[
    {
        "id": 208601,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 58,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n31\n\nthe occupying troops shoot across the bay at any moving target; so far, none of the patients has been hit but some fishermen have been hit and their wounds treated by Dr. Bagalawis.\n\nFather John Toomey, formerly a thorn in the side of the Japanese occupying forces in Kongmoon, has been named Local Superior at Stanley, to replace Father Tom Malone.\n\nJune 23rd was the 25th anniversary of Father Downs' Ordination, and the 21st of his entry to Maryknoll. The event was fittingly celebrated at Stanley, with Bishop Valtorta and a number of non-Maryknollers present at dinner.\n\nJULY\n\nJuly saw the arrival of Father John Toomey to take over as Local Superior. His departure from Sun Ooi was delayed by the Japanese, who apparently \"hated\" to see him leave for the freedom of Hong Kong, but was very much regretted by the many hundreds of starving Chinese who will no longer share in his daily issue of U.S.A.-donated cracked rice.\n\nWe learn that our old and valued friend, Capt. Joe Ryan of the President Steamship Lines, is now in the U.S. Navy. We learn that he has commissioned a friend of his to continue to bring the ship's used magazines to Stanley for our library.\n\nAUGUST\n\nAugust is usually our busiest time with the Mainland missioners taking their annual holidays and seeking medical, dental and optical attention during this steaming summer month. However, with travel so dangerous and difficult, our occupancy record is the lowest in the history of the Stanley House.\n\nOn the 16th, two officers of the Royal Engineers came for the second time to look over our property, with a view to taking over a part of it in case of emergency--such as an attack on Hong Kong! A full house might have dampened their interest but seeing so many vacant rooms couldn't help make them see the house as a perfect military hospital.\n\nSEPTEMBER\n\nDr. Wallace, an American Mission doctor, well-known to all",
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    {
        "id": 208614,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 71,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "44\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nand apparently their proposals were rejected, as upon their return firing recommenced, and in earnest. Shells again came whizzing into Hong Kong and onto the Peak. Looking out of our rear windows, we could see these shells strike the bald rocky face of Hong Kong's famous Peak, and amid a cloud of smoke, rocks began hurtling down the sheer sides of the mountain.\n\nThe Bishop's letter of appeal to the Governor evidently bore fruit, for today four of his priests, Fathers Spada, Grampa, Riganti and Ziliolli were released from their internment. And they had their own tales to tell. As they were hustled off on the outbreak of the war, they were taken to Stanley Prison and placed in the southernmost block of cells, with a garden space attached, in which they were allowed to walk. For the first day or so their food rations were very meagre and some were treated rather roughly, but as things began to get organized their treatment improved. At one time a bomb fell quite near their quarters. With them also interned were about thirty Japanese civilians, The Bishop rejoiced at their return, but was much concerned with the others still detained.\n\nWith the return of these priests to the Cathedral, Father Downs began to think of ways and means of getting back to Stanley. He had come to the Cathedral at the request of the Bishop, mainly to take over the procurator's work in the absence of Father Bruzzoni, but with conditions as they were, there was little business to be transacted, and at best, Italian bookkeeping was a terra incognita to him. But how to get to Stanley, in these days of topsy-turvy. Application was made to the Food Distribution Bureau, but they had no immediate solution. Father Toomey was consulted by telephone as to the possibilities from his end, but to no avail. Finally, on the sixteenth, Father Toomey did arrange with a Mr. Brown, a civil contractor working with the British Royal Engineers, who were in fact living in our House at Stanley, to call for him at the Cathedral and take him and his handbag to Stanley. They left after tiffin, and what a ride! It was during an air raid, and our car was the only one in motion. We literally tore through Wanchai and up the torturous Happy Valley Road, with brakes screeching at every turn, and occasionally we had to retrace our steps in order to make a turn properly. Just over the top of Wongneichong Gap we came upon a spot in the road covered with dirt and debris. Just a few moments previous a bomb had landed on the hillside just above",
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    {
        "id": 208618,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 75,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "48 \n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM, DOWNS \n\nports, visas and so on, and on their return the bus which they had boarded took them only as far as Repulse Bay Hotel. From there they began walking to Stanley, and they had not gone far when the command rang out: Halt!. They saw no one in the gathering darkness and continued on, when suddenly a bullet whistled over their heads. Some British Tommies on sentry duty stopped them and demanded their credentials. These having been verified they were allowed to proceed, none the worse for their experience. \n\nDuring these eventful days, Father Toomey did great work in visiting the Prison, on occasional sick calls. He also went to Point d'Aguilar where volunteers were holding an advance position. He was likewise at the Fort on the Hill when it was being bombed by the Japanese planes. While at the Prison he attempted to visit the interned Italian Fathers, but was not allowed. However, he managed to have delivered to them a Mass kit or two with the necessary supplies. \n\nAt the Carmelite Convent just below our hill, Father Hessler said daily Mass for the Sisters and later on remained with them during the actual fighting at Stanley. \n\nAs the days wore on in the second week of the war, things began to get pretty \"hot\" around Stanley. An occasional shell whistled overhead, reports came in that the Japanese landed in Hong Kong and were even now converging on the Tytam reservoir just to the east of us; in fact, they were even said to have captured a red brick house close by. Finally, on the twenty-second of the month, without warning, eight of the Royal Engineers' coolies who were standing just outside our garage on the west of the house, were wounded by machine gun bullets fired from across the valley. Also a little beggar girl who used to come frequently for food received a flesh wound. We brought them all into our house and laid them on the floor and did what we could for them, bandaging up their wounds. Just across this valley the British had built some ammunition dumps and had placed there an anti-aircraft battery or two. These batteries fired at enemy planes in the beginning but eventually we heard them no more and no doubt they were removed elsewhere, for now the Japanese were in possession of this hill. As a measure of safety we moved our kitchen away from this western exposure and also kept away as much as possible from that end of the house. \n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76",
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    {
        "id": 208628,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 85,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "58\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nand he helped others to loosen theirs, at least to some extent. Some, though, spent the whole night with hands tied, but how they managed I do not know. Later the marks on their hands showed for weeks.\n\nTo cap it all, poor Father Bauer still had dysentery, and Father Madison also developed a similar malady. Well, we used the water jar, which so fortunately had been left in the garage. Thus passed our first night in the garage—the Christmas night of 1941.\n\nAltogether we were thirty-four—a Bishop, a Salesian Seminarian, Brother Bernard, two laymen, Mr. Brown and Michael, and Fathers Benson and Norris, C. P., Szeliga, the Polish Salesian, Toomey, Troesch, Meyer, Downs, Keelan, Quinn, Bauer, Reardon, Callan, Allie, Madison, Gaiero, Siebert, McKeirnan, Walter, Moore, O'Connell, Tackney, Knotek, O'Connor, C. M., Charles Murphy, from Scarboro Bluffs, Canada, and our Brothers Michael, Anselm, Lawrence, Thaddeus and William.\n\nDawn finally came, and we welcomed the new day. Fortunately for us the weather was mild, and despite the fact that all except Father Szeliga slept without their cassocks, and some just in trousers and underwear, we felt no ill effects, except a natural stiffness in our joints and bones from the hard floor. The ominous silence of the preceding night continued, and we began to wonder if in reality the war was over or what was brewing. Later we learned that an armistice had been agreed upon about five o'clock Christmas afternoon, though at Stanley sporadic fighting continued until around seven, when the few men still defending the prison surrendered. On receiving telephonic instructions from Hong Kong the big guns at the Fort also ceased firing and the Fort was soon in Japanese hands.\n\nAs the morning wore on we began to think of food and drink since we had nothing in our stomachs since eleven o'clock the preceding day, but nothing seemed to be forthcoming. The sentry peeked in from time to time, and whenever he did so we always managed to turn our faces towards him and slip our hands back into their nooses. About ten o'clock we tried to make signs to the sentry that we were hungry and thirsty but to no avail. Finally, after repeated representations and the offering of a very valuable wrist watch by Father Toomey, the sentry handed in through the crack in the door, his canteen which was about half full of water.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
