Protestant missionaries massacred--The missionaries at
Pao-ting-fu--In the Governor’s Yamên--The Governor’s
consideration--Anti-foreign Yu-Hsien--An attack on the Roman Catholic
and the American Presbyterian Missions--Sacrificed on the grave of a
Boxer leader--Before her mother’s eyes--An offering to the Red-faced
God of War--Women Boxers--Reward for their services--The China inland
missionaries--A terrible end--Words and facts--American citizens--A
general massacre--“New hands”--Pao-ting-fu the centre of the Boxer
movement.
It would not be fair to speak so plainly as I have spoken if one had
not before one’s eyes such horrible examples of what has been endured
by some of these unfortunate creatures directly previous to and during
the war of 1900. Besides information which I have myself collected, I
was furnished by the China Association with a list of the Protestant
missionaries known to have been massacred from the beginning of the
Boxer movement to the 11th of September, and a list of those (up to
September 26) unaccounted for, as well as of those who were then
supposed to be on their way to the coast from the western provinces.
The greatest care was taken in compiling this list, which was verified
in every possible way (by the compiler), both by correspondence and
interviews with those escaped from the interior, as well as by
information supplied from the heads of the large missionary societies.
[Sidenote: IN THE GOVERNOR’S YAMÊN]
From letters written as late as June 20, it was understood that the
missionaries at Pao-ting-fu had assembled in the Yamên of the Governor,
and that they expected to receive protection. They had faith in the
willingness and ability of that high official, and did not deem
themselves in danger. Within five days of that date, however, when the
Boxers and Imperial army had openly joined against foreigners, the
Governor ordered the missionaries out of the Yamên. They did not go,
it is believed, without protest, for they knew that, once out of the
Yamên gate, all would be over with them. They were forced to return to
their homes, where they were attacked by the mob, and most of them were
cruelly massacred, undoubtedly by order of the high official, whose
duty, under the treaties, it was to protect them, and who, indeed,
showed some consideration in not wishing to have them butchered in the
Yamên.
[Illustration: THE TAOTAI OF SHANGHAI GOING TO PAY AN OFFICIAL VISIT]
Matters were different in the case of the bitterly anti-foreign Yu
Hsien, the Governor of the adjoining province of Shansi, whose name
has often appeared in preceding chapters, in the correspondence of the
British Minister in Pekin.
On June 30 the Boxers attacked the Roman Catholic and the American
Presbyterian missions, destroying the premises of both missions by
fire. It is not clearly known how many Catholic missionaries were
slaughtered, but of the Americans, Mr. and Mrs. Simcox and three
children, Dr. and Mrs. Hodges, and Dr. Taylor, were brutally murdered.
All the native Christians that fell into the hands of the mob shared
the same fate. Mr. and Mrs. Simcox bravely defended themselves and
their children until they were overpowered. They were then bound and
dragged three miles away to the grave of a Boxer leader, where they
were sacrificed. One of the ladies had been so injured that she could
not walk. They carried her. When the ghastly preparations were made
for putting them to death, one lady made a most touching appeal to the
brutes round her to spare the life of her child, and with sobs and
tears implored them to take her life willingly in exchange, but to save
her little one. But neither tears, nor sobs, nor prayers moved these
ruffians to compassion--on the contrary. Cowardice and cruelty are
always found together. The poor innocent little mite was seized and cut
down before her mother’s eyes.
Dr. Taylor, who had been of much assistance to natives of all creeds
in the neighbourhood, attended faithfully and steadily to the patients
in his infirmary until the very last moment, when the mob seized him,
dragged him out, and beheaded him. Being well known for the wonderful
cures he had made, his head was placed as a sacrifice before the
red-faced God of War (the Boxer god) in the Buddhist temple.
Similar occurrences were not uncommon during the Boxer trouble. In
fact, in the Viceroy’s yamên in Tientsin we have seen how receipts
were found for money paid to women for placing the heads of foreigners
before the idols in the temples. These women had formed themselves into
a properly constituted and approved society, the object of which was to
allure and then murder and mutilate foreigners, and also to mutilate
corpses after battles. For this revolting service the stipulated reward
was thirty Tientsin taels, or about four pounds sterling. I have seen
with my own eyes the receipts for money paid by the Viceroy from the
Government account, and have already given a translation of them in a
previous chapter.
[Sidenote: COWARDLY PERSECUTORS]
The Catholic and Presbyterian missions wrecked, and the missionaries
nearly exterminated, there yet remained a few “foreign devils” to be
slain, but a heavy rain put a temporary stop to the work of the slayers.
The next morning (July 1) Mr. Bagnall, of the China Inland Mission,
was assassinated in a temple in the town, and Mr. Pitkin, who behaved
heroically, was shot on the terrace in front of the chapel while
defending the two ladies of the mission. His head was at once severed
from his body. The fate of Mr. Cooper, of the China Inland Mission,
is not exactly known, nor have any details transpired of the death of
Mrs. Bagnall and her child. A terrible end, however, awaited the two
unfortunate ladies (Miss G---- and Miss M----) of the American Board
mission, whom Mr. Pitkin had so bravely defended. They were bound and
dragged to the Boxer headquarters. It is not certain how long they
remained prisoners nor what they were made to endure at the hands of
their cowardly persecutors. But from the accounts of other ladies who
found themselves in a similar plight, it is not difficult to imagine
what they must have been subjected to and suffered at the hands of
these inhuman devils.
When returning from China through America in December, I found that
there seemed to be a feeling prevailing in the United States Republic
that American citizens had, on every possible occasion, been spared
and respected by the Boxers and Chinese officials. Great publicity
was given to this statement, and credit was taken accordingly for the
prestige of United States citizenship in every other nation on the face
of the globe.
Those were words. Here are a few facts.
Of the fifteen people brutally murdered on that particular occasion,
eleven were American citizens. As we have seen, they had been safe
in the yamên of the Governor at Pao-ting-fu until the 20th, and had
he wished he could have prevented their massacre; but the very fact
that they were driven from his residence to their homes was naturally
interpreted by the mob as a sign that they were left at its mercy.
The massacre extended over two whole days, but no effort whatever was
made by the authorities at any sort of repression, nor at saving or
protecting those that had escaped the first day’s slaughter.
The Boxers, according to a telegram which is said to have been sent
to his Excellency Sheng of Shanghai, announced that the massacre had
been carried out by “Boxers--not many of them--who were principally new
hands.” It will be remembered that it was in escaping from this town
that a number of the engineers of the Luhan railway, and their wives
and children, were attacked by Boxers. Those that fell into their hands
were murdered, and their bodies horribly mutilated. In the case of
ladies, the bodies were opened from the lower to the upper part of the
trunk. Whether this was done before or after death is not known.
Pao-ting-fu and the vicinity have, through the whole trouble, been the
centre of the Boxer movement, and, except for the murder of Mr. Brooks
in Shantung, it was in this province that the first outrage occurred.
[Illustration: A FIRE AND FUSE OF MINE NEAR RAILWAY STATION, TIENTSIN]