Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1912 — History Repeats Itself In Chinese Uprising [ARTICLE]

History Repeats Itself In Chinese Uprising

By B. G. BERNST

Ap account of the manner in which the Manchus were massacred at Hankow, China, greatly impressed me. To make sure of the identity of their victims the Chinese rebels hit upon the difference in the Chinese and Manchu pronunciation and compelled the victim to count, and when he pronounced the numeral 6 in the Manchu manner death descended upon him. Thus was the word “Liushiliu,” the Chinese for “six,” made to serve as judge and executioner. This event recalls to my mind part of chapter 12 of the books of Judges in the

Old Testament. It reads as follows: “Then said they unto him, say now shibboleth and he said sibboleth, for lie could not franio to pronounce it right. Then they took him,and slew him at the passages of Jordan; and there fell at that time forty and two thousand.” It seems peculiar that this ghastly act of hundreds of years ago should be repeated in the twentieth century. _ ,