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    {
        "id": 208631,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 88,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n61\n\ntomato catsup, and we soon had a cupful of each of delicious stew, or what have you. We were allowed to go not more than a few feet away from our garage, such desperate criminals we evidently were. But this was far enough to exchange a few words with the British soldiers who had come in two nights before. They gave us a little tea, and said they were pretty well supplied with food. That night, when we were tied up again after our supper, the guards tied our hands not behind our back as heretofore, but in front, and as a consequence we slept a little more comfortably.\n\nThe twenty-eighth. Our bonds were removed, we were again allowed to go outside to cook our meals. There happened to be a few straggling vegetables growing within the ambitus of our permitted area, and these went into our stew. For cups and dishes we used the milk cans which we had the day before, and the hard-tack container was our all-purpose kettle. Fathers Meyer and Walter were our capable cooks, and as we were allowed to get water from a well we did not fare too badly. After cooking our meals we had to return to the interior of the garage, though finally our bonds were entirely removed. About this time we came across a few burlap bags and when we were allowed outside we managed to pull up enough dried grass to stuff these bags for pillows. Providentially the weather continued mild and we did not suffer from cold.\n\nAs we were preparing our noonday meal we heard a truck rumble by, and from it a cheery voice hailed Father Toomey. The truck stopped and even pulled into our driveway, and Major Kerr, a British officer whom Father Toomey knew very well, jumped down. Major Kerr, knowing Japanese, was acting as interpreter for the time being, and was even now with the British prisoners in the room adjoining us. Seeing our plight, he promised to do what he could for us and a little later managed to bring out a few cases of food for us and for the British soldiers. We also asked him to see what he could do about getting us off the cement floor of the garage and, after a conversation with an officer, we were allowed to go upstairs in the house where there was at least a wood floor. Accordingly, we lost no time in moving our very few effects to this new domicile.\n\nWe had not been upstairs for more than a few hours when a Japanese officer called us all to come down. We lined up in front of him, and in broken English he said, \"Japanese. English. Finished\"",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
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    {
        "id": 208636,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 93,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "66\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n1942\n\nNew Year's Day. The cleaning up process continues and we have little heart in celebrating the day. We are allowed to walk down to the village at the foot of our hill, but no farther, without special permit. Japanese gendarmes have taken up quarters in some of the rich Chinese houses in and around Stanley and soldiers occasionally visit the top of our hill and walk through our house. As Carmel is within our limit of walking, we visit the Sisters, and find them and Father Hessler well. During the hostilities, a portion of their garden wall was broken down, and soldiers demanded admittance from time to time, but otherwise they were not molested. Besides the three Belgian Sisters, there are some twenty Chinese Carmelites and four Italian Canossian Sisters with a number of orphan girls in the convent. These latter had been sent out by the Bishop with the hope that, by reason of their residence in the convent, the Belgian Sisters might not be interned.\n\nThe next few days are uneventful, and we continue our work of cleaning up and getting back to normalcy as best we can. There is still no electricity so we burn vigil lights and candles. We have managed to get a little kerosene oil and found two Aladdin lamps in the attic. We use these on our dining room table and recreation room, but have to be very sparing of oil. As before the war, we retire early and rise late, and each day expect to hear something concerning our fate.\n\nOn the fourth, Father Toomey pays a courtesy call on an officer in one of the Chinese houses below us, and is received very well.\n\nThe next day we were agreeably surprised to see His Excellency, Bishop Valtorta, who had walked the eleven miles from Hong Kong to see what had happened to us. He shares our rice and beans and stays overnight. He tells us that food is very scarce in the city and the priests in the Mission House are on rations, so we decide to do the same. Accordingly, we get one dish of rice, a ladle of stew (meat, vegetables and beans) and an ounce of sugar per day. For breakfast we have three prunes, a little oatmeal and a cup of coffee, with a portion of that ounce of sugar allowed. Tiffin and supper are much the same, with rice, stew and a little Jello occasionally. In the village below, it is becoming increasingly difficult to buy meat or vegetables. The porkers are gradually being killed off, and the price is rising, and our supply of money rapidly diminishing.\n\nT",
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    },
    {
        "id": 208637,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 94,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n67\n\nLooking forward, as only Father Meyer can do, he buys a small pig and puts it down in brine, and now and then in addition to our cans of bully beef, we have a slice of salt pork.\n\nSome of us are anxious to get to Hong Kong for various reasons. Bishop O'Gara to see the dentist and Father Troesch, with his procuratorial instinct, to see about food supplies. Permission therefore being duly secured, the Bishop, accompanied by Fathers Benson and Norris, C. P., start out for Hong Kong on foot, as there isn't a car on the road, save occasionally Japanese army trucks or official cars. Father Troesch also succeeds in getting passes for two, and he and Father Meyer trek in to see what is to be seen and what is to be done. We are also rationing our Mass candles and wine.\n\nAfter saying Mass on the sixth at the Carmelite Convent, the Bishop comes up again to see us. With him is a Korean Seminarian from Rosary Hill. As a few of our members are ill, this seminarian is instrumental in securing the services of a Japanese doctor. He seemed rather kindly disposed, but could not do much under the circumstances, though he promised to have the sick men transported to Queen Mary Hospital. Accordingly, in the afternoon, a truck drew up in our driveway and Father Bauer, Brothers Michael and Thaddeus are put aboard. Bishop Valtorta and Father Toomey get permission to accompany them. Fathers Troesch and Meyer return with the news that Bishop O'Gara and Fathers Benson and Norris have been interned in Hong Kong! We may be next, but nevertheless today we again started our language classes.\n\nAnd now for a little retrospect as to what happened in Hong Kong after the 16th, when the writer returned to Stanley. We left the Japanese in complete possession of Kowloon and as their peace mission failed, they returned to prosecute the siege of Hong Kong. The shelling and bombing kept up, and within a few days, they had effected a landing on the Island at North Point, from which place they advanced towards the city and inland to Stanley. Later, other landings were undoubtedly made as they were soon in control of Aberdeen and Repulse Bay. The guns on Stonecutters Island had been silenced as were those on Mt. Davis. Bitter street fighting took place as the enemy advanced to Causeway Bay and through Wanchai. The central part of the city suffered little actual damage, although an occasional bomb or shell fell there. Later on, the worst damage inflicted on property was by the looters, who virtually stripped buildings of all their woodwork for fuel. In many instances.",
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    {
