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Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Mr. G. J. Marshall to Messrs. Porteous Tyler and Rowe.
My dear Mr. Porteous Tyler and Rowe,
Kanchow, October 7, 1907. YOU will have heard by wire of the riot here. I don't know where to begin or how to end in writing you, and I know you will be longing for news from Kanchow. You are, we know, praying for us, and we so need your prayers at this time; pray on. On Thursday at 3 o'clock A.M., Shu-Hsieh-teh, the Roman Catholic priest in charge here, came to see me. I was awake, and got up to see what the dogs were barking so much about, and found Mr. Shu in a very excited state. He told me that Kiang Sheng-fu of Ta-O-Li had been killed and the place burned (you know Ta-O-Li is the Roman Catholic village, about half way between Nan-Kang and Tang-Kiang), and that there was sure to be great trouble. There were two small officials and two or three soldiers killed. An Sheng-fu escaped and got to the city about 8 A.M. I do not know how many Roman Catholic converts have been killed; over 100 are reported killed, but I think that is exaggerated. Thursday, at daylight, 200 or 300 Roman Catholic converts, and perhaps a lot of bad characters, entered the city. The Roman Catholic premises were just full of men, women, and children. Their converts must have come from all directions, and soldiers were guarding their doors and a crowd collecting. By noon the crowd began to shout and clap their hands and throw stones, &c. At about 1 o'clock they broke in and began to plunder, and at 2 o'clock the place was in flames. Su Tel-Ren and I kept our door wide open all day, and invited all who came in to sit down and not stand about the door and gather a crowd. Many of our people came and went, and all said do not be afraid, there will be no trouble here; and all the people seemed friendly. When I saw the roof of the Roman Catholic place fall in I thought it was time to get ready to escape, if necessary, so I told the Halls and Mrs. Marshall, and we got ladders ready to climb the wall into the neighbours joining the school, and there Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Marshall and a lot of Chinese sat under the tree waiting. About 4:30 o'clock the Hsien came and wanted us to go to the yamên. I told him we preferred to go to the Dao-Tai Yamên, and he was pleased, but never offered his chair for the ladies, nor did he send his men for bearers, so I sent for bearers, and when they came I escorted Mrs. Marshall to the yamên with a host of women and children. We passed the Roman Catholic place, and through Ri Ja-li the crowds were terrible, and we had to go slowly, but they opened the way for us, and no one seemed to want to hurt us. The Hsien did not even send one of his men to escort us. After Mrs. Marshall got to the yamên we sent the chair back for Mrs. Hall. The Roman Catholic priests, I think five in number, were also here, so at dark the Dai-Tai sent us to the Fu Yamên; we found Mrs. Home there. You may be sure we were all tired, but not able or ready to sleep. The Chi-Fu was exceedingly kind (he is the nicest Chinese official I have met). He spoke of sending us all away that night, so at midnight Mr. Hall and I, with a few Chinese, went to our place to get some necessary things for the journey; and if we only had expected a riot the next day, I assure you I would not have stopped till I had cleared our place of everything that could well be carried away.
We got the friends off at about noon the next day (Friday). Mr. Home and I returned to the West Gate, the people on the street still seemed friendly. I called a small chair and went over to our place, and I saw by the looks of a few Lu-Lans who were there that they were not gathered for any good purpose, so I went at once to the Dao-Tai and told him the place needed protection. He said he had (Fen-Fu) commanded the officials to look after our place. I had not been here long till word came the crowd had started to loot our place. You can imagine my feelings better than I can tell you. I comforted my heart that God was in and above all and decided to remain here. The Chinese begged me not to go to the chapel. The looting at the West Gate began perhaps an hour later than at the East Gate. There was not one person at our place from any of the yamêns to keep the crowd away. I believe if there were a few men at our place they could have protected it. There is not a door or window or bit of furniture or a book left, all swept away, the school is a complete ruin, the walls of the chapel and our house, and the roofs are in good condition. Oh the West Gate is such a ruin, the house will have to be rebuilt, more than half of the roof is gone, the other half hanging, all the wooden partitions have been carried away, and some of the posts that support the roof badly damaged and some taken away. The women's quarters and the place where the school was is very badly wrecked.
