Fifteen Years Among the Top-Knots; Or, Life in Korea

by Lillias H. Underwood

The queen therefore remained in a good deal of uneasiness and anxiety, but only when the Tai Won Kun and the hired assassins rushed in, calling for the queen, did she attempt, alas! too late, to hide.

There was some confusion, in the numerous verbal reports which reached us, but two foreigners, a Russian, Mr. Sabbatin, and an American, General Dye, who were eye-witnesses of nearly all that occurred, both agreed in the statement, that Japanese troops under Japanese officers surrounded the courtyard and buildings where the royal party were, and that the Japanese officers were in the courtyard, and saw the outrages which were committed, and knew all that was done by the Japanese soshi or professional cutthroats. About thirty of these assassins rushed into the royal apartments crying, “The queen, the queen, where is the queen?”

Then began a mad and brutal hunt for their prey, more like wild beasts than men, seizing the palace women,[1] dragging them about by their hair and beating them, trying to force them to tell where the queen was. Mr. Sabbatin was himself questioned and threatened with death. The soshi and officers who wore the Japanese uniform passed through the room where his majesty stood trying to divert attention from the queen. “One of the Japanese caught him by the shoulder and pulled him about, and Yi Kiung Chick, the minister of the royal household, was killed by the Japanese in his majesty’s presence. His royal highness, the crown prince, was seized, his hat torn off and broken, and he was pulled about by the hair, the soshi threatening him with their swords while demanding where the queen was.”[2] At length they hunted the poor queen down, and killed her with their swords. They then covered her body, and bringing in various palace women, suddenly displayed the corpse, when the women shrieked with horror, “The queen, the queen!” This was enough; by this ruse the assassins made sure they had felled the right victim.

[1] “Korean Repository,” 1895.

[2] From official report of “Korean Repository.”

Soon after, the remains were taken to a grove of trees not far off, kerosene oil poured over them, and they were burned, only a few bones remaining.

Later developments all went to prove that the murderers were actually guilty of the inconceivable folly of imagining that by this means it would be possible to conceal the crime and their share in it.

Stories of all sorts were circulated, as that her majesty had escaped and was lying concealed, or that she had simply been removed for a time by the Japanese, who could bring her back at any moment. In the official account of the murder, and of the trial of Count Miura and the soshi, held in Hiroshima, Japan, for which I am indebted to “The Korean Repository” for 1895, the following words occur: “The accused Miura Gow assumed his official duties ... on September 1, 1895. According to his observation, things in Korea were tending in the wrong direction, the court was daily growing more and more arbitrary, and attempting wanton interference with the conduct of State affairs. Disorder and confusion were in this way introduced into the system of administration that had just been reorganized under the guidance and advice of the Imperial government. The court went so far in turning its back upon Japan that a project was mooted for disbanding the Kurentai troops (Koreans under Japanese officers) and punishing their officers. Moreover, a report came to the said Miura that the court had under contemplation a scheme for usurping all political power by degrading some and killing others of the cabinet ministers suspected of devotion to the cause of progress and independence. Under these circumstances he was greatly perturbed, inasmuch as he thought that the attitude assumed by the court not only showed remarkable ingratitude towards this country, which had spent labor and money for the sake of Korea, but was also calculated to thwart the work of internal reform and ‘jeopardize the independence of the kingdom.’”

The report then proceeds to state that the accused felt it necessary to apply a remedy which would on the one hand “secure the independence of the Korean kingdom, and on the other maintain the prestige of this empire in that country!” The report further proceeds to state, that conferences were held with the Tai Won Kun and with Japanese officials, at one of which, October 3rd, “The decision arrived at on that occasion was that assistance should be rendered to the Tai Won Kun’s entry into the palace by making use of the Kurentai, who, being hated by the court, felt themselves in danger, and of the young men who deeply lamented the course of events, and also by causing the Japanese troops stationed in Seoul to offer their support to the enterprise. It was further resolved that this opportunity should be availed of for taking the life of the queen, who exercised overwhelming influence in the court.”

After further particulars in the completion of the plan the Japanese document continues: “Miura told them (the men who were to escort the Tai Won Kun) that on the success of the enterprise depended the eradication of the evils that had done so much mischief to the kingdom for the past twenty years, and instigated them to despatch the queen when they entered the palace.” The report then goes on at some length, describing the various steps taken in carrying out the conspiracy, and continues: “Then slowly proceeding toward Seoul the party met the Kurentai troops outside the west gate of the capital, where they waited some time for the Japanese troops.... About dawn the whole party entered the palace through the Kwang-hwa gate, and at once proceeded to the inner chambers. Notwithstanding these facts there is no sufficient evidence to prove that any of the accused actually committed the crime originally meditated by them.... For these reasons, the accused, each and all, are hereby discharged.... The documents and other articles seized in connection with this case are restored to their respective owners.