        "id": 208641,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 98,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n71\n\nOn the eighteenth, two Japanese officers called and we entertained them with tea. They were pleasant enough, but had little to say. Soldiers and officers have come almost every day, either for a courtesy call or out of mere curiosity. One officer especially has been very friendly with Father Toomey, and has brought him cigarettes and milk. Others seem rather arrogant and haughty. Of course, we in turn are mild and meek for we don't like bayonets. Today, finally, our Ford V-8 was towed away down the hill.\n\nShortly after our return from the garage, we witnessed a rather sorrowful scene and one which will long remain in our memories. It was when, a few days after the signing of the armistice, the British and Indian soldiers marched out of the fort on the hill and took the winding road down through Stanley and to Hong Kong and to internment in Kowloon. There must have been at least a thousand, if not more men, disarmed and dejected, and passing just below our hill we watched them as they went by under the victorious Japanese flag hung across the road. As we stood on our hilltop and saw that mournful column passing along silently, we thought of the glories and peace of Hong Kong which had been and now everywhere is desolation and despair. The victors are despoiling the city; they have ruthlessly dethroned the foreigner and humiliated him in the eyes of the Chinese; they have destroyed overnight, as it were, the work of decades; they have completely disrupted the organization of a huge modern city, and starvation faces the populace. The Japanese have learned their lessons well from the West, and the West is now reaping the harvest of what it has sown. Poor Hong Kong! which had to be one of the first victims.\n\nAfter tiffin on the 20th, we received final word to leave Maryknoll House, now His Imperial Majesty's property, for our new home in the Prison Warders' Apartments attached to the Prison at Stanley. We are to be interned, not as the Italian Fathers were, in the Prison itself, but in modern apartments, these having been built only a few years ago. We hastily summoned our coolies, and the vanguard soon got under way. We walked in advance, each with a suitcase or bag in each hand and a bundle of bedding on his back, the coolies bringing up the rear with the heavier and more awkward bundles. Twenty-four priests and Brothers, and as many more coolies made quite a cavalcade, and looking back, it seems that we have been able to move all that Father Troesch and Father Meyer",
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    {
        "id": 208642,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 99,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "72\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\ngot together. Father Toomey went on ahead to arrange for our quarters, and all bid good-bye to Maryknoll on the hill. Just as we are leaving, His Excellency Bishop Valtorta walks up our hill, not knowing that we were being evacuated. At the foot of the hill, we meet a truck, and are surprised to find sitting on it, Father Norris, C. P., who has been brought out from town. The truck was on its way to the refugee camp just below our house, in order to pick up a few rice caldrons and some firewood for our kitchen equipment at the camp. At any rate, we are going to have rice!\n\nWe pass the Carmelite Convent, struggling under our burdens; go through the village of Stanley, which looks deserted and desolate, and we continue on our way, after having first been stopped by a group of soldiers, to the Prison Warders' apartments. We find we are to be billeted in Blocks “E”, “F” and “G” and the British and Dutch, some of whom have already arrived, are to occupy the other Blocks as well as St. Stephen's College buildings and the Indian Quarters below. We are directed to the top or third floor of Block \"E\", and as there was no order or assignment of rooms, we took the first available space and put our belongings on the floor. We also find that we have been allotted two flats on this third floor, each consisting of three rooms, with a small bath and an equally small kitchen and pantry. In these six rooms, there will be eventually (Father Bauer, with Brothers Michael and Thaddeus still being in Queen Mary Hospital, and Father Feeney still in Kowloon) thirty-two people, we having lost His Excellency, Bishop O'Gara and Father Charles Murphy; they, being Canadians, going to the British quarters, and gaining Brothers Cornelius and Anthony, two Christian Brothers who, with Fathers Norris and Benson, were here ahead of us. We are billeted four to seven in a room and have camp cots for beds. There is little other furniture save a chair here and there, or a small table and a wardrobe or bureau in some of the rooms. We have the whole top floor of our Block, except the servants' quarters, very tiny rooms at either end. After stowing away our belongings under camp cots and in corners, we make up our cots and prepare to retire.\n\nAs we have no electricity, we sleep until daylight and then rise to begin our first day in an Internment Camp. Having brought with us a number of Mass kits, we immediately set about putting up some temporary altars. For these, we use some tables and bureaus",
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    {
        "id": 208644,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 101,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "74\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nbetter fireplace and kitchen. Just below us, we notice considerable activity in the Indian barracks, and understand that they are being evacuated in order to give room for more internees, some of the prison warders and their families, as also a great many of the former “Peakites”. Imagine the contrast!\n\nJanuary 24th - Internees continue to arrive. We now have seven altars set up in our various rooms and are gradually getting settled.\n\nJanuary 25th — Sunday, and our first in Camp! We arrange to have public Masses in what was the Prison Warders' Club, and start out with three Masses, Bishop O'Gara taking care of present arrangements. Contingents of the Hong Kong Police arrive and are billeted in one of the buildings of St. Stephen's College,\n\nJanuary 26 A surprise for breakfast in the form of pancakes. Our two boys, Ah Fung and Ah Chin, who managed to slip in with us when we came to Camp, notice that the Camp cooks are throwing away perfectly good fish heads and asked if they may have them, and as a result, we all enjoy a dish of fishhead chowder in our own kitchen.\n\nJanuary 27th - Today we sent our two boys out of Camp to Stanley on a foraging expedition and they failed to return,\n\nJanuary 28th -- Fish and rice for dinner today; and noodles, rice and a little vegetables for supper. From our Camp kitchen we get only two meals(?) a day, consisting of a very little meat, or fish, very little vegetables, and a soup plate of boiled rice, the first meal being about nine or ten, the second at five in the afternoon. Fortunately, through the indefatigable industry of Father Meyer and Father Troesch, we managed to bring with us from our house a quantity of food of various sorts, and we are eking out our regular meals with a little of this. So as long as the stock lasts, we can have a little coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, and perhaps a can or two of bully beef to add to our rice. So far, contrary to promises, we have not been able to buy anything from hawkers, and in any event we have very little money with which to buy anything.\n\nJanuary 29th The American Community holds an election of Camp officers, with the result that Mr. William Hunt is our President, Mr. Bourne of the Standard Oil our Vice-President, Mr. Taylor of the U.S. Treasury Department our Secretary and Father Toomey, Treasurer.",
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        "id": 208646,
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 103,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "76\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n2 Feast of the Presentation: Once again, we start classes in the language, but under manifest difficulties. One classroom is our tiny, six by six combination chapel, laundry and kitchen. The other classes held forth in rooms occupied by from four to seven people. The fish we received today for our rations was spoiled and as a result, we had only rice and vegetables. Some of the internees went to \"The Hill\" this afternoon for various purposes, and while waiting to transact their business with the authorities, sat on the low wall at the edge of the road, which incidentally happens to overlook the prison below, now occupied by Japanese. As a result, three Sisters had their faces rudely slapped, and one or two were kicked around, because of their behavior. In the evening, just in front of our Block “A”, a number of internees gathered around a piano impromptu and began singing popular songs. This was immediately stopped, as no permission had been requested.\n\n3-Fathers Keelan and Downs bless throats at the little chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters quarters. Misty weather. Meat ration spoiled and unacceptable. We organize ourselves into morning duty squads and sweep and dust and help out in the kitchen by turn. (Our private kitchen, by the way, where Father Troesch has an iron range, and for which Father Meyer \"scrounges” faggots and coal dust, the latter being made into coal briquettes on the roof). Before leaving Stanley, Father Meyer had purchased a pig and had salted it down in a small barrel. This we managed to bring with us, and today when our meat ration failed, we fell back on this piece of fat, hairy salt pork, and we were glad to even eat the hide. On the Hong Kong Prison grounds (now within our Camp confines) there is a small field of alfalfa, which was grown as an experiment in feeding the prisoners. I do not know whether the experiment worked or not, but at the present time, we are eating alfalfa with our rice and other short rations, and “like” it. Father Meyer has also given us some \"grass\" tea, and we find anything goes these days.\n\n4-Bishop O'Gara called a meeting of his priests and appoints a Council: namely, His Excellency himself, and Fathers Toomey, Charles Murphy and Haughey, the latter a Salesian. Father Meyer is Pro-Vicar, and Father Keelan, Chancellor. Bishop Valtorta gives everyone all faculties. A series of sermons is also to be given.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
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    {
