimed a murderous blow with a knife at Mr. Sowerby. The latter, however, disarmed his assailant and, avoiding another thrust, ran for his life to the Consulate, vi hence he was transferred to the Paohua. The American mission house was then set on fire, and the Yamen and soldiers fell back, neither the civil nor military mandarins making any effort to protect property. The Roman Catholic convent was next fired. The sisters, seven in number, barely escaped to the river, some, indeed, being thrown headlong down Vie steep bank by the soldiers. They were taken by boat on board the Paohua, the mob on the bank throwing stones and other missiles, whereby several of the sisters were badly injured. It is hared that a number of children who were in the convent were barned to death. Several other buildings, however, were burned, while Mr. Rockburn's house was ruined, and the new British Consulate in cJurse of construction was torn down. Pursuing their career of violence unchecked, the mob marched through the town looting right and left. Although no one was killed, several attempts were made to murder the foreign residents a::d those who sympathised with them, and threats w:re frequent. At the old Consulate the foreigners kept the rioters back at the bayonet point. The leaders of the mob carried gunpowder and kerosene with which to fire the buildings. Many of the rioters were soldiers who had taken off their uniforms and disguised themselves as civilians. During the whole time of the disturbances, the mandarins present made no attempt whatever to prevent people from carrying away plunder. The Seotch missionaries owed their ecsape to the fact that they had gone boating up the river at the time of the outbreak. They hurried back on hearing the news, and had just time to rescue the senior missionaries and the children when the mob arrived. As in former cases, the telegraph clerks decined to send any telegrams concerning the riot. On the day of the riot itself and on the following day all foreign messages were refused. It was only after the third day, when all possible damage had been done, that the military mounted guard over the blackened ruins.  The Noeth China Daily News says that there are points about the Ichang riot of serious importance, inasmuch as it was in no sense the work of the mob. There was indeed a pretext in the shape of a child which was said to have been kidnapped on the day of the riot, but this was evidently merely a subterfuge in order to give same shadow of excuse for the outbreak. The evidences, says the journal, that the riot was directed and carried out by soldiers are only too numerous. There were, moreover, people in authority who restrained the outbreak in certain directions and fostered it in others. The paper sums up as follows: "The situation is very critical, and the only solution is for a foreign force to overawe the Hunan soldiers with the tacit connivance of the Chinese Government. There can be no security for foreign life or property in China unless the rebellious Hunanese are suppressed by force."  In Hankow itself things were stirring again on the day previous to the latest despatch, when it was known that a gathering was held of the antiforeign element in the town. inc uding a large number of magistrates and officials. They resolved that all foreigners must be driven immediately from the central provinces. The Christian missions at Wuchang have received menacing placards ordering them to leave at once on pain of extermination.