Persecution Of Christians

Missionaries Having a Hard Time in China - Horrible Atrocity

Victoria, B. C, Nov. 36.- An event which speaks for itself, of the lawless state of the country bordering on and beyond the new territory, Kowloon, China, took place quite recently. A gang of thugs kidnapped a lad of 7 years with a view of holding him for ransom. A message was sent to the father demanding of him a ransom somewhat beyond his means and consequently he could not pay it The fiends, believing that he was able to raise the money if he wished, again sent to him, threatening that if the money was not sent within a specified time the boy would be returned to him in pickle, and the money not being sent, actually put their threat into effect, the dead body of the lad being returned to the father in a jar of brine. The perpetrators of this horrible outrage are still at large and apparently the Chinese authorities are making no effort to arrest them.

New York, Nov. 16.- The American Bible society is in receipt of reports from its agents in China, which state that as the result of the palace revolution last year, whereby the empress dowager assumed power and the emperor was practically imprisoned, persecutions of missionaries and Bible colporteurs are occurring in various parts of China, especially in the far interior. The Chinese .society known as "The Boxers" is said to be provoking agitations and antagonisms. Two colporteurs of the Bible society visited Peu Shui Chiang, in the province of Kansuh, and were invited to circulate Bibles from a Chinese temple.

As soon as they were inside of the temple the gates were closed and the colporteurs were set upon and terribly beaten with long sticks of firewood. Four were severely beaten; two others were attacked, but not so severely injured as the other four. Some of the elders of the town took part in the beating. The men were tied hands and feet to the pillars of the temple, and spat upon, the people shouting "we have tied you up as they did your Jesus on the cross." They then began to strike them on the face and shout "this is what your gods can do for you; call upon your Jesus to come and save you." By this time two of the men were insensible, and a merchant who had been living in the same inn with them remonstrated with the leaders about the treatment they were giving to men who had in no way offended them. The crowd seized the merchant and beat him also. It is understood that the agents of the Bible society will endeavor to obtain redress from the Mandarins of Lo-Yang-Hsien, the city in the province of Yan-Suh, which rules the town where this disturbance took place.