        "id": 208655,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 112,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n85\n\nsix rooms with two tiny kitchens and pantries, and two baths. We are quartered as follows: in room 7, Fathers Hessler, Walter, Knotek and Brothers Michael, Lawrence and Anselm; in room 8, Fathers Callan, Reardon, Allie and O'Connor, C. M.; room 9, Fathers Downs, Quinn, V. Walsh, Tackney, Moore, Madison and Brother Thaddeus; room 16, Fathers Troesch, Meyer, Bauer and Brother William. In this room, we had been saving a cot for Father Feeney, but before the Sisters were interned he managed to secure a pass on the plea of being a neutral alien and was later allowed to go to the interior of China.\n\nIn room 17, Fathers Benson, Norris, C. P., and Brothers Cornelius and Anthony; room 18, Fathers Toomey, Keelan, O'Connell, Siebert, Gaiero and McKeirnan. With six and seven in a room, and even with four in the smaller rooms, we are pretty crowded, like bees in a hive. Our tableware consists of a soup plate, a large spoon and a cup. As our cups are breaking one by one, we are falling back on discarded jam tins, with a small wire handle. Our dishes are thus easily washed. We also wash our own clothes, wherever we can, in the kitchen sink or bathtub, or in a pail, of which we have one or two, and hang them out on the verandahs or, in wet weather, in the corridors, all of which gives our apartment the appearance of a New York East Side tenement.\n\n4—Mr. Walsh, a sergeant of the Hong Kong Police, died suddenly today of heart failure. However, Father Toomey was in time to anoint him. Brother Anthony comes down with malaria. Brother is a very big man, and has worked very hard both during hostilities in caring for the sick and wounded at LaSalle College, and in the Camp on manual labor. One small slice of bread today.\n\n5-Mr. Walsh buried this morning after a High Mass of Requiem on the tennis court, at which quite a number of internees, both Catholic and non-Catholic, were present. Interment took place in the old Military Cemetery (within the confines of the Camp) on the hill near the Prison. In this ancient cemetery are the graves of many British and Irish soldiers and their families who died shortly after the founding of Hong Kong either from malaria or from wounds. Now new graves are multiplying, being those of soldiers fallen in this present war, and of internees. Father Quinn starts a class in Spanish. One slice of bread again today.\n\n7-Our Saturday evening songfest was put on tonight by the ...",
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    {
        "id": 208656,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 113,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "86 \n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS \n\nBritish in St. Stephen's Hall. Another piece of bread. Maryknollers win another game of softball. The British seem to be taking to softball and it is becoming quite popular. \n\n8- Sunday. Father Toomey, preacher. Stations of the Cross and Benediction, with sermon by Bishop O'Gara in the afternoon. Special menu today: morning, 3 hot cakes with a little syrup and butter; a cup of okra soup at noon; and in the evening, rice, hash and beans, but no bread. The Hong Kong News (now published by the Japanese in English, and sold in the Camp) says that the Shanghai Americans may be repatriated, if they desire. We? We arrange our language classes. Father Meyer is also teaching the Sisters Cantonese. \n\n9- The American Community holds its usual monthly meeting in the Club and listens to various reports and resolutions, regarding our conditions and prospects. Continual representations are being made by our president, Mr. Hunt and the British heads, to the Japanese for improvement in our rations, especially milk for babies and children, for medicines, for clothing, and for any number of things considered necessary for a decent living. A great many people are still sleeping on concrete floors. It is now announced that there are 324 Americans in Camp; that we get for that family from 80 to 100 pounds of meat daily (bones and fat included), about 80 pounds of green vegetables, and 4 ounces of rice per meal, and now at length, some 8 or 9 loaves of bread. This latter item means that each one gets a slice or half a slice daily, and of the above rations, some are kept out for increased rations for babies and growing children, and the convalescent. Glutinous rice for supper today. \n\n10- Brother Anthony and Father Bauer go to Tweed Bay Hospital. Father Bauer's long-standing case of dysentery does not yield to treatment, and the doctors are perplexed. Of course, it is also a question of proper medicine in the Camp. \n\n11- Eighty pounds of meat, forty-five pounds of cabbage and eight loaves of bread for 324 people. For the past few weeks, considerable activity has been noticed around St. Stephen's Primary School building, hitherto unoccupied. A cement block wall has been built around the compound and guard-houses placed at each corner. Today the American Consular staff from Hong Kong took up their quarters there, and incommunicado. No one may visit them and",
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    {
        "id": 208663,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 120,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46 \n\n93 \n\narticles is opened. The display was most interesting, and American skill and ingenuity were much in evidence. Articles included various forms of clothing, shoes, slippers, clogs, chairs, stools, baby cribs, thermos bottles, a fireless cooker, clothes pins, knitting needles, scales, a vise, etc., etc. A small wood turning lathe was also shown, and hats woven of grass. The repatriates' departure has been postponed until the end of the month. \n\n11—It is reported that the recent escapees have been captured, they not having succeeded in getting out of the Colony. A large scale having been found somewhere, the Americans weigh in, with Dr. Hackett and the Maryknoll Sisters, nurses, Sisters Camillus and Dominic, assisting, the latter, by the way, having long since returned to Camp from the Civil Hospital. The following statistics will give a graphic idea of our present status: Father Toomey lost 18 lbs; Troesch, 28; Meyer, 38; Downs, 13; Keelan,?; Bauer, 50; Allie, 18; Reardon, 27; Callan, 11; O'Connor, 16; Hessler, 0; Walter, 12; Knotek, 12; Quinn, 23; Walsh, 22; Madison 36; Moore, 9; Tackney, 23; Norris, 15; Brother Anthony, 50; Brother Cornelius, 6; Father O'Connell, 0; Siebert, ?; Gaiero, 19; McKeirnan, 14; Brother William, 23. A Mr. Hill, in the Camp, lost 65 lbs. \n\n12—Masses now at 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. Today, Confirmation at the Mass, when Bishop O'Gara confirmed four children and two adults. Today, the Britishers follow suit and are weighed in. Perhaps this presages better food. Report has it that two Britishers were caught stealing sweet potatoes in Stanley village, which is out of bounds. When warned that they were in danger of being shot, they said they were so hungry that they took the chance. Then they were assured of better rations, so says the rumor. Let's hope it is more than a rumor. Speaking of rumors, they still flood the Camp, and they range from the abdication of Mussolini, to the landing of the Allies in Europe, and to the proximity of the Chinese troops ready to retake Hong Kong. According to the Japanese paper, the American Navy has been sunk several times, and they are going to crush the United States. \n\n13—Bungalow No. 7 vacated by its British occupants to give way to the segregated American repatriates, who move in after the British got out, only to find that the British had pretty well despoiled the whole building, thinking that the Japanese were moving in. It is also reported today that the American Consular officials' bag—\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121",
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    {
        "id": 208668,
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        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 125,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "98\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nNow that we are getting a decent ration of flour we shall have to figure out ways and means to bake our own bread, for now the little we used to get from Hong Kong has ceased. The American council accordingly called a meeting in our community garage and discussed the question. In our community kitchen there was, of course, no oven made for baking purposes, so the best we can do is to use the few electric stoves scattered throughout the apartments. A few of these are set up in the kitchen and the baking begun. The Maryknoll Sisters and we each have an electric oven, and they start forthwith in turning out luscious loaves of bread. Father Meyer, too, in our block, starts experimenting with yeast and bread baking formulae, and soon has a tasty loaf set before us. Father Meyer's fame is extending throughout the Camp, and many are now coming to us for instructions on how to bake bread. Recently, Father Troesch managed to buy a few dried apples at the Canteen and, lo and behold, he shortly presented us with an apple pie! And a very creditable piece of the great American dessert!\n\n25—News received of the death on December 7th of Father Toomey's mother, R.I.P. Father Madison presides at an \"Information, Please\" at the Club Hall. After the recent escapes from the Camp, the construction of a barbed wire fence all around was begun and today it was completed. We lose a little more of our freedom, and are now quite interned. Electric lights are also being put up along our borders. We understand that this is in accordance with international law governing internment camps. A new masonry gateway is also being built across the main road leading into Camp, with a guard post outside.