October 10 1895.
MORE EFFECTS OF THE HWA- SANG MASSACRE.
The Rev. Dr. Whitney writes to the Foochow Echo -
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
considered early to see yamen runners they con- sidered the coming of these two as a mere farce, being only the second day, and they would not pay any attention to them.
But the next day when five hunners, the ma- gistrate's deputy, and some soldiers appeared, they began to think it was a serious matter and the whole village was in terror.
It cost them about forty dollars to settle it. The young man signed an agreement never to make any more trouble and acknowledged his wrong to the preacher, and the others im plicated with him let off firecrackers in public acknowledgment of wrong. The deputy then made the village elder and a literary graduate of the first degree responsible for the peace and safety of the village.
At such a time as this it is well to gather up all the occurrences that are in any way related to the almost unprecedented murderous barbarity that has ever happened to foreigners in this so-called civilized country. At the village of Peach-hollow (Kang-To), about eight miles south of Pagoda Anchorage, owing to some deaths from cholera, the idolaters decided they must hold some feasts to the idols to appease their wrath. It was also decided that the landlord, whose central hall we furnish and have the privilege of holding services in, should hold a feast there.enable these less familiar with those things to I have given the above case more in detail to
get a better insight into the beginnings and gradual outcropping of so many of these Chi- nese troubles..
The preacher, after trying to dissuade them from it, as it was not an honourable thing to do under the circumstances, finally yielded. As it would not do to allow anything that savoured of a Christian look to remain in the hall they wanted to remove the furniture for the time be- ing and replace it after they were through feast ing. The removal was made all right, but after the feasting was over they did not replace the furniture, etc. So the preacher, as the owner was away, spoke to the woman and said that the things ought to be replaced so that he could use the hall again. But as they did not do it the preacher and some of the Church members eventually did it themselves. It so happened that when the preacher spoke to the woman of the house about having the things put back in place, the owner's grandson. a young man about 28 years old, overheard it, and, while there was nothing improper about it, he took occasion to make a point of it, so in a day or two after he came to the preacher's school and began to revile him and curse the Christians. After he had finished, the preacher told him his language had been exceedingly vile, that there was not the slightest cause for it, and that such treatment could not be allowed. Not long after he came again and continued his abuse and finally threatened to tear the building down and kill him and some of the other Christians. He was told that such treatment" could not be put up with and unless he retracted what he had said he should have to take it to the officer. This enraged him all the more. He said the foreigners had been killed at Hwasang and nothing had been done about it, and that the native Christians could be killed and their pro- perty taken and that would be the end of it. He told the preacher if he dared to go to the officer with it that he would come and kill him as soon as he saw the "runners" coming. But the preacher went to the officer, four miles away, all the same and reported to him the threats and conduct of this young man and he promise to send "runners" over that night but as it was too late to go so far they did not go, and the preacher returned home after dark only to find that the young man, having suspected. he had gone to see the officer, had been grinding up some knives, and had influenced eight or ten others to help him, so he was ready against the appearance of the "runners."
To show he was in earnest he got a pamelo and stabbed it to show with what ease he could kill him. The Chinese have a saying to the effect that they can stab and kill as easily as puncture a pumelo. Of course the preacher did not sleep at all that night but started before daylight and came over again to Tiong-loh city to report to the magistrate the further develop- ments and the serious aspect of things and then came on to Pagoda Anchorage to report to me and get my advice. I found this young man put no value on his own life and would just as soon kill other people as not, and hence was a danger- ous character. I wrote a strong letter to the magistracte telling him first that foreigners put great value on human life and did everything to protect it; that a man like that at Peach-hollow should be immediately punished to prevent others following his example, and then asked him to send at once to Peach hollow and protect both life and property and secure a guarantee of future safety; that if this was not accomplished I should at once take the matter to the American Consul
To my surprise he sent two runners that morn- ing to Peach-hollow to examine into the case. But as three days after any trouble arises is
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The great danger almost always in delay. The Chinese seldom investigate and settle any trouble promptly, unless driven to it or when they can make more money by so doing.
If I had not taken immediate steps to stop this plot, in a week's time probably two men at least would have been killed and other dam- age done and the Consul would have had another case to try his patience with the Chinese officials. It is common talk among the Chinese in these parts that foreigners can be killed and settled for at about $4,000 a head; that England is poor and is glad to get the money! that native Christians can be got rid of much easier.
As to where the blame lies for such talk as this we have not far to seek. When the root of the tree is decayed, what else can we look for in the branches. It is well for us as foreigners that these riots and massacres do not index the condition of the masses, the trunk, but only the condition of the roots, of the Government, and the sympathetic branches, the vagabond class. :
There is probably no more cowardly race of people than the Chinese and as a natural conse- quence whenever they have the advantage they commit most inhuman deeds of cruelty. And as long as a certain class have the backing and encouragement of their superiors and rulers these tragedies will continue to occur.
