[Inclosure.]
Dr. John
Wherry to Mr. Conger.
Pekin, September 19,
1900.
Dear Sir: From a young man [Chinese]
named ------- -------, originally from ------, but who for
nearly a year has been at Paoting-fu, * * * I learn some
particulars of the last days of our missionaries at that place.
Since their death Mr. ----- has been in hiding from the Boxers,
and has but recently dared to venture into the city. He is a
Christian and is regarded as thoroughly trustworthy. He says
that until near the final catastrophe the provincial treasurer
remained friendly to the missionaries, although conscious that
he thereby incurred the ill-will of the Boxers. Among other
kindly acts, he offered the missionaries a public building (not
a yamen) in the city as a refuge. This, however, they declined
to accept, partly because they feared that moving thither might
precipitate an attack upon them, and especially because in any
event they would have been no safer there than at their own
homes. This refusal to accept the treasurer’s offer made no
difference in his friendship toward them. For ten days or more
previous to the 25th or 26th of June a guard of 18 cavalrymen
had been stationed at a temple close by the Presbyterian
mission, a short distance outside the north gate of the city.
These were reenforced for two nights only by some 200 of General
Nieh Shih-cheng’s infantry. About the 25th or 26th of June an
imperial edict was said to have reached Paoting-fu denouncing
the Christians, whereupon the original guard and General Nieh’s
troops all abandoned their watch and did not return. At the same
time the attitude of the provincial treasurer toward the
missionaries and Christians changed. In appearance at least he
became hostile. From this date the Boxers, who were known to be
enrolled in large numbers, but who had kept themselves hidden,
became much bolder and began to appear on the streets in their
distinctive colors.
At the fatal attack on the Presbyterian Mission, Mr. ----- was
not present, Dr. and Mrs. Hodge having released him in the
gathering storm from service. But during his hiding he was
thrown into company with a young man named ----- -------, who,
as an eyewitness of the final catastrophe, gave him some
important particulars. [Page 194]
----- -------, though the son of a Presbyterian convert, was not
himself a professing Christian, and so, having no special fear
of the Boxers, mingled freely with the crowd that gathered to
witness the killing of the foreigners and the destruction of
their buildings. From his account it seems that the city was
still quiet enough on the morning of the 30th of June to allow
Dr. Taylor to enter it on his professional duties as usual. In
the afternoon, after Dr. Taylor’s return, he and Mr. and Mrs.
Simcox and their three children, and Dr. and Mrs. Hodge, being
each in his own house, the assault came. One or two of the
missionaries made some defense, and two of their assailants were
killed. ------ -------, the witness, was himself slightly
wounded in the head by a bullet from one of the houses.
Undeterred, however, the Boxers crowded up to the doors and set
the buildings on fire, and the inmates, with one exception,
perished in the flames. One of Mr. Simcox’s children, presumably
Paul, the oldest, driven by the heat or smoke, ran out, and was
immediately dispatched by a sword or spear. After the houses
were consumed the charred retrains of the dead were thrown into
a well. The bodies of the two dead Boxers were carried away.
The above account differs in some points from that received by
Mr. J. W. Lowrie at Tientsin. I think it is likely more nearly
correct.
Mr.------- had also some information regarding the destruction of
the American Board mission at the south of the city, but no
doubt you will receive a fuller and more accurate account than
he can give from some member of the same mission in Pekin.
With high appreciation of your interest in our martyred brethren,
and protracted efforts to save them,
I am, dear sir, yours, sincerely,
