CHINA AND MEXICO.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1230, 12 September 1911, Page 5

CHINA AND MEXICO.

$ THE TORREON MASSACRE. A BILL FOR THE REPUBLIC. By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright New York, September 10. Woo Chung-yen, a noted Chinese diplomat, has arrived at San Francisco on his. way to hold an investigation into Mexican atrocities awl the shooting of Chinese at 'l'orrcon in May last. Compensation will be demanded. THE STORY OF TIIE MASSACRE. The facts regarding the wholesale massacre of Chinese at Torreon, on May 15, wero variously reported by the Mexican press and by tho dispatches of the American Associated Press. Writing of the incident iiv July tho New York l°. sts correspondent in Mexico said: Intelligent: and patriotic Mexicans freely confess that, it has been a great blot on tho revolutionary movementand< in public, wlnlo trying to throw as" much blame ns possible upon lawless element which at the time conld not bo controlled, prefer, to say very little, and to recognise the justice of all reasonable claims on tho part of tho Chineso Government for apology and indemnity. It was-stated in tho press some time ago that the Chinese uovcrnment would- exact an _ indemnity .of 100,000 dollars for each of tho 303 Cmneso subjects who were slaughtered, together with an extra sum covering value of banking and mercantile property destroyed. , , Dr. Lim, ono of tho most prominent members of t'ho Chinese. colony in Torreon, was an American Presbyterian convert in Canton, studied medicine, came to California, and from there, entered Mexico, taking up his residence at Torreon over twenty years ago. Torreon was then a hustling railroad centre with only two or three thousand people, but with a big future ahead of it as the centro of a rich mining and cotton district. Dr. Lim, having keen business instincts, began-to dabble in mines and real'estate, while he practised his profession as a physician. At the same time he associated himself with Foon Chuck, who bad been put in charge of the railroad hotels on the international railroad lines. Foon Chuck is now reputed to be a. multi-millionaire, Ho and Dr. Lim, with a few chosen associates, kept bringing over Chinese bovs to act as cooks and waiters in- the hotels, Americanising them in dress and habit's, and establishing schools for their education. Later thev havo gone into garden farming, and the establishment of small stores, and before the massacre tho Chinese community in Torreon alone numbered about fiOO. At the date of the massacre they had sonic sixtv stores in different parts of the city and "had practically monopolised the Torreon fruit and vegetable market. 1 hey also had established a flourishing Chineso bank and were building an electric railroad connecting the centre of the city with tho flourishing exlension which they had bought and platted for a residence district. This will largely explain the jealousy thnt grew up against them on 'the .part of Mexican washerwomen (for (hey had also extensive laundries) and small farmers, who had '.lost out'" in then competition with the more' industrious Chinese. The added fact that the Chinese d'd not bring their families with them. Thnt there are very few intermarriage; with' Mexicans, and that the Mexican people formed an exaggerated idea of the amount of money that wa.s being sent tc China through tho bank tended tc strengthen tho feeling of hostility. During tho revolution the town.got oui of hand on the date mentioned, and began looting the Chinese stores, and finall> rounded, up tho Chinese and killed them like sheep.