MURDERS IN CHINA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18661, 22 March 1935, Page 9

MURDERS IN CHINA

MISSIONARIES KILLED COMMUNISTS' DEED RESCUE OP YOUNG BABY y VANCOUVER, March 2. ; How the two young Canadian mis- ":, sioriariesi, the Bev. John Stam and his .wife were butchered by Chinese communists at a remote mission in the Province of Anhwei was told »by the BevV.C* K. Lo,, Chinese evangelist of the China Inland' Mission who brought out the three-months-old daughter of the. murdered missionaries. The missionaries were married in Shanghai two years ago, before they entered the mission field. They were later sent to a territory served by Tsingteh, 60 miles « south of Wuhu. Here the Magistrate assured them of his (protection, and promised to warn them of the approach of Communists. o>n'December 6, they arrived at their new home at the mission compound. Just before noon, the compound was invaded* by a horde of ragged young bandits, armed with rifles, old-fashion-ed swords and crude weapons. Their leader told Mr. Stam that he must prepare to go to Miaochao, 10 miles distant. Peasants met them, and ask- . ed Mt. Stam .where be was going. "I believe we are on ,our way to another world," be answered. MB. LO TELLS HIS STORY. . ''l arrived' in Miaochao at 4 o 'cloek fih the 6thj with my wife and baby son," said Mr. Lo. "Next morning, the Communists captured me, but released me when my friends in the village told them I was a dealer in medicines. Three days later, prior to the arrival of Government troops, the bandits retreated to Hung Tsong. My/jWife and I were hiding in the hills, when a villager t,old me the Stains* had been murdered. I fouiid their bodies." The postmaster, w.ho feared the communists, told Mr. Lo they had permitted Mr, Stam to write to his headquarters. . His wife had pinned their last 10-dollar bill in the baby's sleeping bag. Most of the villagers had "fled, t'the pair spent a night of horror in an abandoned house while Mr. Stam was beaten and his wife maltreated." \: Next day, Mr. and Mrs Stam were led, naked .and bound, through the village, while the. bandit leader harangued the villagers and told them they.were '''foreign devils" and friends of President Chiang Kin-sfaek, and must die. A Chinese merchant, a Christian, knelt before the band and pleaded for their lives. His skull was crushed by a soldier's sword, as Mr. Stam was pleading with the leader to spare him.

MB. AND MRS STAM KILLED, Mr. Stam. fell to a thrust from a-big knife in the leader's hand, while his band shouted with glee, and the villagers cowered in terror. A young Communist, about 16; stepped up with a long, double-edged sword slung .on his shoulder, and,, Mrs\ Stam: joined-her husband. Young bandits kicked a "their bodies as the gang formed up and marched away. Mr. Lo bought two •coffins, and placed thei bodies in them. Hearing -whispers from the villagers about a feabyyhe went to the abandoned house, and found,the child, Helen Priscilla, , cooing contentedly. Mr. Lo then abandoned the idea of taking , the bodies with him, and putting his own baby and the Stems' baby in coolie baskets, he slung them • over his 'shoulder, and, taking unfrequented paths over rough, country, arrived at "Wuhu in an exhausted state. During their trip over the mountains,, Mr. and/Mrs Lo ate nothing but .wild chestnuts: Mr. Lo's wife, aided, by powdered milk that they purchased, tended thei Stums' baby.