Mr. Denby, chargé,
to Mr. Olney.
Legation of the United States,
Peking, May 23, 1896.
(Received July 11.)
No. 2533.]
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a
clipping from the North China Daily News, giving an account of an
antimissionary riot which occurred at Kiangyin, in the province of
Kiangsu, on the 12th instant. It will be seen that though the property
of an American mission was looted and destroyed no personal injuries
were inflicted.
Kiangyin is situated on the south bank of the Yangtze River, 100 miles
west of Shanghai and 60 miles east of Chinkiang. A Catholic cathedral is
located there, and there were two years ago 37 chapels in the district.
In 1894 a station of the Southern Presbyterian Mission of the United
States was located there in the face of considerable opposition. It is
the premises of this mission which have now been destroyed.
On the 17th instant I received an unofficial note from one of the
ministers of the Yamên, informing me that riots had broken out at
Kiangyin, where American interests were concerned, but he gave no
details thereof. I at once telegraphed to the United States consul at
Chinkiang, asking if any American had suffered thereby. The same day the
consul telegraphed in reply as follows:
Two Americans safe here. Immediate settlement probable.
Ringleader [in] prison.
[Page 71]
No further communication has been received on this subject, and it is to
be hoped that the case will be promptly settled without appeal to the
Central Government.
The missionaries who wish to obtain land at Chuchou Fu, referred to in my
dispatch No. 2530, of the 20th instant, are of the same mission as those
at Kiangyin and work in the same vicinity. I have accordingly
telegraphed Consul Jones, suggesting that in settling the Kiangyin case
he attempt to reach some understanding regarding Chuchou Fu also.
I have, etc.,
Charles Denby, Jr.,
Chargé d’Affaires ad
interim.
[Inclosure in No. 2533.—From the North
China Daily News.]
The Riot at Kiangyin.
the origin.
In my telegram of yesterday I notified you of the riot at this place.
Now as to some of the particulars. For the past few days there has
been a great number of rowdies collecting here. These men acted as
assistants to a quack doctor, who has for some time past been giving
us trouble. This man had concocted a scheme by which he hoped to
make a nice squeeze out of us through the family who had rented
property to us. The matter was settled in such a manner as was
satisfactory to the parties immediately concerned, but our enemy
lost face in the settlement, and he was determined to be revenged.
Accordingly, in that part of the city nearest the mission property a
placard was posted stating that the missionaries had two children
hid under their house. At 2 o’clock this quack doctor came into the
chapel, followed by a great crowd of roughs, evidently bent on
mischief. They demanded to be allowed to search the place for the
children. This was refused, the missionaries stating that if the
search were made the magistrate must do it. An attempt was made to
“rush” the chapel door leading to the dwelling house, when your
correspondent drew a pistol, stating that he would use it on the
first man who touched the door. This awed the crowd, and a
determination to carry out what was said kept them in check. My
colleague, the Rev. L. L. Little, with a native assistant, went for
the magistrate. In the meantime the crowd, now becoming large, was
restrained with difficulty. After about an hour and a half the
magistrate with about a dozen runners came. We stated our case to
him and insisted on a search of the place. He did so, but found
nothing. The man who was leading the trouble then came forward and
said the children were buried in the back yard. He was ordered to
find them if he knew. He made a pretense of looking at various
places, then looked up at the fence wall as if identifying the
place, walked to the fence, and began digging under some shavings
and rubbish like one possessed. In a few minutes, to our horror, he
threw out a package roughly done up in coarse matting. Being ordered
to open it he did so, revealing a child about eighteen months old
that had been dead fifteen or twenty days. The official turned to
the missionaries and said: “How long have you had that thing here?
You see, you all see that it is a child. What have you to say for
yourselves?” We could only answer, of course, that we knew nothing
of it. The package was then sent out through the crowd that had
grown to several hundreds. When they saw and comprehended what it
meant—so confirmatory a proof of all their reports and beliefs—such
a yell of rage went up as a man hears only once in a lifetime. Every
man was carrying poles, sticks, knives, hoes, or reaping hooks, and
they were yelling, “Kill the barbarian devils!”
The official had no control of the crowd whatever. Thinking that they
could not possibly face such a crowd with such a piece of
condemnatory evidence, the missionaries determined to make for the
forts. Driving the crowd back into the front yard at the point of a
pistol and saying the first man would be shot who came back, they
made a dash for the back fence and found a way out through a
neighbor’s house. They then made a long circuit, but were seen and
pursued more than a mile. Finally they reached the forts very much
exhausted, but not otherwise injured. Fortunately, there were no
women of children in Kiangyin at the time. The property was
completely looted, everything being carried off and the building
dismantled. Doors and windows were broken, and the flooring prized
up and carried off.
This morning I learn from authoritative sources that the trouble in
the city is growing serious. The Hoonan soldiers have been called
out, and so far as we can see [Page 72] every effort is being made to quiet the people. The missionaries’
assistant and servants have been taken to the magistrate’s yamên and
imprisoned. The missionaries are leaving this evening for Chinkiang
to put the case in the hands of the United States consul. They have,
however, to record their grateful thanks to Mr. John Jürgens, head
foreign instructor at the forts, for his kind protection and
generous hospitality.
May 13.
