MISSIONARY MURDERED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 891, 7 February 1930, Page 11

MISSIONARY MURDERED

PREACHED TILL DEATH ON LONE ROCK

CONFRERE’S LONG SEARCH

Lnited I*. A.—By Telegraph—Copyright Ilecd. 11.30 a.m. SHANGHAI, Thursday What is regarded as conclusive evidence of murder, at the hands of bandits, of Mr. D. F. Pike, an Australian missionary who has been attached to the China Inland Mission since 1902, was discovered by another missionary, Mr. Crofts, who conducted a long search in territory in the vicinity of Kweichow, which is infested by robbers. The search resulted in the finding of Mr. Pike’s horse and saddle in the possession of a bandit gang, which was arrested by the authorities. Mr. Crofts reported that the same gang confessed to participating in the capture of Mr. Pike, but denied knowledge of his whereabouts. The search led Mr. Crofts to a village in the precipitous gorges, where a Moslem woman reported seeing a foreigner standing in the midst of a band of robbeirs in the market place of Chingshan, with his hands tied. He was barehead€*d, and was preaching the gospel in fluent Chinese, People wished to assist the stranger, but were afraid of the bandits, 'who later carried their victim off. A continued search resulted in the finding of villagers who described Mr. Pike’s death. Still preaching the gospel, he was taken to a lonely rock overlooking a rushing torrent, and shot through the heart, his body falling into the river. The authorities deny this story.