\n\n26 Sunday, Father Charles Murphy preached at all the Masses today. There were no afternoon services because of a heavy rain storm, our first real storm of the season. A Bridge and Games tournament opens. One duck egg in our rations this morning, and this evening we get our first \"seconds\" under the new arrangement, which, with a saucer of cornstarch from Father Troesch's larder, left us quite sated.\n\n27—The Dutch internees are told that they may be repatriated either to Holland or other Dutch possessions. A few Belgians and Norwegians also included. After some discussions, we Maryknollers get from our community kitchen our rations of flour, but three",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 208669,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 126,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n99\n\nounces of the eight are retained by the camp kitchen for common use, such as making noodles and the thickening in the soup. Father Meyer takes over our bread baking, making his yeast out of sweet potatoes and rice, but he finds that the flour is not of a very good quality and is full of weevils. Perhaps that is the reason the Japanese are giving us so much, as it won't keep any longer. However, it is flour and will make some kind of bread and biscuits. We immediately detail a squad to pick out and exterminate the weevils.\n\n28—Another duck egg and two of Father Meyer's biscuits for the morning meal, and two buns for supper, along with our rice. The Japanese authorities are now permitting friends of internees living in Hong Kong to send to the Camp small packages of food and clothing, the limit being five tins of food, a few articles of clothing and toilet necessities per person, and only once a week. Today our first package came in addressed to Father Toomey from Doctor Liang, one of our Maryknoll Chinese physicians, and our diet was enriched by five tins of meat. This tinned meat is a great addition to our morning meal, which consists usually of but rice and a little meat gravy. Once in a great while, we get a piece of meat that can be seen with the naked eye.\n\n29—Still talking about food! This morning, we had only rice for our first meal, but Father Troesch came to the rescue with a few tins of sardines for the crowd. The bread, however, helps to fill up the void. It now seems that the amounts of our daily rations vary. Flour and rice apparently remain the same, the rice even being increased to all appearances, but the other foods, such as meat, fish and green vegetables, seem to vary a lot. One day we received only fifty pounds of meat, and on another day, sixty pounds for three hundred and forty or so people. Salt and sugar, too, have been reduced, for some reason, though as a matter of fact, we have seen very little sugar since we came to Camp, and were it not for the supply we brought with us, our sweet tooth would be pretty badly off. Strangely enough, however, we occasionally get an extra piece of bread, in addition to our flour ration, so these days we are beginning to feel a little fuller after a meal. Latest news on repatriation--not later than August 15, and possibly in June. A fuse blew out today, leaving our floor without current. We requested that it be repaired, but as it was some kind of holiday, no aid was forthcoming. Incidentally, Father Knotek has put to good use",
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    {
        "id": 208671,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 128,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n101\n\ncouple of tiny cookies for breakfast. Our coffee, too, is getting weak, for in order to conserve our supply we are using the grounds again and again. Bamboo Wireless has it that Bishop Paschang is in touch with Maryknoll, and that Bishop Ford is receiving funds from Maryknoll.\n\n3-Sunday. Services are as usual, with Father Norris as preacher. Coffee and a bun this morning from our own kitchen. However, Father Meyer now promises us bread three times a day, that is, at least a bun, out of his five-ounce allotment.\n\n4--Our present A-1 Block representative, Mr. Malone, seems to be in disfavor in the minds of many of that block, and finally today at a meeting in the garage, grievances were aired and as a result we have a new representative in the person of Mr. Steiner, a Protestant minister, formerly in charge of the Foreign Auxiliary in Hong Kong. He promises to be efficient, as he is a very conscientious man. Rain interfered with the outdoor May Devotions and they were held in the tiny Maryknoll Sisters' Chapel with the congregation overflowing into the tiny corridors. The Sisters have typed copies of the more popular hymns, and the people join in the singing.\n\n5- Chess tournament begins with Fathers Vincent Walsh and Norris, from our ranks, participating. Father Bauer not so well these days. Tonight we again have “seconds\" on food. Some of us sent 10-word telegrams today, as allowed by authorities. We wonder if they and our previous post cards will ever reach their destination.\n\n6-Father Toomey resigns as Treasurer of the American communal council.\n\nFather Hessler called to \"The Hill\" in regard to his letter requesting release from the Camp as a third national, Bishop Valtorta vouching for him. No decision reached, however. Corregidor falls and with it many of our hopes! As we gaze out to sea and see Japanese ships enter and leave the harbor, we feel very isolated and farther and farther than ever from America. However, there is a little cheer in the air today as we are informed that all Americans are to be repatriated within a month on a ship from Tokyo to Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa. Some may be permitted to go to Shanghai if they choose. Father Bauer improved.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
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    {
        "id": 208672,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 129,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "102\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n8-Mr. Southare and Mr. Bourne, the former, American Consul General, the latter our Council Secretary, to go to Hong Kong, presumably on repatriation business and while in the city, they met Sister Paul by chance. We understand that we Maryknollers may have a choice of either repatriation or to go to Hong Kong but will not be allowed to proceed to our missions in the interior, at least directly, and this, on condition that we can support ourselves or that someone will vouch for us, and guarantee our support. Thereupon we considered the question: there were many minds on the subject. Some were for direct repatriation, others wanted to stay in Hong Kong; some wanted to stay in Camp. Finally a list was made up, or rather two lists: Fathers Bauer, Quinn, Walsh, Callan, Reardon and Allie, and Brothers Michael, Lawrence, Anselm and William to be repatriated, and Fathers Toomey, Troesch, Meyer, Downs, Keelan, Hessler and the nine new language school students to go to Hong Kong. Later we learned that there will be no choice: that is, if we are not repatriated, we must remain in Camp. Another hurried meeting was held at 9:30 in the evening and further steps taken. At this meeting, a vote was taken and the majority decided on repatriation. Some of the minority were willing to abide by any decision reached by Father Toomey, as Superior, while others wanted to remain in Camp if necessary. Fathers Troesch and Hessler would try to get to Hong Kong as third nationals if possible. Accordingly, a second list was made out and handed in to our Council officials, only to be informed that our first list had already been submitted to the Japanese and that we had to await further developments.\n\nDuring the day, Mr. Bourne succeeded in contacting Bishop Valtorta at our request, and we learn that the Bishop is opposed to the repatriation of all Maryknollers and he is willing to guarantee the support of 14 of us, that is the House staff and the language school men, until Bishop Paschang or Maryknoll can assume the burden. The Maryknoll Sisters still in Camp, in the absence of any further instructions from Sister Paul, contemplate remaining. Incidentally, we later understood that Maryknoll had cabled to the effect that we all should be repatriated, but this message did not reach us until too late.\n\nFirst Communion and Confirmation at 8:30 on the ninth, when some 21 persons, mostly children, received the Sacraments, the",
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    {
        "id": 208673,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 130,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n103\n\nCanadian Sisters having prepared them. The entertainment sponsored by the British for tonight was called off by the authorities for no apparent reason. It does seem as if the Americans are favored just a bit in this Camp by the Japanese or at least the British get more knocks. Mr. Bennett, American, chosen to act as purchasing agent for our allotment of food, goes to Hong Kong and on his return announces that while in the city he got himself married.\n\n10 Sunday. As usual. There was no fish for tiffin, it having been rejected as unfit for consumption. It is bruited abroad that non-American wives of repatriates will not be allowed to return to America because of lack of space on the vessels, but preferential treatment will be given to Chinese-Americans. A movie tonight at St. Stephen's, and quite a good one, with a few cartoons.\n\n11— At an American communal meeting, Messrs. Bourne, Rankin and Stanton were elected Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Treasurer respectively, to take the place of those resigned. American patrol resumed, but entirely voluntary.\n\n12— A Russian orchestra arrived in Camp today, and we thought for a while that we were going to have a concert, but it did not materialize. Father Meyer is still experimenting with his bread, and it is now much better. Canteen opens again.\n\n13— Sister Paul advises that 16 of the Maryknoll Sisters now in Camp be repatriated; with 3, Sisters Clement, De Ricci and St. Dominic, as third nationals, to stay in Hong Kong. The rest will remain in Camp for the time being.\n\n15— Ascension Day. Masses as on Sunday. Brother Anthony is indisposed again. Father Benson at length is able to leave the hospital. He had a very long stay within its confines. In the American Blocks we now have had, for some little time, a diet kitchen operating to take care of convalescents and children. This does not mean that the convalescents get any different or better food, but it is more carefully and tastily cooked. Many cannot stomach the ordinary white rice and in this kitchen it is browned first and then cooked.\n\nA Mr. Engdall, member of the American Consular staff, died suddenly in Camp, as a result of a fall. Only a very few from our Camp were allowed to accompany the body to the cemetery, Bishop O'Gara and Father Toomey being among the number, as Mr.",