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The chapel roof and walls are all right, there is not one door left. Hu, the rice shop; Fu, the former barber; Chong, the medicine shop; Ny, the butcher and rice shop; Mrs. Chong, the cloth shop; and Fu-Shao-Gi have been looted and lost their all.
The Chen-Tai came out and wounded four men and Fu-Shao-Gis, who were looting (two have since died), and this put a stop to the looting. He would have opened fire on them, if the Dao-Tai was willing. The Dao-Tai was afraid it would cause further trouble and he had not sufficient soldiers to protect his yamên. The next day early the Dao-Tai put up Proclamations all over the city that any one attempting to cause any trouble would be killed on the spot, and all has been very very quiet since. The four men who were wounded at Fu-Shao-Gis are Feng-cheng-Hsien men from the Carpenter Street, and men who were arrested with the West Gate things the day of the riot are all Kan-chow men, Lu-Lans. They have been terribly punished and will likely be executed or die in gaol. One Kan-chow man was caught last Friday with a few things (of little value to us now) from the East Gate. He was also punished. So far as I know and have heard, the looting of our place was done mostly by the Lu-Lans and the Feng-Cheng carpenters. Feng-Shan was burned the day after our places, the old watchman saved twelve tables and Mr. Powis' bed. Nan-Kang, Tang-Kiang, Feng-Kang, Hueng-shih-tsing, and a large number of the country Christians and inquirers have been looted, and in some cases burned. Sin-Feng and Long-Nan and La-Ti were safe the last we heard. We thank God for all. There are about thirty of us here in the Dao-Tai Yamên.
His comfort and care, and I am specially thankful that there has been so little murmuring. One cannot but ask, What shall the harvest be of all this suffering and loss? May it be a harvest of souls being saved and spiritual blessing to us all! My heart aches when I think of all the time that has been spent in this city and district and on Feng-Shan buildings, and now they are ruined. My earthly belongings were but few, I think they will be less in the future, why we seek to lay up treasure in Heaven.
You will be glad to know Mr. Home seems comforted and is well. We have but little spare or quiet time these days and am sorry we have not been able to write you all,
Soldiers are arriving almost every day and 1,200 are expected to-day from the capital; when they come the Dao-Tai is going out to Tao-Ti and Tang-Kiang to deal with the Boxers there, he means business, I think. We hear orders have come from Peking to exterminate the Boxers and rioters. I am going to the East Gate this morning with a few Chinese to clean up broken glass and begin a few necessary repairs. We hope Mr. and Mrs. Tyler be along soon, they will be much needed here.
With every good wish to you all. "Let not your heart be troubled."
Yours in Christ,
(Signed) GEO. J. MARSHALL.
P.S.--Please send to Shanghae.
(Extract.)
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Rev. W. S. Home to Mr. Mills.
China Inland Mission, Kanchow, November 6, 1907. YOU will be glad to learn that Mr. Marshall and myself have just returned from the country this morning. All has been satisfactorily arranged. We find that sixty-three families have suffered in all; an indemnity of 13,503 dollars is to be paid to them, which is a very moderate sum for so many sufferers. Some have lost heavily. The Taotai Keung-or, rather, Judge-is still in the Nankang district; he is doing all in his power to restore order in a wise and permanent way. He is just the man for this crisis.
He has looked after our interest, and we are very thankful to him for the speedy and satisfactory settlement of our affairs. Some of that money is to be paid in a few days and the balance shortly. We are so thankful for settlement; this sets us free for reconstruction of the ruins.
Hope Mr. and Mrs. Tyler may soon be here, and also Mr. Rowe. The Meikles also may come along any time. It must be a comfort to them that their place has escaped. We have a letter from Mr. and Mrs. Seiple; they are safe, although they have gone through a great storm of rumours.
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