Letter from Henry to Edward, July 9, 1872
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Henry to Edward, July 9, 1872
Subject
Death; Gunshot wounds; Robbery; Murder
Description
In this letter to his brother Edward, Henry recounts the details of the death of Mr. McChesney. He started the letter when starting the journey to the country, but had to finish it two days later after the tragic death.
Creator
Noyes, Henry Varnum
Source
Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
In this letter to his brother Edward, Henry recounts the details of the death of Mr. McChesney. He started the letter when starting the journey to the country, but had to finish is two days later after the tragic death.
Contributor
Noyes, Henry Varnum
Rights
Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_567
Coverage
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton July 9th 1872
My dear Bro Edward,
I must write a
few lines before I go away
this morning
July 11th 1872
I commenced this letter 2 mor-
nings ago and then concluded
that I could not finish it as I
was just starting off into the
country. A very sad event has
brought me back again and I must
write this morning before the mail
goes to tell you something about it. This
event is nothing is nothing else than
the death of Bro McChesney who went
with me and was Killed the first
night we were out about twenty
miles from Canton. He was shot right
through the head by a shot fired from
a robber boat. So far as the were con-
cenred we got the shot because we
happened to be where they were fighting. They did
not attack us but another boat not far from us
We left Canton at 10-o-clock day
before yesterday (Tuesday) and went
on very pleasantly all the afternoon,
stopped about 6-o-clock to preach
at a large village. Mr[--r--] McChesney
talked a little while. I believe it was
his first attempt at trying to preach
in Chinese as it was his last one.
The village was a little distance away
from the river and I spoke of going
and then said it was getting near
night and perhaps we had better leave
it until we came back. He said he
felt like a little walk and perhaps
we better go now or just as likely as
not we should'nt get to it. So we
did. We came back and went on
about an hour and then anchored
for the night in a large village called
"Kam Kai." We were awakened about
midnight by a cry of robbers and
a police boat close by where we
were anchored sent a force of some
15 or 20 men to drive them off
They were attacking a boat some
2 or 3 hundred yards up the river
from us and we apprehended no
danger. There was sharp firing
for a few minutes and the robbers
were driven away and took to
their boat and were escaping run-
ning down the river with the
swift current. As they swept along
the occasionally fired and just
as they were abreast of where we
anchored fired, I presume at the
police boat near which we were anchored.
But one of the balls struck Mr
McChesney who was sitting close
by me and killed him. He did
not speak after he was struck. I
suppose he was entirely unconscious
of pain or anything else although he
lived some ten or fifteen minutes.
The ball entered his head just over
the right ear and lodged no doubt
in the brain. I bound a wet towel around
his head and pressed my [--hear--] hand on
the wound & thus with one hand on
his head and the other holding his
wrist with my fingers on his pulse
I waited the result. I suppose he lived
some ten or fifteen minutes. It was
a little after midnight. I laid him
out as well as I could and then
waited until morning when I
came back as soon as I could
to Canton. It was excessively hot
weather and arrangements were
made as soon as possible for the
funeral and last night just
24 hours from the time when
[--we were--] he was making his first attempt
at public preaching we were
standing around his grave. It is
a crushing blow to his dear wife
who is as warm and intimate
a friend as Hattie has here in
Canton. But of course it is all
for the best some way although we
may not be able to see it now.
Such occurrences as befall us are not
likely to happen in the country often
With much love to all
Your aff Bro Henry.
