Page 44 - incense-bearers of han

his brother and sister would be along the next day he was delighted as he had not

known they were coming.

The next day was July first. It was the day set by the Ministry if Railways of the
Nanking Government to run the first train through from Peking to Mukden since the

occupation of Manchuria by the Japanese in 1931, nearly four years before. In that
interval there had been two trains, one from Peking to the Great Wall and one from
outside the wall to Mukden. The Chinese Nationalists incensed by Japan‟s grab of
Manchuria felt that to run a through train and carry mail etc. was for China, in effect,

to recognize formally Japanese sovereignty in Manchuria. The “Iron and Blood
Society”—a red-hot group of Nationalists—made several drastic threats as to what
they would do if the train were run through. The railway authorities ignored these
threats and carried on with their plans. It was this train that our Arthur and Grace

boarded in Tientsin when they left their train from the South. They usually rode in the
first or second Class compartments, but that day they went in to the third Class car.

The train had gone about sixty miles from Tientsin when it became apparent that

the warnings of the “Iron and Blood Society” were not mere empty threats. A
time-bomb had been placed in each of the first, second and third class cars. It was
only the one in the third class cars. It was only the one in the third class car that
exploded, and it was very near if not under the seat where Arthur and Grace were

sitting.

The damage that was wrought may be well imagined. The whole side of the car
was blown out and quiet a number of people killed or injured. Arthur and Grace did

not escape. A piece of the bomb entered Arthur‟s throat just below the jaw, passed
right up through his brain and came out at the top of his head. He never knew what hit
him and never regained consciousness. Grace was horribly mangled. Her outside
garment, called the Manchurian gown, was completely blown off, her skull crushed in,

four fingers on one hand shot off, the calf and thigh on one leg ripped open and the
other foot blown nearly in two until it hung by a thread. Still she was perfectly
conscious!

The day was fiercely hot and the victims were carried out and laid on the platform
of a station which the train was just entering when the explosion occurred.
A master-sergeant of the United States Infantry Medical Corps located in Tientsin
was on the train at the time, going away to spend his vacation. He knelt beside Grace

to see if he could do anything to relieve her. She thanked him for his kindness and

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