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    },
    {
        "id": 208674,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 131,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "104\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nEngdall was Catholic. They were also allowed to bless the body in the Consulate quarters for a few minutes only.\n\n16-Father Toomey sings a Requiem Mass for Mr. Engdall at 8:30. The four recent escapees were brought back and placed in the Prison today. It is said that they look pretty well the worse for wear, having been treated pretty roughly, and on an almost starvation diet. Brother Anthony goes to the Hospital again.\n\n17-Sunday. Father Toomey preached at all three Masses. Canteen opens in the afternoon, with a limited supply of Gruyere cheese selling at $3.00 a half pound, and soda crackers at 10¢ apiece.\n\n18-Sister Paul gets word in that all Maryknoll Sisters may remain no repatriation. Bishop Valtorta suggests that if we get out of the Camp, we go to Macao and carry on our language school there. In the Camp there has been organized a sort of an international welfare society whose members are trying to get some needed supplies for the internees. Today, volunteers were called for to help out in its office and Father Madison got a job.\n\n19-Father Allie starts a convert class, beginning with five adults. In response to our request that we be allowed to return to our House in order to get a few books, we are told that the place has been cleaned out and that there is nothing left. Father Gaiero has a slight touch of dysentery.\n\n20-The International Welfare Association hands out khaki shirts, handkerchiefs, tennis shoes, soap, porcelain cups and toilet paper, in very limited quantities. Father Allie suddenly gets permission to go to St. Paul's Hospital in the city for an X-ray treatment.\n\n21-Report that the Asama Maru will arrive here on June 15th and leave on the 16th, with the repatriates. Father Downs succumbs to an attack of dysentery, and goes to Tweed Bay Hospital. Father Quinn also comes down with the \"flu\" or something akin to it.\n\n22-Father Allie returns from Hong Kong, with very disconcerting news of the conditions in the city, with the result that another meeting of the brethren was held, and five of the new men decide to return to America and hand in their names to the Council. Further report also has it that the 12 Maryknoll Sisters will go, the other four remaining in Camp. Father Gaiero better.",
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    {
        "id": 208677,
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 134,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n107\n\n5-Father Haughey and Brother Bernard and three Maryknoll Sisters, Sisters Clement, De Ricci and St. Dominic, leave Camp for Hong Kong and freedom, secundum quid. Also six others. Canteen today.\n\n6-The doctors say that Brother Anthony has developed beri-beri and pellagra, and one doctor thinks Father Troesch has sprue, but this latter report was unfounded as later conditions revealed. There are at present a number of cases of beri-beri in Camp, and little means in Camp to combat it, as this requires a special diet.\n\n7----Sunday, Father Meyer continues his Catholic Action meetings, after Benediction. Hereafter, there will be no afternoon service in St. Stephen's Hall, all services now being held in the Club Hall. Our own food parcels are expected daily.\n\n8 At an American community meeting, held at 2:00 p.m., further reports were read on repatriation. The date is still uncertain, but it will probably take place about the middle of the month. Repatriates were told that they may not take trunks with them on the steamer. Shortly after the Camp opened, a number of books belonging to the former American Club were brought out and placed in one of the rooms at the now American Club (formerly the Prison Officers' Club), and we Americans had quite a bit of reading matter to while away some of our tedious hours. Today, this lending library closed up, in view of the coming repatriation. In addition to the earliest list of Maryknollers already handed in, the twelve Maryknoll Sisters and Fathers O'Connor (who had first planned to go to Shanghai) and Madison are definitely on the list for repatriation. The Americans who remain are informed that they will occupy Block A-3, or at least the upper floor of one half of this block. Our food seems to be improving a little. Patients at Tweed Bay Hospital can now secure bananas at 100 apiece.\n\n9-Father Bauer cut walking and is very much improved. Father Madison takes his name off the list for repatriation.\n\n10- Father Toomey sings a Missa Cantata at the Maryknoll Sisters' Chapel on the occasion of his twentieth anniversary of ordination. After the Mass, the Sisters treat us to a Camp breakfast. Our food parcel finally arrives. It will be remembered that each internee, man, woman and child, was to receive $105.00 worth of food or other articles of personal use. Of this amount, it was decided",
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        "id": 208678,
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        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 135,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "108\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nthat $30.00 go to the community kitchens, the rest to the individual. However, now, due to discounts, the increase in prices and the delay in getting these parcels moving, we get about 37% less than we otherwise would. Again we Maryknollers divided out $75.00 into two portions, one of $50.00 for our own little community kitchen, and the remaining $25.00 being personal. So in the final analysis, each individual got about $16.00 worth of food and toilet articles. To satisfy our craving for sweets, most of us got bulk chocolate, only to find that this was a bit wormy. However, we soon boiled the worms out of their happy home, and consumed the home. The repatriation boat delayed until the 23rd of the month, and there will be a choice of first, second and third-class passage.\n\n12- Another funeral service for Mr. Engdall, with Father Toomey officiating and Father Allie giving the eulogy. Drawing takes place today for staterooms on the Asama Maru. The American kitchen staff quits, in order to pack up for departure. No tears shed!\n\n13- The International Welfare Association hands out a few more goods, such as handkerchiefs, toilet paper, etc. A new squad of cooks take over and everybody pronounces the food better cooked. Photographs of the repatriates taken on the lawn. An entertainment this evening outside on the Bowling Green in front of the American Club building. It is surprising what talent there is in the Camp, and these entertainments are well received.\n\n14-Sunday. Masses change to 8:15 and 9:00. We learn from the Bamboo Wireless that Bishop O'Gara and three Maryknoll Sisters have left Hong Kong for Kwongchauwan for the interior.\n\nThe following days were quite uneventful. On the 17th, a meeting was held in which a little more information on repatriation was given out. The examination of baggage is to be very strict — no books, no diaries, no money, not even Bibles with notes scribbled on the margin to be allowed. The Hong Kong News says that several Maryknoll Fathers have been released from Camp. That's certainly news to us! Another report says that each repatriate is to receive one hundred yen for the trip, while another says that $250.00 U.S. currency will be allowed to be taken aboard the boat.\n\nOn the 19th, a dance was held in the Club from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., the curfew being extended half an hour by special permission.\n\nPage 135\nPage 136",
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        "id": 208681,
