Chinese Massacre of Missionaries

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 33, 7 August 1895, Page 2

Chinese Massacre of Missionaries

FURTHER~PARTibULARS. (Per Press Association'). Shanghai, August 5. The Europeans in this city are appealiug to tlie powers for protection and protest against the inadequate punishment inflicted for the outrage on foreigners. Sydxey, August (5. The Secretary of the Church Missionary Society has received a letter from Miss Gordon, one of the ladies killed at Kucheng, about the same time as the cable came announcing the massacre. The lady began by quoting a psalm, " In God I put my trust ; I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." She goes on to say " a number of people called ' vegetarians ' were banded together to defy the Mandarin one day, when he caught four and put them in prison. Others surrounded his house aud said they would pull it down and kill him if he did not release their comrades. So he had to release them. Not only so, but he had to send his secretary to be beaten by their own hands. This happened in Kucheng city, quite close. They have persecuted Christians and have threatened more than once to pull down the chapels, but the missionaries as yet are not threatened at all, although they have expressed their hatred of us." The victims of the Kucheng atrocity had no warning, and were taken entirely by surprise. The assassins were fifty members of a secret society, and it is believed that this outbreak is part of a general plot against foreigners. The Rev. Philips, missionary, escaped, but was forced to look on at the murder of his co-workers, and was powerless to interfere and unable to secure assistance August 6. Further details of a horrible nature have been received from Kucheng. The ladies begged for their lives, offering to surrender their property and jewels, but the leader of the band ordered them to be killed. Miss Nellie Saunders was hacked abont by tho ruffian's weapon, and thrown still alive into Dr. Stewart's blazing house. Miss Topsy Saunders and Miss Gordon were speared. Misses Brain and Newcombe were speared, and thrown over a precipice. Miss Marshall's throat was cut. Four of Dr Stewart's children were impaled and severely wounded, but apparently were not killed. Although there were a thousand soldiers in Kucheng, none were sent to the rescue until the massacre was completed and the murderers had decamped with the plunder. The Chinese Government has ordered the miscreants to be punished. There were thirty native teachers and two thousand members at the Kucheng station. Reports from Hankow state that the western provinces are in a disturbed and dangerous condition. Chapels and hospitals have been destroyed, and foreigners are fleeing for their lives. Bkisbane, This Day. The Gordons, murdered at Kucheng, belong to Ipswich, where their parents reside.