The war with Japan has greatly demoralized this people, disaffected parties are coming to the front, plots and schemes of various kinds are in the air, and deeds of violence and cruelty will be thought lightly of if considered necessary to the accomplishment of desired ends. With this condition of things confronting us foreigners will stand a very slim chance unless foreign powers pursue a firm course with this weak, vacillating, and unprincipled Government.
IMPROPER DISCLOSURE OF TELE.
GRAMS AT SHANGHAI,
Shanghai, 3rd October.
A very unpleasant affair, the first of its kind, has just occurred in the Great Northern Tele- graph Company's office here. A clerk employed in a firm here, X & Co., went to a leading Gorman firm and informed then that a clerk in the Great Northern Telegraph Co.'s office had for some time been selling to X & Co, copies of private telegrams from home addressed to firms here haring commercial or financial dealings with Chinese officials. The German firm communicated at once with the Great Northern Co., and the information was found to be accurate. The telegraph clerk inculpated was at once suspended, and the matter is likely to come shortly before one or more of the Consular Courts in Shanghai.-C. Daily News. This morning in the Danish Consulate there was heard a case of a "nature we are glad to say is unprecedented in the annals of the port. One of the clerks of the Great Northern Tele- graphi Company was charged with criminally disclosing the contents of certain telegrams re- lating to negotiations proceeding for certain Government loans. The investigation seemed, however, to rebut any case of criminal action, though it appeared that inadvertently the ac- cused had made certain disclosures, advantage of which had been taken by a foreign firm in the place. Up to this moment no suspicion of any want of care in the management of the Great Northern Telegraph Co. has come to
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hand, and we are therefore glad to believe the case is an isolated one. The inanager of the Company at once dismissed the clerk, who acknowledged that he had been led into the disclosure, but denied having received any valuable consideration whatever, a statement apparently supported by the evidence in the case.- -Mercury.
The investigation took place to-day in the Danish Consulate, before Mr. Carl Book, andy not one word of evidence pointing to the clerk having received the slightest advantage, pecuniary or otherwise, from his indiscretion in speaking of telegrams that passed through his hands, was adduced. At most it was shown conclusively that he had been too free with his tongue. The unfortunate clerk's exposure little Polish Jew, who is the work of a rovengeful, contemptible in spite upon the firm, which recently discharged him, and out of malice against the telegraph clerk, who was friendly with the members of that firm, alleged that the clerk was in the habit of giving the contents of telegrams to the firm. Mr. Henningsen was informed of this accusation first on the 15th ult, by a respectable German merchant to whom the l'olish Jew communicated his story through a “friend," and the Managér of the Telegraph Company at first was inclined to treat it as an attempt to blackmail the Com. pany. Nevertheless an immediate investigation was instituted, with the result that the clerk was, suspended from duty. All the parties implicated are dealers in arms, and it can readily be under- stood are not too scrupulous in their ways of obtaining useful information. At the Police enquiry before Consul Bock to-day the clerk admitted that he had spoken about telegrams that passed through his hands, while being enter- tained at tiffin or dinner by the principals in the firm, who obviously employed their hospitality to extract, useful secrets from their foolish guest, but like shrewd business men they paid nothing for the information to their unfortunate dupe, who has been ruined through his own indiscretion coupled with the spite and other unpleasant characteristics of the informer. The clerk has been dismissed to-day and loses £600 or £700 of deferred pay, with pension and other advantages aceruing from his long service, but he completely vindicated himself, inasmuch as he proved that his sin was one of stupidity and indiscreetness rather than of deliberate treachery or violation of his bond of secrecy. The Totograph Company have no case against him or anybody else in the matter, but they have done all that could be done to guard the interests of their customers and to warn by severe example their other employees. The case is the first of the kind that has ever occurred in the Company, and we hope it will be the last, as we were until recently under the pleasant impression that such traffic in telegrams and violation of cor- respondence are confined to the Chinese. Under the circumstances the charge that the man took money for betraying this trust is unwarranted.
-China Gazette.
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EXECUTION IN SHANGHAL
Shanghai, 3rd October. About six weeks ago a robbery was committed a wealthy man of Singyanghsien in this province and eleven of the robbers came to Shanghai shortly afterwards to get rid of the plunder, which amounted to nearly Tls. 3,000. Some of the Municipal detectives got upon the trail of some of the robbers, their suspicions having been aroused by the peculiar clothes in the latter's possession. The strangers were at once arrested on suspicion and subsequent events showed that these suspicious were well grounded. For the arrest of these eleven robbers the Sing yang hsien magistrates rewarded the municipal detectives with $1.000. The native authorities then made preparations for executing the robbers hero, but as there is still a large number of the band at large everything was done as quietly as possible, there being apparently reason for fearing that an attempt to rescue the condemned would be made either on their way to the execution ground or on the ground itself. Hence when the execu- tion of the eleven robbers was ordered from Soochow very few knew the exact time when it would take place, although the parade ground at the Old North Gate of the native city
Was