广州 1872 年 7 月 9 日
我亲爱的爱德华兄弟，
我必须写一个
在我离开前几行
今天早上
1872 年 7 月 11 日
我在 2 天早上开始写这封信，然后结束
我无法完成它，因为我
刚刚开始进入
国家。发生了一件非常悲伤的事情
把我带回来，我必须
今天早上在邮件之前写
去告诉你一些事情。这个
事件无非就是
麦克切斯尼弟兄去世
和我一起被杀了第一个
晚上我们出去了大约二十
距广州数英里。他中枪了
从头部发射的一枪
一艘强盗船。到目前为止，我们得到了拍摄，因为我们
恰好是他们战斗的地方。他们做到了
不是攻击我们而是离我们不远的另一艘船
我们在一天 10 点离开广州
昨天（星期二）之前去了
整个下午都很愉快，
大约六点钟停下来传教
在一个大村庄。麦克切斯尼先生
聊了一会儿。我相信是
他第一次尝试传教
用中文，因为这是他的最后一个。
村子有点远
从河里，我谈到去
然后说它快到了
晚上，也许我们最好离开
直到我们回来。他说，他
感觉就像走一小段路，也许
我们最好现在就走
不是我们不应该得到它。所以我们
做过。我们回来继续
大约一个小时，然后锚定
在一个叫作的大村庄过夜
“锦凯。”我们被唤醒了
半夜被强盗的叫喊声和
我们附近有一艘警船
被锚定了一些力量
15 或 20 个人赶走他们
他们正在攻击一艘船
在河上游两三百码
从我们这里，我们没有意识到
危险。有猛烈的射击
几分钟和强盗
被赶走并带到
他们的小船正带着船顺着河逃跑
急湍。当他们扫过
偶尔被解雇和公正
因为他们与我们并驾齐驱
锚定发射，我想在
我们停泊在附近的警船。
但是其中一个球击中了先生
坐在附近的麦克切斯尼
被我杀了。他做到了
被击中后不说话。我
假设他完全失去知觉
疼痛或其他任何事情，尽管他
住了大约十到十五分钟。
球刚刚越过他的头
右耳，毫无疑问
在大脑中。我绑了一条湿毛巾
他的头，按着我的手
伤口，因此用一只手
他的头和另一个抱着他的
我的手指在他的脉搏上
我等着结果。我想他活着
大约十到十五分钟。它是
午夜过后一点。我让他
尽我所能，然后
等到早上我
我尽快回来
到广州。太热了
天气和安排是
尽快为
葬礼和昨晚刚刚
24 小时后
他正在做他的第一次尝试
在公开讲道中，我们
站在他的坟墓周围。这是
对他亲爱的妻子的沉重打击
谁那么温暖亲密
一个像海蒂一样的朋友
广州。但当然这一切
尽管我们以最好的方式
现在可能看不到了。
发生在我们身上的事情不是
可能经常在该国发生
对所有人充满爱
你的亨利兄弟。
My dear Bro Edward,
I must write a
few lines before I go away
this morning
July 11th 1872
I commenced this letter 2 mor-
nings ago and then concluded
that I could not finish it as I
was just starting off into the
country. A very sad event has
brought me back again and I must
write this morning before the mail
goes to tell you something about it. This
event is nothing is nothing else than
the death of Bro McChesney who went
with me and was Killed the first
night we were out about twenty
miles from Canton. He was shot right
through the head by a shot fired from
a robber boat. So far as the were con-
cenred we got the shot because we
happened to be where they were fighting. They did
not attack us but another boat not far from us
We left Canton at 10-o-clock day
before yesterday (Tuesday) and went
on very pleasantly all the afternoon,
stopped about 6-o-clock to preach
at a large village. Mr[--r--] McChesney
talked a little while. I believe it was
his first attempt at trying to preach
in Chinese as it was his last one.
The village was a little distance away
from the river and I spoke of going
and then said it was getting near
night and perhaps we had better leave
it until we came back. He said he
felt like a little walk and perhaps
we better go now or just as likely as
not we should'nt get to it. So we
did. We came back and went on
about an hour and then anchored
for the night in a large village called
"Kam Kai." We were awakened about
midnight by a cry of robbers and
a police boat close by where we
were anchored sent a force of some
15 or 20 men to drive them off
They were attacking a boat some
2 or 3 hundred yards up the river
from us and we apprehended no
danger. There was sharp firing
for a few minutes and the robbers
were driven away and took to
their boat and were escaping run-
ning down the river with the
swift current. As they swept along
the occasionally fired and just
as they were abreast of where we
anchored fired, I presume at the
police boat near which we were anchored.
