'Mr, Came and His Comrades'
Account -of Their Durance in Brigand Strongholds The-Rev.. Edgar H. Came, who was captured with three other Wuchow missionaries, Messrs. Rex. Ray, R. A. Jaffray, and Harry G. Miller, while attempting to rosen the twenty foreigners under siege in Kueilin, and held "for ransom in a robber camp for six weeks, arrived in Shanghai during—the! week-end, and left on Monday night, with Mrs. Came, for Hahkow. With him was the Rev. W. H.
Oldfield, who was under' fire in the besieged city of Kueilin for 77 days, and conducted negotiations for his release, and also the Rev. Hi, G, Miller, who was captured at the same time, but released after four days by the bandits in order to obtain the ransom money.
Mr, Came is suffering from a severe attack of malarial fever, the malady which almost caused his death" while in. the bandit camp, but it is believed that it is safe "for him to go to Hankow. As do the others concerned in thi perilous adventure, Mr. Came minimizes his own anxieties and discomforts, and emphasizes the unusual opportunity of extending his evangelistic work among a class of people whom he could not ordinary hope to number in his congregation, The Attack on the Roanoke.
Aluiovgh this velief expedition which started out in the hospital motor boat Roanoke—travelled with the official consent of the authorities and with an escort of 80 soldiers, when the bandits opened five on the boat on the afternoon of May 25 the soldiers fled and the bandits boarded the Goat, carried off everything, including the hats of the prisoners and rushed them up into the mountains, marching in single file. When night fell "lanterns and torches were brought and the march continued until two o'clock the "morning, through streams and along stony paths they had to cling with hands and feet tothe grass and creepers to keep from falling into the ravines below. Here Mr. Jaffray \l Mr. Miller were left behind and Mr. Came and Mr. Ray continued over ridges and into valleys until after brief rests at the end of the next day they reached one of the robber strongholds and were allowed to wath and eat rice, An auction was held that night of the personal belongings taken off the boat, Dr. Miller's bathrobe bringing '$1.00 and a pair of white drill trousers 460 cents, They were not allowed to stay here, however, but pushed on over rough roads to still another stronghold where they found Mr. Miller again. The latter left under quard the next morning to arrange for the payment of the ranson and Mr, Came and Mr, Ray were left with only "A. Tso servant from the 3fissfon Wuchow, who refused to leave then although he was not "held for ransom. He later proved not only very useful in. securing food but in connexion with negotiations for release. After three days in this main camp they transferred again, and indeed the nervousness of the bandits over possible surprise and capture made them keep their unfortunate prisoners almost constantly on the move. During one maveh Mr. Ray sat'down by the road refusing to move and his guard left him, thinking he was vnable" to move,. whereupon Mr. Ray made the most of the opportunity and managed to reach Chao-ping the next day. His guard had his gun taken from him and was turned out of the band in disgrace. This led to Mr. Came's being more closely guarded and at no time was there a chance for him to get away.
Mr. Came reported many amusing incidents in the camp, one bandit's ignorance of the uses of a fork and his endeavour to use it as it as a. comb, the popularity of the Big Ben alarm clock looted from the boat, which was set for every two hours, and its back used as a mirror, Another robber tied on nose glasses with a strip of blue cloth, "his. sawn nose being' too "flat keep them on, and expected to =be able to' reed the foreign Bible because he. told of the benevolent bandit who after brushing his teeth (with talcum powder!) kindly offered to Tend his brush to his captive Another broke Mr. Jaffray's glasses but kept the gold nosepiece to make stylish gold tooth which could be ippedl.on over the original tooth, 'a new fad in the country side.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.