THE RIOTS AT CHINKIANG.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1878, 13 April 1889, Page 3

THE RIOTS AT CHINKIANG.

The North China Herald of Eeb. Bth gives the following particulars of the riots at Chinkiang, reported in a recent cable message:—“ No outbreak so serious as that at Chinkiang has occurred at a treaty port iu China since the riot at Canton in 1883. The trouble began with a street row, in which a Chinaman is said to have been knocked down by one of the police. It is said, but it is doubtful if this is true, that be lay and died where he fell, and that this excited the mob. Their first act was to destroy the police station, and they then made for the British Consulate, where the Inspector, who has not since been seen, is believed to hare taken refuge. On their way they set fire to three foreign houses. Curiously enough, both the Taotai were absent from Chinkiang, taking advantage, we may presume, of the Chinese New Year holidays, but the General in command sent a force of three hundred men to protect the Consulate. As soon as the mob appeared the gallant soldiery instantly capitulated, some of them fled, and the remainder made common cause with the rioters. The Consul’s wife had to fly barefoot with her children to the hills from the back door of the Consulate, while the mob, aided by the soldiers, burned and sacked the building and offices, so that nothing was saved. Some of the missionaries’ houses and a chapel near by shared the same fate, while the British consul himself was twice in imminent danger of death. The American consulate was looted, and the mob next set fire to two missionaries’ houses outside the concession, those of the Eev. Mr Bryan and the Eev. Mr Hunnex, which were soon in ashes, -along with the Baptist Chapel to which they were attached. The Methodist Chapel was looted, and the Customs Club set on fire and looted. The little foreign community, after a most trying time, in which several ladies had hysterics, reached a place of safety on board the hulk Cadiz, where they remained till the welcome arrival of the steamer Kiangyu in the evening, offered them a safer shelter. Meanwhile the Viceroy telegraphed to the British Consul that he was sending down two thousand soldiers to restore order, and that he hoped no gunboats would be telegraphed for, as their arrival would only infuriate the mob. The mob evidently did not require any stirring up of this kind, for the riot broke out again on the afternoon of February 6tb, though we learned yesterday (February 7th), that everything was quiet.”