TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES OF A SYDNEY LADY.

Otago Witness, Volume 02, Issue 2420, 2 August 1900, Page 31

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES OF A SYDNEY LADY.

THREATENED BY THE BIG KNIFE

SOCIETY, OR BOXERS

ANXIOUS TIME IN A CHINESE INN,

Mrs A. Rea, of Simmons street, Enmore, has received a letter from her younger daiighter Alice, who has been nine .years in China in connection with the London Missionary Society, giving particulars of an anxious time she experienced about two months ago at the hands of the Boxers. Mrs Rea's daughter is the wife of Mr David Herring, an American missionary who is stationed at Chining, in the north-west part of the Shantung province. The letter, which is dated May 15 and was posted at Tientsin, is descriptive of a journey she made with" her husband and three children to a watering-place called Pei Ta Hoo, on the shores of the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, with a view of spending the summer holidays. The party had bicycles, as well as a. Chinese barrow drawn by two Chinamen, and was accompanied by two Chinese soldiers. As the road seemed quiet during the first day's travelling, Mr Herring sent them back. Describing the remainder of the journey,

Mrs Herring, who calls the Boxers by the name of the Big Knife Society, says : — "We met with no trouble till the last day. Then we had a strong head wind, and barrowmen declared they could push the barrow against it no farther, so we were compelled to stop in a large town during the afternoon. It proved to be a stronghold of the Big Knife Society, and we had an anxious time there. The men soon discovered it was a bad place, but having already gone into the inn, it Avould never have done to tiy to oonthme our journey. They would consider tli-ay had run us off, and have certainly mobbed us, so we shut the inn door and kept quiet inside, ivhilst the crowds outside were yelling and cursing themselves hoarse, and trying to see the foreign devils. They tore all the paper off the windows trying to peep in (the windows are just wooden bars with paper pasted over them), and did their best to come inside, and do their own pleasure with us and our belongings.

" The door had no fastening, but David fixed a bench against it which kept it closed. Tliis they knocked over several times, and once when David went to the door to ask them- to stop, they just began to ride roughshod over him. That roused David's ire, and he drew his pistol and dared them to come on. He told them he would shoot the first who dared to go into the inn, and this cowed them somewhat. He told them he could lull 15 of them, and after that they could kill him, but till then they should not enter. They still continued cursing till dark, but did not try to come in any more, and not knowing what might happen, David sent the cook (an able-bodied Chinaman who has been helpful along the way) on to Lin Ching, our destination, where there are foreigners, to ask them to send some soldiers. It took him till night to get there, and when it was dark the Big Knife men went away. We did not dare to have any food, excepting a few biscuits we had along Avith us and some milk. We spread a quilt on the floor, (there were no beds), and lay down in our clothes to sleep. -All remained quiet, and we, at least I, slept fairly well, but David was wakeful.

Before daybreak we went off on our bicycles, leaving the barrowmen to pack up our things, put them on ' the barrow, and come on slowly. After travelling some distance we reached a little village, where we had breakfast. When about 10 miles from the city of Lin Gbing w© sat down to wait with the best grace for the barrowmen to come \ip. Whilst there our cook came back with a note from the foreigners' at Lin Ching saying they had despatched soldiers, who would reach the place of danger by noon. Presently six of these braves mounted on horseback came along, so we told them there was no need to go farther, since we were all safe, and no harm was done."

_ The letter proceeds to state that Mrs Herring and her husband and children reached Lin Ching in safety, and thence travelled (with other English residents) by houseboat to Tientsin, where the letter was posted. Writing shortly after the atrocious murder of the missionary, Mr Brook, whose death was the start of the present trouble, Mr Herring in a letter to Mrs Rea says: — "Things are quieting down about T'ai Au and the region where the murder of Mr Brook, S.P.G., was committed. The Governor seems to be in earnest about satisfying the foreigners in his punishment of the murderers; but he is not trying to destroy the Hwei (society), and I fear he will not bring to the block the leaders. Some think the Government is really protecting this Ta Tao Hwei (Big Knife Society), shielding it with one wing and the foreigners with the other. They have said to the officers throughout the country that these riots must be kept within bounds, lest the Government fail_ to maintain the peace with foreign nations."