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        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 138,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n111\n\nall agreed was quite tasty. His helpers in the galley are Fathers Keelan, Downs and Madison.\n\nFather Toomey is named temporary head of the Red Cross in Hong Kong, by the repatriated manager, Mr. Fifer. The Red Cross, by the way, is on hand but not operative and the Japanese do not seem to take kindly to it.\n\nWhen the repatriates went on board the Asama Maru, no one was allowed anywhere near the pier, although we stood on the hill-top and watched them embark. No one was allowed to go on board either, from the Camp. We were anxious to learn if there were any other Maryknollers on board from the North, but could not secure the information. The Asama Maru remained at anchor that night and all the next day and night, when it left on its long voyage around the Cape.\n\n30-The Camp is extremely quiet after the departure of the Americans, and even the British remark on it. We are now awaiting orders to move into our new quarters. The father of Mr. Wong, our Chinese Superintendent, died in Hong Kong, and Father Toomey says a Mass for the repose of his soul. By the way, in the administration of the Camp, the Japanese early placed a Chinese superintendent in charge of each section of the Camp, as sort of liaison officer, and ordinarily we had to negotiate through him with the Japanese.\n\nJULY\n\n1-We are to move tomorrow into Block A-3. The Sisters keep one of their rooms on the third floor, and we 16 Maryknollers get three rooms on the same floor but in the other half of the flat. By arrangements with Mr. Wong, we are also allowed to retain our little chapel on the same floor. The other Americans take up quarters in the various small servants' rooms in this block, while the British take over the remaining larger room downstairs.\n\n2- Moving all day and getting settled, even though we have few possessions, leaves us pretty tired at night. We had to move our camp cots, as when the repatriates left, their rooms were almost completely denuded of their meager furnishings by those, of course, who had even less. We find that we will have the use of the two small kitchens on the top floor, one being for all the Americans and",
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    {
        "id": 208682,
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        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 139,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "112\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nthe other for the use of our Sisters and us, the large Camp kitchen in the garage below being turned over to the British. The British have also been enlarging and perfecting their other kitchens, and they are pretty well fixed now. For hot water, as hitherto, we have a small electric boiler which gives us enough water for drinking, shaving and other purposes.\n\nIn this change of quarters, roommates were chosen by lot, and Fathers Toomey, Hessler, Madison, Siebert, Knotek and Brother Thaddeus drew the end room; Fathers Downs, Gaiero, Walter and McKeirnan take the middle room, and Fathers Meyer, Troesch, Keelan, Tackney, O'Connell and Moore get the large room. Father Meyer turns the cooking job over to Mr. Gingles. Formerly, Mr. Gingles, a retired American Navy man, had a number of restaurants in Hong Kong and a hotel in Kowloon, and while in Camp he did the cooking for the group of Americans in the American Club building. His fame as a cook spread through the Camp and now that he is living with us, he has kindly consented to do the work again. Incidentally, everybody liked Father Meyer's meals.\n\n3-Under the new hotel management, our meal hours undergo somewhat of a change. We Maryknollers (when we have the wherewithal) have coffee, bread and cereal about 8 a.m., then Mr. Gingles gives us tiffin at 12 and dinner follows as usual at 5.\n\nHaving heard a lot of our new chef's abilities, we naturally looked forward to something different, and for our first tiffin, we were not disappointed. While we had only rice and a thick soup, the soup was chicken, and very delicious. It seems there must be some community stores still extant, hence this chicken soup. For supper, he gave us fried rice and a little pork. At the present time, for 41 people, we get from 9 to 11 pounds of meat, bones and fat included, mostly beef, and probably water buffalo at that. Our present issue of green vegetables consists of a few sweet potatoes, some very poor, wormy water spinach and chives, which Mr. Gingles frowns upon and usually throws away as unfit for human consumption.\n\n4-Rain ushered in the Fourth of July and we did not celebrate. Tiffin, again rice and a thick tomato soup (the latter not from the Japanese!) However, we had a very good supper, the Sisters adding a cake, and Father Troesch some cocoa. Mr. Gingles' kit-",
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    {
        "id": 208684,
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        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 141,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "114 \n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS \n\n12-Sunday. Masses as usual, with Father Meyer preaching a course of sermons on the Mass. Another good tiffin with roast beef, sweet potato, spinach and NO rice for a change. Supper, rice pudding with raisins only. Either we feast or we fast these days. \n\n13—All Americans, except Maryknollers, are to report to “The Hill\" tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. The four Americans who have already signed up are still waiting for final word. \n\n14----The Americans called up were asked why they wanted to go to Hong Kong, and how they could support themselves. Were told that they would hear further from the Foreign Office. Father Murphy baptized an adult catechumen. \n\n15 Sister Henrietta Marie celebrates her feast day by giving us a piece of chocolate cake. We seem to be getting very few vegetables these days. The water spinach is wormy and getting tough and the chives—well, 'nuf said! And we are supposed to pay for all this FOOD after the war is won, for we get a monthly bill therefor. The rice, too, is beginning to get poor, being broken cargo rice and full of worms. (The Chinese would never think of eating this.) The British now have nothing but this poor rice, but we seem to have a limited supply of the good rice yet. The Camp seems very quiet these days and even our own quarters have quieted down considerably. We have much more satisfactory arrangements for Mass now, with two altars in our little chapel. The Blessed Sacrament is also reserved. Heavy rain continues. \n\n16-A wedding this morning at 8:00 in the Maryknoll Chapel, Father Murphy officiating. He also has another baptism in the afternoon. Mr. Dick Munsey, an American ex-seaman, dies in Tweed Bay Hospital, after a very short illness. Rain all day. \n\n17--Mr. Munsey buried at 10:00 a.m. He has a wife and family in Hong Kong. \n\n19-Sunday. Vacation religious classes begin. Catholic Action meeting after Benediction. Father Hessler is now chaplain to the Hospital, succeeding Father Toomey. At last swimming permission is granted. We are now allowed to go to Tweed Bay beach in groups, between 9 and 11 in the morning and from 2 to 5 in the afternoon. \n\n20-Delay on swimming. Rain continues.",
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    {
        "id": 208690,
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        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 147,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "120\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n5- \"The Optimists\" appear again in an entertainment on the Green and delight their audience. A Mr. Shaw, British, died of heart failure in bed just after tiffin. Today, we received HK$5.00 as our portion of the allocation of relief from His Holiness, the Pope.\n\nSunday. General meeting of Catholic Action in the afternoon. A good crowd was present and various reports read. Father Meyer hands over his share of the cooking to Mr. and Mrs. Kiley. Father Walter and Father Keelan still continue to feed us at night, with hamburgers and \"rubber plant\"-Excuse me! I should have said \"hamburger.\"\n\n7-Labor Day and no classes for the Language School. Three adults were baptized in the Maryknoll Chapel. Due to some wiring difficulty we had no electricity at night.\n\n8-Nativity of Our Lady, and First Communion Day for the newly baptized. No news of our impending departure! Patience! Lights on again.\n\n9-Big News: Maryknoll, in a cable, orders all Maryknollers in occupied areas to be repatriated! But how? and when? Rumor has it that we are to get news of our release tomorrow.\n\n10-No news!\n\n11--At Last!! We are to leave Camp tomorrow, the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, and Father Price's anniversary. Evidently we have friends in Heaven. Laus Deo!\n\n12—What a day! We are to be released from our confinement and go back to civilized life! We toted our baggage in the morning down to the American Club Block A-4, and there at 10:00 a.m. it was examined, not too minutely, by the gendarmes. Nothing was confiscated, however. At about eleven o'clock the truck which brings the food out to the Camp backed up and the first group, consisting of Fathers Toomey, Troesch, Downs, Keelan, Siebert, Walter and Knotek, Brother Thaddeus and Sisters Dorothy and Henrietta Marie, got in. At the Depot were many of our friends to see us off and to wish us well. At 2:30 in the afternoon the second group, consisting of Fathers Tackney, Madison, Moore, McKeirnan, Gaiero and O'Connell, and most of our baggage, left.\n\nAs we in the first group sped out of the Camp and on our way over the familiar winding road to Hong Kong, it was hard to ana-",
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    {
        "id": 208694,
