at your
offence," they were told. "If you are caught again, you will be given a
heavier punishment."

The worst happenings with the women were not in the big towns, where the
presence of white people exercised some restraint, but in villages, where
the new troops often behaved in almost incredible fashion, outraging
freely. The police in many of these outlying parts rivalled the military in
brutality. Of the many stories that reached me, the tale of Tong Chun
stands out. The account was investigated by experienced white men, who
shortly afterwards visited the place and saw for themselves.

The village of Tong Chun contains about 300 houses and is the site of a
Christian church. The young men of the place wished to make a demonstration
but the elders of the church dissuaded them for a time. However, on March
29th, market day, when there were many people in the place, some children
started demonstrating, and their elders followed, a crowd of four or five
hundred people marching through the streets and shouting "Mansei!" There
was no violence of any kind. The police came out and arrested seventeen
persons, including five women.

One of these women was a widow of thirty-one. She was taken into the police
office and a policeman tore off her clothes, leaving her in her underwear.
Then the police began to take off her underclothes. She protested,
whereupon they struck her in the face with their hands till she was black
and blue. She still clung to her clothes, so they put a wooden paddle down
between her legs and tore her clothes away. Then they beat her. The beating
took a long time. When it was finished the police stopped to drink tea and
eat Japanese cakes, they and their companions--there were a number of men
in the room--amusing themselves by making fun of her as she sat there naked
among them. She was subsequently released. For a week afterwards she had to
lie down most of the time and could not walk around.

Another victim was the wife of a Christian teacher, a very bright,
intelligent woman, with one child four months old, and two or three months
advanced in her second pregnancy. She had taken a small part in the
demonstration and then had gone to the home of the mother of another woman
who had been arrested, to comfort her. Police came here, and demanded if
she had shouted "Mansei." She admitted that she had. They ordered her to
leave the child that she was carrying on her back and took her to the
police station. A