Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1911 — GREAT MASSACRE OF 800 CHINESE [ARTICLE]

GREAT MASSACRE OF 800 CHINESE

Manchus Are Trapped by Their Pronunciation. ■ ■ - DIFFERENCE IN SAYING “6” Ruthless Slaughter Carried on In Three Cities—Rebels Adopt Short Hair (No Cue) as Their Badge. Shanghai, Oct. 20.—The rebels of Hankow, who have adopted short hair as the distinguishing mark of the revolutionists, plan the massacre of all Chinese in Hu-Peh and Hu-Nan provinces who have not cut off their cues before Oct. 22. This is the report brought by refugees from the captured city who packed six steamers which arrived here. They also report that before they left Hankow 804 Manchus had been massacred there and that similar massacres had taken place at WuChang and Han-Yang. To make sure their victims were Manchus the rebels took advantage of the slight difference in the Chinese and Manchu pronunciations. When a suspect was taken he was ordered to count, and the crucial test was his pronounclation of the numeral 6, which in Chinese is liushiliu. [The correct pronunciation of “Liushiliu,” as explained by an American Chinaman, is as if it were spelled “Lo-Kow,” while the Manchus pronounce it as though it were “Lo-Kee-Haw,**] The refugees assert the whole Yang-Tse Valley from Hankow to Shanghai is in the hands of the rebels, with the possible exception of one or two of the larger cities to which provincial officials have retired with their available troops.