20th July.
The Death of the Rev. A G. Jones.
I telegraphed you on the 17th the sad news of the sudden death of Alfred G. Jones, the senior member of the English Baptist Mission in this pri tails of the catastrophe in which he lost his life have just come in letters from Prof. and Mrs. Goodcell, who have been spending some time at one of the cottages on the flank of Taishan. Prof. Goodcell, writing under date of the 18th ins! says: "Yesterday morning we recei word that the temple where Mr. Jones was staying had been washed away and that Mr. Jones was missing. We foreign men, taking with us such things as we thought might be useful, started at once. Before we had gone very far we saw a m r coming and learned from him that the body of Mr. Jones had been found and that it was being taken down the mountain. We went on thinking we be of some use. Everywhere we saw evidences of the strength of the storm of the previous night. It had been wild and terrible, full of thunder, lightning, rain, and wind. Over a foot of water must have fallen between eleven and two clock, We passed several land-slides which made us shudder, but the worst of all was when we reached the temple where Mr. Jones had been staying. There had evidently been what we call a cloudbursting the Western States—a sudden and terrible downpour. According to Mr. Jones' servants the whole thing had come at once. They had been awakened by a series of three terrible sounds, that came one after the other, followed by the awful crash and ruin. The whole temple, saving afew upper rooms—rooms further uj the mountain—was demolished, except a few walls. The place was covored with stones weighing from hundreds of pounds up to several tons and mud was thick. Troos larger than I could roach around had been torn up by the roots, stripped of branches and oven the bark taken off of them. The heavy stone road bad boon utterly demolished. Mr. Jones had been in his bed when the noises had began—the terrible noises—and had evidently sprung up to escape, but before he could got away from his bed all was over and his spirit had left this world. Death must have been instantaneous. He was struck on the back of his head, suffering fracture of the skull near the base, which the doctor says: must have killed him instantly. Ho was also bruised ina number of places about the body and there was alittle cut over the right eye. He fell forward on his face and was found in ition about nine o'clock, I think. He 1ad been buried under considerable mud, etc., which probably prevented his body ing mangled. Poor Fritz, his dog, perished in the same catastrophe, and this leads mo to think that it must have been terribly sudden, for a dog' usually manages to got out of such things if there is the slightest chance. One servant was caught but not killed, though ho was covered up to his arms with the debris. Either he or his fellow-servant went for Mr. Tedder but did not reach him until about five or half-past five.
some twenty workmen at work. Every-Mr. Tedder ran up at once and then got thing was done that could be done, but too Iste. Had there been a thousand skilled workmen and -the finest of surgeons, it could have availed nothing."
As soon as the news reached here Mr. Whitewright started for Taianfu to bring up Mr. Jones' body and take it on to Chingehoufu, where Mr. Jones was formerly stationed, for burial. It is expected ithe funeral will take place on Sunday or Monday next. Mr. Jones is survived by his wife and three children, all of whom are at home in England.
The death of Mr, Jones is a terrible loss to the English Baptist Mission, of which he was the pioneer in Sbhantung. He has been in the province for nearly thirty years, having come out at his own charges in 1876, Ever since that time he i own salary and besides has times to the treasury of ety, He was" noble man of lovely Christian character, who will be dreadfully missed by his many friends, both foreign and native, la Shautuog. It was the writer's privilege to know both Mr, and Mrs. Jones intimately for many years. It was always s joy to stop in hospitable home and lovely fe, which was an inspiration to all who knew them.
Since writing the above, the following letter fom Me. Whitowright on his way back with Mr. Jones' body, has been received which may interest your readers
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.