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        "page_number": 151,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "124\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nall-pervading air of suspense, and while we were quite free and unmolested on our trips to the City, we felt the heavy atmosphere that seemed to envelope the city. The crowds as usual milled about in the downtown section, but there was not the gaiety of former times, nor the life in the people. The city was still suffering and so were its people—from oppression and from starvation. Strangely enough at Bethany we were not bothered by inquisitive visitors; only occasionally would a Japanese soldier wander through the House and stare at us, and once a Chinese \"puppet\" detective paid us a ceremonial visit and asked us when we were going to Kwong-chauwan.\n\nDuring this time, many of the Fathers took advantage of the occasion to consult dentists and oculists, and Dr. Chawn, our Maryknoll dentist, was splendid. Realizing our financial straits, he very magnanimously waived payment of our debts to him until after the war. Others of our professional friends were equally kind and sympathetic.\n\nOCTOBER\n\nOne of the things we prized most at Bethany was the luxury of a private room. Having been packed in small rooms with from four to seven others for almost eight months was not a little trying on tempers, and to be able to go to one's own private room was indeed a luxury. For quite some time we had no electric lights in our rooms, as in order to save expense all extra light circuits had been cut out, but we did not mind burning our candles and vigil lights until time to retire. Later on, however, we had lights re-installed in our rooms. We also could sit on our spacious verandahs and watch the glorious sunsets on the South China Sea.\n\nAs mentioned previously, immediately on our release from the Camp, we had made out applications for permission to leave the Colony and had submitted these in proper form to the Foreign Office, of which a Mr. Oda was the head. According to usual procedure in the case of third nationals desiring to leave the Colony, it took about two weeks for the governmental machinery to work, and so when this time had about elapsed, Father Toomey asked Mr. Oda about our permissions. The answer came back: \"Decidedly no!\" We were enemy, and not neutral or third nationals, and under no consideration could we leave the Colony!",
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        "page_number": 157,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "130\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nIn the first raid, bombs fell on the Kowloon dock area, on Whitfield Barracks, on a Japanese army canteen on Nathan Road and a few in the streets of Kowloon. The second and midnight raid was on the lighting plant at North Point, but the bombs, fortunately for us, missed their target. On the third visit, a few bombs fell near the Kowloon shipbuilding yards. One unexploded bomb was said to have been found near the lighting plant, and it was marked \"Cleveland, Ohio.\"\n\nAs a consequence of these raids, the whole city was blacked out at night, all Japanese flags which had been so gaily flying from many buildings were hauled down, and for a month after, there were from two to a dozen Japanese planes in the air all day, flying at a great height looking for more visitors, no doubt.\n\nWith the advent of the month of November, we secured a Hakka teacher and our Language School was functioning, though not too briskly. Early in the month, Father Moore took to his bed with some ailment, which Dr. Samy diagnosed as a nervous stomach. Dr. Samy, by the way, is a neighbor of ours, and an Indian doctor, very prominent in Hong Kong. He has a very talented Chinese wife, and two daughters. He formerly lived near the Queen Mary Hospital, but the Japanese took over his home and, in exchange, gave him a house just below Bethany. Fathers Toomey and McKeirnan teach his children daily, and they often come to visit us. The doctor and his wife have been extremely kind to us and have offered to give us financial help if we find it necessary.\n\nWe mustered up enough courage again to approach the Foreign Office about permission to go to Kwangchauwan, but again came back a final \"NO!\" Since their release from the Camp, the Maryknoll Sisters have been living in Holy Spirit School on Caine Road, but now they are threatened with eviction, as some branch of the government wants the house for some purpose or other.\n\nDuring the month, Father Troesch secured permission to visit our House at Stanley, on pretext of getting some church goods which we needed. All together, we made five trips, two or three Fathers going each time, and each time bringing back a few suitcases full of odds and ends which we managed to salvage in the attic. A few of the extern Carmelite Sisters accompanied us, and they saved quite a number of things for us, which the Mother Superior kindly consented to keep in Carmel for us. Among the salvaged goods were",
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    {
        "id": 208702,
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        "page_number": 159,
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        "content_text": "132\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nthe Bishop thinks it may have been Chinese Communists. At any rate, Bishop Valtorta went to see Mr. Oda about this incident, and while in the office, Mr. Oda suddenly said: \"Do the Maryknoll Fathers still want to go to Kwangchauwan?\" The Bishop, quite taken aback, said: \"Why, I thought you said they could leave the Colony under no consideration whatever!\" \"Well,” replied Mr. Oda, “I have changed my mind, and if they still want to go, tell them to send in their names.\" At this, the Bishop lost no time in acquainting Father Toomey with the latest developments and we again promptly submitted our names.\n\n**\n\nWhat brought about this abrupt change of policy, of course, we do not know. In the meantime, the Bishop had used every means at his command and had, I believe, threatened to write to the Apostolic Delegate in Japan, Archbishop Marella. We also heard that the Governor of Macao might be able to do something for us. Then too, we thought perhaps the Vatican had brought some pressure to bear, and that possibly Maryknoll itself might be working in our behalf. At any rate, after all this time, our hopes were now high, and we anxiously expected an answer from the Foreign Office.\n\nIn the meantime, Sister Paul was fighting a tough battle with the Japanese who wanted to take over Holy Spirit School. They talked and threatened, and she wanted guarantees and reasons for their actions, so that they were somewhat nonplussed. And the Sisters stayed in Holy Spirit School.\n\nLate in the afternoon of the 24th, Christmas Eve, the Bishop hurried over to the Sisters with the gladsome news that at last the Maryknoll Fathers and Sisters might go to Kwangchauwan! What a wonderful Christmas present! At last we were to get to China and our missions! Deo gratias!\n\nAt Holy Spirit School, Father Downs sang a Midnight Mass and the Sisters had a little procession upstairs and downstairs to the little cribs. Fathers Toomey, Tackney and Moore also helped out in churches in Kowloon, and at Pokfulam the Fathers sang at a Solemn Mass on Christmas morning in the little mission chapel near Nazareth, of which Father Favreau is in charge.\n\nAt tiffin, we had the French Fathers at our festive board, Fathers Vircondelet, Tournier, Biotteau, Morel and Favreau, as well as the two Fathers of Bethany, Bos and Chaye. Of course, we had no turkey but our tiffin was a little more festive than ordinary, despite",
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        "page_number": 162,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n135\n\nmany of our friends were on the wharf to see us off, and promptly at twelve noon we pulled away from the bund. The day before, while at Bethany, we saw a large liner of the Asama Maru class, slowly enter the harbor, and wondered what it portended. The next day, as we left the harbor for Macao and Kwangchauwan, this majestic ship, painted a war-gray, was still in the harbor, but just as we started, it also got underway and our ship had to slow her engines so that the liner could pass us on her way to sea. Ranged on her decks we could see the familiar military uniform of the Canadian soldiers who were, no doubt, being taken to some other internment camp outside of Hong Kong.\n\nA few hours' run brought us to Macao where we met Sister Paul and made some visits, the first of which was to the Maryknoll Sisters' new orphanage for homeless and destitute children. It was quite a sight to see 400 little tots making away with bowl after bowl of rice, furnished by the kindness of the Portuguese Government. We then called on the Jesuits, formerly of Hong Kong, who had gone to Macao to open a school for boys, and at the Seminary, and the next day at noon pulled out of the Macao fairway for Kwangchauwan, a run of some twenty hours. By this time Bishop Paschang and the Kongmoon priests, Frs. Paulus, Smith and North, had already slipped back into \"Free China.\"\n\nTravelling on an enemy ship in wartime made us naturally a little apprehensive. Some of the passengers told us of the occasional presence of submarines in this area, and we hoped that we would not meet any, even if they were from our homeland. However, we reached Kwangchauwan the next morning safely at 10 o'clock, and went ashore to the French Procure where we met the Procurator, Father Lebas and Father Moran, a Jesuit from Hong Kong, assisting him. With their assistance, we arranged for our travel inland. At Kwangchauwan, we met some of our other Hong Kong friends, one of whom was the wife of Andrew Tse of the Clover Flower shop, and Father Downs baptized her baby, Teresa Elizabeth.\n\nAt Kwangchauwan, Father Toomey left us to proceed to Fachow in the Kongmoon Vicariate, and the rest of us engaged chairs for a six-day trip to Watlam, the first of our Wuchow stations. At Watlam, we again separated, Fathers Troesch, Moore and McKeirnan and Brother Thaddeus, and also one or two Sisters, going to Wuchow. The remainder of the group, consisting of",
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