But one of the balls struck Mr
McChesney who was sitting close
by me and killed him. He did
not speak after he was struck. I
suppose he was entirely unconscious
of pain or anything else although he
lived some ten or fifteen minutes.
The ball entered his head just over
the right ear and lodged no doubt
in the brain. I bound a wet towel around
his head and pressed my [--hear--] hand on
the wound & thus with one hand on
his head and the other holding his
wrist with my fingers on his pulse
I waited the result. I suppose he lived
some ten or fifteen minutes. It was
a little after midnight. I laid him
out as well as I could and then
waited until morning when I
came back as soon as I could
to Canton. It was excessively hot
weather and arrangements were
made as soon as possible for the
funeral and last night just
24 hours from the time when
[--we were--] he was making his first attempt
at public preaching we were
standing around his grave. It is
a crushing blow to his dear wife
who is as warm and intimate
a friend as Hattie has here in
Canton. But of course it is all
for the best some way although we
may not be able to see it now.
Such occurrences as befall us are not
likely to happen in the country often
With much love to all
Your aff Bro Henry.
广州 1872 年 7 月 9 日
我亲爱的爱德华兄弟，
我必须写一个
在我离开前几行
今天早上
1872 年 7 月 11 日
我在 2 天早上开始写这封信，然后结束
我无法完成它，因为我
刚刚开始进入
国家。发生了一件非常悲伤的事情
把我带回来，我必须
今天早上在邮件之前写
去告诉你一些事情。这个
事件无非就是
麦克切斯尼弟兄去世
和我一起被杀了第一个
晚上我们出去了大约二十
距广州数英里。他中枪了
从头部发射的一枪
一艘强盗船。到目前为止，我们得到了拍摄，因为我们
恰好是他们战斗的地方。他们做到了
不是攻击我们而是离我们不远的另一艘船
我们在一天 10 点离开广州
昨天（星期二）之前去了
整个下午都很愉快，
大约六点钟停下来传教
在一个大村庄。麦克切斯尼先生
聊了一会儿。我相信是
他第一次尝试传教
用中文，因为这是他的最后一个。
村子有点远
从河里，我谈到去
然后说它快到了
晚上，也许我们最好离开
直到我们回来。他说，他
感觉就像走一小段路，也许
我们最好现在就走
不是我们不应该得到它。所以我们
做过。我们回来继续
大约一个小时，然后锚定
在一个叫作的大村庄过夜
“锦凯。”我们被唤醒了
半夜被强盗的叫喊声和
我们附近有一艘警船
被锚定了一些力量
15 或 20 个人赶走他们
他们正在攻击一艘船
在河上游两三百码
从我们这里，我们没有意识到
危险。有猛烈的射击
几分钟和强盗
被赶走并带到
他们的小船正带着船顺着河逃跑
急湍。当他们扫过
偶尔被解雇和公正
因为他们与我们并驾齐驱
锚定发射，我想在
我们停泊在附近的警船。
但是其中一个球击中了先生
坐在附近的麦克切斯尼
被我杀了。他做到了
被击中后不说话。我
假设他完全失去知觉
疼痛或其他任何事情，尽管他
住了大约十到十五分钟。
球刚刚越过他的头
右耳，毫无疑问
在大脑中。我绑了一条湿毛巾
他的头，按着我的手
伤口，因此用一只手
他的头和另一个抱着他的
我的手指在他的脉搏上
我等着结果。我想他活着
大约十到十五分钟。它是
午夜过后一点。我让他
尽我所能，然后
等到早上我
我尽快回来
到广州。太热了
天气和安排是
尽快为
葬礼和昨晚刚刚
24 小时后
他正在做他的第一次尝试
在公开讲道中，我们
站在他的坟墓周围。这是
对他亲爱的妻子的沉重打击
谁那么温暖亲密
一个像海蒂一样的朋友
广州。但当然这一切
尽管我们以最好的方式
现在可能看不到了。
发生在我们身上的事情不是
可能经常在该国发生
对所有人充满爱
你的亨利兄弟。
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Henry Varnum, “Letter from Henry to Edward, July 9, 1872,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed December 22, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/627.